It's been heating up over the weekend, and with the change in weather it's always nice to crack out some seasonally appropriate makeup too. One of the biggest trends in makeup at the moment is strobing, so I thought I'd give it a go and unlike several other fads I actually really like the results. Contouring never really quite did it for me, the whole Kardashian vibe was a bit too much for me to pull off well, but working only with light - well, that's something I can definitely get on board with. Working only with highlighter, the face is lifted and luminised and with none of the harshness of shadow, it's much more difficult to go wrong.
How to apply: To effectively define and enhance the features you want to apply the highlight any place that the sun would naturally hit your face. The result - the illusion of high cheekbones and strong features and an ethereal glow to match. Places to apply would be cheekbones, brow bone, bridge of nose, cupid's bow and apple of your chin.
Products: For a creamy, all-over glow I love the Clarins Radiant Light Skin Boosters. It works well as a primer, to mix into foundation to give it a nice glow or dabbed on as a highlighter. In terms of powders, I have too many favourites to count. Makeup Revolution in particular do a couple of amazing ones - their Vivid Baked Highlighter gives a gorgeous opalescent glow and their palette in Golden Sugar a lovely choice of highlighters to suit your mood.
Soap and Glory's Peach Party, a peachy pink (no prizes for guessing that one) highlighter that negates the need for blush gives an effortless glow and catches the light beautifully without being too shimmery. It's what I'm wearing above and I think it's absolutely gorgeous.
Tools: It depends what you are using, but the simpler the better here I think. I like to use the pads of my fingers to press in cream and liquid highlighters and fan brush to sweep on any powders. The aim is to make it light and seamlessly blend into the rest of your makeup so it looks like a natural ethereal aura around you rather than a glitter disco ball shat on your face.
Rest of the makeup: Strobing works well with any makeup looks, I think that's part of the beauty of it, but my personal favorite way to apply is with as minimal a look as possible. Mascara, concealer and maybe a little lipgloss and you're done. For those of you wanting to add more to the look, I'd strongly advise the use of matte products, it just helps the highlighter stand out and the whole effect becomes a lot more balanced.
What do you think of the Strobing trend?
