Strobing is a fashion trend in makeup that replaces contouring. The original strobing technique is similar to the contouring technique: providing shine, volume, and moist shine to the skin of the face. However, the idea of strobe is to facilitate this process. Heavy multi-layer make-up techniques went out of fashion a few years ago and they were replaced by simple, light and effective methods.
Being one of the simplest methods, strobe includes the use of a highlighter or light powder with a shining effect instead of the traditional dark concealer used in contouring techniques. In strobing, facial visual modeling using light-colored cosmetics makes it easy to highlight the beauty of the face by hiding minor skin imperfections.
Features of strobe technology
It is easy to identify the reasons for such strobe popularity. This technique has significant pros:
- Light products with reflective particles give the skin a gloss, purity and freshness of youth.
- Using the strobing, you can make the nose a bit narrower, the cheekbones are higher, the chin is sharper, the main thing is to apply the highlighter correctly.
- Strobe - a good technique not only for everyday life, but also for photos: in the frame of the lens such makeup looks expensive and stylish.
Initially, the strobing technique was created for models that needed to shine on the podium and shine with natural light in the rays of unnatural lighting. Then the girls noticed that the equipment is very fast and light and began to apply it not only on the podium. Photographers and videographers always welcome models, the make-up of which is made using the strobe technique - they always look favorably in the frame in any light.
However, with all its advantages, strobe may not suit every girl. In particular, better not to resort to it if one of the incompatibility criteria applies to you:
- Problem skin. Strobing is primarily contraindicated for rashes, redness or allergic skin reactions. Before you apply makeup, you should heal the skin, as decorative cosmetics not only does not hide the problem, but aggravate it.
- Oily skin. Strobing is an advantage for normal and dry skin, if the pH of the skin is higher than 5.7, there is a high probability that the cosmetics will spread, giving the face an unnatural and painful look.
Even if you have perfect skin, strobing for day makeup and everyday exits is best done in a light form. The bright rays of the sun will make your face unnaturally pale and brilliant, while in the evening and with irregular flashes of chandeliers, lamps and flashlights, strobe will perfectly emphasize facial features.
In addition, there is Three radically different strobe techniques:
- Dry strobing. The favorite technique of many girls, because the dry method does not moisturize the skin and does not block the pores, allowing it to breathe and air. In the dry method, powder-based products are used - powder-reflectors, eyeshadows, highlighters. The equipment is intended primarily for everyday purposes, walks, work.
- Wet strobe. The method is suitable for both daily and evening make-up and consists in highlighting the face with liquid and cream cosmetics: basics with light reflection, cream illuminators, cushions and tonal creams. It will be beneficial to look at this background matte lipstick of a dark shade. And to make the makeup less catchy and delicate, emphasize only the protruding parts of the face.
- Whole face strobing. This technique is a real find for evening events, where the face should shine perfectly and perfectly under the spotlight. This method is almost never used in everyday life, however, many makeup artists prepare stars for responsible events using strobing.
Suitable cosmetics
The indisputable advantage of strobe is that dozens of tools are not needed for it, it is enough highlighter and powder. However, depending on the technology, you may need additional funds, which will be discussed later.
Creams
The main purpose of creams in strobing is to provide an even skin tone with a light glow. It is very important to choose not only resistant, but also light cream that suits the skin in color. According to the ratings of independent experts, one of the best creams for strobing are:
- Strobe Cream by M.A.C;
- Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20 by Laura Mercier;
- Illuminating Primer by Tom Ford.
Strobe Cream, M.A.C
The product has a white color with reflective pink and mauve elements. It perfectly illuminates the face, while not whitening the skin and providing a uniform radiance. Many make-up artists recommend using tones with pink blush before applying the cream. Strobe Cream is perfectly distributed, easy to apply and at the same time moisturizes the skin.
The effect of the cream lasts for three hours, then it begins to be absorbed into the skin. Best of all, this tool is suitable for evening make-up.
Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20, Laura Mercier
Tinted Moisturizer foundation gives the skin a shine due to the SPF filters. The product is available in five shades, but makeup artists recommend using the brightest shade as a cream for strobing called “Bare Radience”. It is this shade that gives the skin a pearly luster and a bronze glow. Unlike many strobingovyh funds, Tinted Moistrurizer applied immediately to the entire face, outside the scheme. The skin of the face immediately begins to look fresh and smooth.
The indisputable advantages of the tool are also counted as resistance (at least five hours), versatility - a tonal and brightening cream in one, as well as an excellent balance between price and quality.
Illuminating Primer, Tom Ford
In a beautiful bottle with a convenient dispenser contains white cream tint of ivory. Primer from Tom Ford appears almost like a highlighter, highlighting the desired areas of skin and creating the impression of wet light. Makeup artists recommend applying it exclusively on key places, as the primer applied as a surface agent does not give the desired shine, but only holds the makeup and does not allow other cosmetics to lie on top of it.
The firmness of the cream is not the best - a few hours as a primer, but this is how the tone for strobing this illuminator really deserves respect.
Highlighters
The highlighter is a key tool in strobe, and already highlighting the necessary areas for them is the implementation of the strobe technique. In practice, the highlighter performs 90% of the work of all cosmetics. Therefore, it is very important to choose the right highlighter, suitable skin tone. One of the most popular can be called:
- Maybelline Master Strobing;
- Seas of Illumination by Rouge Bunny Rouge;
- Skin Fetish by Pat McGrath Labs.
Master Strobing, Maybelline
Master Strobing Highlighter is one of the top products of its segment from Maybelline. It fits perfectly on any type of skin - dry, normal, oily and even problematic.
The highlighter does not have peculiar peeling of many products, it does not clog in the pores and lasts for a long time. With all this, manufacturers managed to combine excellent quality and low cost.
Seas of Illumination, Rouge Bunny Rouge
Rouge Bunny Rouge has established itself as a manufacturer of excellent highlighters and a line of liquid Seas of Illuminantion is no exception. These highlighters appeared on the market before the strobing mania swept the world, but even then they managed to establish themselves as an excellent tool for even and at the same time bright skin backlighting. The “Sea of Light” line has three shades - white, pink pearl and golden bronze.
Skin Fetish, Pat McGrath Labs
This highlighter is made in an unusual form of a double-sided tube. On the one hand, there is a golden dry highlighter, very bright, it is recommended to apply it with lightweight touches. On the other hand, there is a balm resembling a Vietnamese "star" in structure. With it, dry highlighter turns into cream.
The convenience of Skin Fetish is indisputable in cases where you want to have one universal remedy for both everyday and evening strobe.
Powder palettes
With the growing popularity of cosmetics, many cosmetics manufacturers began to produce special palettes of powder and highlighters specifically for this technology. Choosing cosmetics for these purposes, you should pay attention to the following sets:
- Face Strobing Highlighting Kit from Divage;
- NYX STROBE by Genius illuminating;
- Too Faced Natural Face Palette.
Face Strobing Highlighting Kit from Divage
The Divage Face Strobing palette is designed for true lovers of strobing. In the composition of the pallet there are two main tools of the fashionista: a bright radiant highlighter of dry type and transparent powder-fixer. With the help of the highlighter on the face, the light areas are highlighted, and the powder fixes the result and removes the effect of oily shine. The compact palette is indispensable when traveling and is especially convenient to use with a fan brush.
NYX STROBE, Genius illuminating
Palettes from Genius Illuminating are famous for their quality and reasonable price. The kits contain dry highlighters of different colors with a shimmer. The tool is easy to apply and blend, does not roll down and holds firmly all day. An excellent choice for every day - the versatility of shades will allow plenty to experiment with their appearance.
Too Faced Natural Face Palette
The palette of six concealers comes in a cute case with lace trim. In addition to the expensive appearance, makeup artists love it for its convenience and versatility: one such palette is enough to apply the perfect glowing make-up. To do this, each tone is used for specific purposes: a matt concealer on the corners of the eyes and any unevenness of the skin for leveling and lightening, a lightening concealer under the eyes, cream blush and highlighter on the cheekbones, and finally - powder and bronzer on the cheeks. The perfect combination of the necessary tools in one palette.
Having in the arsenal of several of the above tools, you can begin to make-up in the technique of strobing.
Step-by-step make-up using the strobing technique
Learning how to apply make-up using the strobing technique is simple if you follow the detailed step-by-step instructions. For a perfect make-up, it is important to observe three principles:
- Apply the right tools in the right order;
- Brighten the face in certain places;
- Apply the highlighter in the right quantity, and sometimes it is better not to draw than to bust.
To perform the technique, step by step below, you need only a few means: cream and powder highlighter, brushes, matting fixing powder.
Step 1. Sit back and look at your face in daylight. Select for yourself the most lighted areas of the face, which will need to give an additional glow.
As a small life hack, you can take a picture of yourself in a mirror and, using any photo editor, add a contrast image. You will immediately see how bright areas stand out. Usually these are protruding areas - the upper edge of the cheekbones, nose, chin.
First of all, apply a cream illuminator (highlighter) on the upper part of the cheekbones and thoroughly blend it with a makeup brush, as shown in the photo above.
Step 2. Apply powder on top of the cream highlighter. This should be done carefully and carefully: without crossing the border, without pressing the skin too hard, but at the same time well shading.
Step 3. After staining the cheeks (cheekbones), proceed to the staining of the nose. Its back should be highlighted with a vertical strip in the center. The amount of highlighter cream used depends on the type of skin: for dry, you need more money, for oily - just a little.
Step 4. As in contouring, the lower boundary of the face under the cheekbones is emphasized. Brush with a cream highlighter make a strip and blend.
Step 5. Now go to the design of the century. Bottom - do not touch, the focus is on the top, as well as areas in the corners of the eyes and under the eyebrows. We apply sateen or other shadows with a shimmer. This method allows you to get a lifting effect, hide fatigue and make the look bright and fresh.
Step 6. Lighten up the dimples above the upper lip. To make your lips more voluminous and give them a clear light outline, use a highlighter on the edge of the dimple above the upper lip, which is also called “Cupid's bow”.
Step 7. The final stage is to fix the entire makeup. In order to enhance the radiant effect of the technique, all the areas where the contour is usually made are coated with a transparent powder with a matting effect. This will remove the oily sheen and make the makeup smoother. You can use the advice of Romero Jennings, chief makeup artist M.A.C Cosmetics. Romero advises applying the cat's paws powder. To do this, two identical fluffy brushes of natural material are applied in turn to the contours, powdering the skin evenly and imperceptibly.
In these seven steps is the simplest technique. However, this does not mean that strobe is an exceptionally light pastel tone. Using powder of different colors you can achieve a unique image, for example - bright pink make-up, the fast method of applying which is presented in the video below:
Its main tool is the highlighter. You can experiment with this wonderful tool:
- Powder highlighter, feathers over cream, will enhance the glare.
- Different shades of the highlighter are used to give the face different shades: pearl highlights the eye-catching areas, pink colors blush the cheeks, gold and bronze - emphasize the cheekbones and create a slight tan effect.
- Cream and liquid highlighters give a more gentle and natural effect compared to dry ones; moreover, they blend more easily.
- To get the effect of moist skin, use tonal bases and moisturizing BB-creams with a radiant effect.
- To get a stronger shine effect (strong highlight), use only dry fine-grained highlighters.
This set of tips is enough to quickly fill your hand and learn how to perform make-up using the strobe-free technique. However, even knowing all the ways of performing the technique, you can make a lot of mistakes.
Major mistakes
In principle, there is nothing difficult in strobe, but there are nuances that can spoil the whole image and, instead of the effect of a wet shine, you can get a greasy oil pancake.
Therefore, it is better to begin the study of technology with common mistakescommitted by newbies:
- To be sure of your dazzling, it is better to try the technique at home when there is enough time available. Experience is a key factor in quality make-up, so you should not experiment before a meeting, a date or an appearance.
- The highlighter is easily confused with the bronzer, but they are significantly different - the bronzer will add yellow pigment, highlighting the tan, and in the strobing it is completely inappropriate.
- It is easy to overdo it with the highlighter, so at the initial stages it is better to minimize its quantity, having trained on the wrist, for example. The illumination of the illuminator should be light and elusive.
- The technique is intended primarily for evening make-up, so with its use in the daytime should be extremely accurate.
- Smooth lines are good in contouring, while strobing requires smoothness and good shading.
- If you decide to lighten your face with a highlighter - forget about bright makeup. By itself, the strobing is quite bright and successfully combined with soft blush, black mascara, pastel or matte lipstick. Emphasis on lips is permissible, but shadows, flashy colors of lipstick and thick eyeliner in strobing are contraindicated.
- Before applying the highlighter make sure that the skin is ready for it. Illumination requires an ideal tone - any irregularities, rashes, scars and points must be pre-masked with a cream, tonal or corrector, in order not to emphasize the flaws once again.
Strobe, in fact, one of the simplest techniques in makeup. With its help you can make your face radiant, natural and fresh.
