Strobing Makeup

Have you just mastered the technique of contouring? Well, sorry, it's time to put down your brush. This new trend called "strobing" relies solely on highlighters!

Although, some may think the strobing technique is a knock-off of contouring, it's actually quite the opposite. Contouring focuses on creating low lights and shadows to your face to have a more profound look, where strobing focuses solely on the highlights of your face. The process of strobing essentially means just highlighting to the max.

Before you begin, make sure you are familiar with where the sun naturally hits your face. Usually this is your cheekbone, bridge of your nose, center of your forehead, tip of the chin and brow bone area. You're also going to need a highlighter. Many people prefer cream or liquid highlighters over powder highlighters to achieve a "strobed" face. Use whichever you prefer.

If you’re on the paler side, I would go for a pink toned highlighter, whereas if you are on the medium to deep side I would look for a gold toned highlighter.

To begin this look, I sprayed a primer on my face and then applied my foundation and concealer as I normally would. One thing I did differently was not set my face as heavily with power as I normally would. You want your face to appear dewy instead of matte for this look, so lightly powdering your face would be the way to go. Also, I only applied blush, rather than adding bronzer. I did not want the bronzer to overpower the highlight, so I left that out.

 Once this was completed, I applied the the highlighter in the shade to all of the areas on my face where the sun would naturally hit. I like to begin my highlight with a liquid highlighter and then go in with a powder highlighter over the areas I've done. This really intensifies the highlight and helps it stay on throughout the day.

You always want to be careful when applying highlighters because it is very easy to get an "oily skin" effect with them. Always apply with a light hand and a small fluffy or fan brush to prevent the "oily skin" look. You’ll get that beautiful "strobing" face you're aiming for!

About the author: Madelyn Meaux lives in Lafayette and has a passion for makeup. The "Strobing" Technique is an edited excerpt from her beauty blog, which can be found at www.meauxbeauty.blogspot.com