TL;DR:
- Makeup: Highlight cheekbones with bronzer (2+ shades darker than skin) under cheekbones and highlighter (gold/silver/neutral) on top using specific brushes. Makeup isn’t permanent and requires frequent touch-ups.
- Aesthetic Treatments: Enhance cheekbones via:
- Facial volumetry: Hyaluronic acid injections to lift and hydrate; effects last 1–1.5 years.
- Botox: Smoothes wrinkles and subtly defines cheekbones; results appear in 2 weeks.
- Lipotransfer: Patient’s fat is purified and injected into cheeks for long-lasting, natural results.
- PDO threads: Dissolvable threads lift and enhance cheeks; effects last up to 2 years and improve skin elasticity.
Each treatment has low complication risks, with minimal downtime, providing either lifting or natural volume enhancement options.
Properly highlighted cheekbones are something everyone dreams of. Highlighted, they give the face a slimmer and more attractive appearance. Unfortunately, not everyone can enjoy visible cheekbones. Various makeup tricks and aesthetic medicine treatments come to the rescue here. Find out what to do to make your cheekbones more visible.
How to enhance cheekbones with makeup?
To highlight cheekbones with makeup, two cosmetics are enough – highlighter and bronzer. It is important that they are matched in tone to your complexion. Bronzer should be at least 2 shades darker than the skin. When choosing a highlighter, it is important to pay attention to its degree of light reflection, visibility of particles and color. They mostly come in neutral, silver and gold shades. Highlighter is applied to the top of the cheekbones, while bronzer is applied under them. For bronzer, larger, bevelled or straight-cut brushes work best. For highlighter, we choose small, puffy brushes. Unfortunately, makeup isn’t a permanent solution, it requires spending a lot of time and constant touch-ups, and mishandling contouring can do more harm than good. That’s why many people opt for an aesthetic medicine procedure to enhance their cheekbones permanently and enjoy them every day, whether they put on makeup or not.
Treatments to enhance cheekbones
Among the treatments that can be helpful in modeling the cheekbones and highlighting them properly are excellent:
- facial volumetry,
- botox for cheekbones,
- lipotransfer,
- PDO thread treatments.
Facial volumetrics with hyaluronic acid.
Facial volumetrics allows you to perfectly model its contour and visibly rejuvenate its features. It also positively influences the level of skin hydration. The procedure involves subcutaneous injection of a dense, cross-linked hyaluronic acid preparation using a standard needle or cannula. The doctor dispenses the appropriate amount of filler to achieve the effect the patient desires. During the application, anesthesia is usually not necessary, as most commercially available preparations contain lidocaine, a local anesthetic.
What does volumetrics involve?
With volumetrics, you can count on, among other things, modeling and enhancing cheekbones, eliminating wrinkles, filling the tear valley and reducing dark circles under the eyes, and improving the entire facial oval. Volumetry will also help with visible facial asymmetries. In addition to the cheeks, hyaluronic acid is often administered to the jaw area or forehead. **The procedure is completely safe, as hyaluronic acid occurs naturally in human skin. It is responsible for stimulating the skin to produce collagen and elastin, deeply hydrating, regenerating and nourishing it. It lasts no more than a dozen minutes, and after it is performed, you can return to your daily routine. The effects last one to one and a half years. After this time you can decide to perform it again.
Facial Botox
Botox is an incredibly popular preparation applied to the facial area. It involves injecting small doses of botulinum toxin under the skin, which smoothes wrinkles, tightens the skin and paralyzes the muscles whose work causes wrinkles. Although, Botox is mostly not injected into the cheeks, by applying it to the surrounding areas, it is possible to emphasize them in a natural and non-exaggerated way. Botox works especially well for people over the age of 20. **Fallen skin of the cheeks can also be the cause of their lack of visibility. Botox treatments do not produce results immediately. You have to wait for them for up to two weeks after they are performed.
Fat transplantation – lipotransfer
Transplantation of one’s own fat is ideal when cheekbones need to be enhanced. The advantage of this type of procedure is extremely low probability of any complications, because the fat comes from the same person to whom it is to be applied. It produces long-lasting results, is virtually painless, and the patient can return to his or her standard lifestyle shortly afterwards.
In addition to filling the fat, it also has the effect of smoothing and refreshing the appearance of the face. If there are scars on the patient’s face, they can be filled in with the extracted fat preparation. **After the lipotransfer procedure, the shape of the face will be visibly improved. By the way, you can get rid of excess fat from body parts that require it. Since the fat needs to be purified before being re-transferred, a little more fat needs to be extracted.
How does lipotransfer proceed?
The procedure always begins with a medical consultation, where the patient’s health status and preferences for treatment results are discussed. The patient’s fat is then proceeded to be harvested, most often from the abdominal or thigh area. Once the fat is extracted, it must be prepared for injection into the target area. It is purified for this purpose in a specially designed centrifuge. In addition to filling in the cheeks during the procedure, the appearance of wrinkles can be eliminated. Generally, the procedure is performed once, but there are no contraindications to repeating it if necessary.
PDO thread treatments
Treatments using PDO threads are becoming increasingly popular. Many times they are considered a less invasive method of facelift. The procedures performed with the threads are pleasant, do not require any incisions or more serious intervention than the small punctures through which they are inserted under the skin. Two most popular types of threads can be distinguished:
- straight or twisted – which give the effect of very intensive skin revitalization and allow to gently lift and reshape the skin.
- Hooked – which can be arranged on two or all four sides of the threads. Their function is to mechanically lift the skin and enhance the lifting effect.
The threads are made of the same substance as soluble sutures popularly used in surgery. They are fully absorbed after about 6-8 months. Even then, the effect does not fade, and lasts up to 2 years. As the threads dissolve, they stimulate the skin to produce the compounds responsible for its firmness, elasticity and youthful appearance. Treatments with threads have a very low risk of any complications or allergies.
Course of treatment with threads
After the necessary consultation and qualification of the patient for the procedure, the doctor inserts the threads under the skin using a needle. He then pulls them under the skin, using the natural tension lines of the face and arranges them in such a way that loose and sagging skin can be properly lifted. Before doing so, those with a low pain threshold can request a local anesthetic to reduce the discomfort of the insertion. The end result of the procedure is seen more and more each week, finally taking shape after about 8 weeks. The procedure does not increase the volume of the cheeks, but it gives the effect of lifting them, and thus also optically enlarging them. Thanks to it, you can count on very nice, naturally exposed cheeks.
Conclusion
Enhancing cheekbones can be achieved through simple makeup tricks or advanced medical treatments. While bronzer and highlighter provide quick results, aesthetic procedures like volumetrics, lipotransfer, Botox, or PDO threads offer long-lasting effects. Each method offers unique benefits, from subtle lifting to dramatic reshaping. Whether you prefer temporary solutions or transformative treatments, achieving defined cheekbones is within reach. The choice between makeup and medical options ultimately depends on your lifestyle, goals, and comfort level. With the right approach, boosting your facial contours has never been easier.
