KIM KARDASHIAN'S CRUCIAL HIGHLIGHTER STEP IS THE ONE YOU'RE PROBABLY FORGETTING

Yes, she knows a thing or two about makeup.

Kim Kardashian began forging her takeover of the cosmetics industry in earnest (watch your back, Kylie) with the launch of KKW Beauty last week. By any measure, her first product — Crème Contour and Highlight Kits — was a major success, reportedly raking in a whopping $14 million in just a few hours. (All of the shades are currently sold out, sorry, though KKW promises a re-stock is coming soon). Kardashian has also begun creating more of her own beauty content, something she's done sporadically, often with the help of her makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic, in the past. But in a recent Youtube video, Kardashian went solo, walking through the steps of her "everyday" makeup look — an extremely pared-down, DIY take on it, anyway. 

In the video, she relies almost entirely on her own products (though she does at one point also reach for an unnamed moisturizer and an unspecified translucent powder). But mostly, she uses that kit for everything: for contouring and highlighting, yes, but also as a makeshift concealer, eyeliner, eye shadow, blush, lip liner and lip color. It's honestly pretty impressive.

But the most useful takeaway the video offers up, if you ask me, is one Kardashian glosses over fairly quickly, and it's one most people forget about. After running the shimmery cream highlighter down the bridge of her nose and along her cheekbones — all of the usual strobing spots — Kardashian traces it along her collarbones and then draws it down each of her shoulders. That's pro-level work right there. And that's not surprising, since Kardashian has learned from years of working with some of the best in the business. 

This step of engaging in a little light body makeup is actually crucial if you want your highlighter to look natural. Spending all of that time creating a glowy, dewy, strobed-out face is all well and good, but if you neglect the rest of your skin, it's going to look wonky and artificial. By concentrating a bit of highlighter on exposed high points, like the collar bones and shoulders (this is obviously especially important if you're going sleeveless), you're creating an all-over luminosity that actually winds up enhancing the highlighter on your face by making it look more natural and consistent. So, in the end, it'll leave people thinking, "wow, she has the glowiest skin!" rather than, "wow, she's wearing so much highlighter on her cheekbones and that's super obvious because the rest of her skin looks dull in comparison."

So, thanks for the important makeup reminder, Kim.

Watch the full video below to see exactly how Kardashian's DIY, single-product look comes together.