The Halo Eye Makeup Trend Will Give You An Excuse To Wear More Highlighter

Spending a summer on Instagram means spending a summer surrounded by an ever-changing cycle of beauty trends, with looks inspired by everything from the sunset to denim jeans to ice cream. Now that summer's winding down, softer looks are taking over — like the new halo eye makeup trend, which'll give you the perfect excuse to wear summer-bright highlighter all the way into winter.

Like many Instagram trends, halo eyes' origins are tough to trace, but the trend has been picking up speed in the last few days, charming over the MUAs of the old 'gram and racking up nearly 25,000 posts in the #haloeyes hashtag. While halo eyes may look like other soft eye trends, it's the use of highlighter that sets this look apart, professional MUA Ashleigh Ciucci told Allure.

According to Ciucci, halo eyes "frame the eyes with a soft diffusion of color, giving an ethereal effect."

Makeup artist Andrea Whittle, who works at Karma Salon & Spa and has 20 years of experience, tells Bustle, "The halo effect is about creating contrast in the finish, putting the shimmer or highlight against a flat background. Focus on the texture or finish of the highlight going into this."

Whittle advises looking for eyeshadows that are metallic or have a metallic finish, as they'll help pop the center of your lid and create the halo effect. A general rule, she says, is using a highlighter one and a half shades lighter than the base color to get the halo effect without clashing contrast.

One last tip, says Whittle: Blending the halo shade in with your finger will give you a lot more pigment than just using a brush. "A fingertip into the loose pigment pressed into the center of the lid will give more oomph because of the coverage and opacity," she explains.

If you need some halo inspiration, check out these looks from Instagram's MUAs.

This is a perfect example of how to use two different colors to create a complementary halo. While this variation on the look doesn't follow Whittle's rule of shades, pink and black are almost always amazing together, and Instagrammer klaramkup made full use of that.

rija_imran's look does follow the rule of shades — plus uses an amazing metallic finish that makes it look like she's got a spotlight on her twenty-four-seven.

ralfix_mua's silver-on-green highlights give off serious Slytherin vibes. And using a different color for the lower lid really makes those colors pop.

While there are sure to be plenty of fall and winter beauty trends to carry folks till the end of 2017, this is definitely a look that has the staying power to hang on past the end of summer.