The Beauty Counter: Strobing for a healthy glow

One of the questions that has been popping up recently, especially with my spring and summer brides, is how to "strobe" their faces and whether it's better to do that over contouring.

Anne Hudson

What exactly is strobing? Without going into great detail, it is a technique that has been around much longer than it has been popular. The term "strobing" or "anti-contouring," to my knowledge and understanding, has been around for decades -- I believe Max Factor was the creator of this technique. Fast-forward to the 21st century, and thanks to Instagram, YouTube and some other rather famous people whose names I'll forego mentioning, it has become a rapidly growing makeup trend that is readily available to the masses.

Unlike contouring, which focuses on sculpting the face and creating shadow and light, strobing is more about achieving an allover healthy glow. The theory behind strobing is that when you highlight the face first, the shadows and contour of the face naturally appear, ergo eliminating the need to use contouring products. When you strobe your face, the areas you focus on would be considered the "high" points, or the ones where sunlight is considered to hit first: tip of your nose, the middle area of your forehead, top of your cheekbones, just above your brow and the middle of your chin.

Now, when you read this, if you are familiar with the process of contouring your face, immediately you will think this is the exact same thing. And to an extent, you are absolutely correct. The main difference is that with strobing, you do not need to use any sculpting products, since the highlighted portions of your face naturally bring forward any shadow and contoured areas. I believe strobing, although a less time-consuming technique than contouring, is probably more complicated because it's all about knowing the high points of your face, but also understanding that less is definitely more in this circumstance.

In contouring, it's OK to get a bit heavy-handed because in the end, we can always blend it out, whereas with strobing, you want to use just enough product on very specific areas of your face so it looks like you have a healthy yet dewy complexion. You also have to have a balance of matte and luminous products, because what you want to avoid at all costs when strobing is is looking too shiny. Looking like a disco ball or like you have been doused in baby oil is the opposite of what you want to achieve with this technique. You want to use products that are matte in certain areas so the highlight and luminosity can come through, but again, have a perfect balance so it looks like you are glowing from within.

So what products do you want to gravitate toward and stay away from in the strobing process? Well, the great thing about strobing is that regardless of the type of skin you have, this process is more about technique than the product you are using. Look for powders, creams or liquids with highlighting or luminous properties in them. A great trick to begin your strobing process is to mix some of your highlighter (liquid or cream) with your foundation. My three go-to highlighting creams are Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector, MAC Strobe Cream and NYX Liquid Illuminator. This will start to give your face a luminous glow, and then you can focus more of the actual strobing on the high planes of your face. Say away from anything that contains glitter, as this will make you shine like a disco ball instead of giving you the appearance of a "from within" glow.

Once you have found a highlighter that best suits your skin type, you want to place it specifically on the high planes of your face, and do so sparingly. A little goes a long way. I prefer to apply highlighter with my fingertips because it gives me more control over where I place the highlighter. Also, the warmth of your fingers will help smooth the products on your face so it looks more like part of your skin. You also want to keep other parts of your face matte so as to avoid looking too shiny -- so where you would place the highlighter on the tops of your cheekbones, you want to choose a matte blush. If you're using a luminous foundation, you may want to avoid mixing highlighter with it because it already has those properties included.

Strobing is a great technique to achieve a beautiful, luminous and healthy glow, but as with any technique, it is something that can take a little practice. The most important thing to remember is to use just enough product to illuminate your face, but not so much that it's overly shiny.

So, the next time you want to get an allover healthy glow, pull out your favorite highlighter and start strobing! Good luck and have fun with it!

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About Anne

Anne Hudson, a self-taught makeup artist in Cape Girardeau, has had a passion for makeup since she was old enough to know what powder was. She could write a book about a tube of red lipstick, but for now, she's offering her best tips in Flourish magazine. Got a question for Anne? Send it to rgautschy@semissourian.com, and you might find the answer in a future issue of Flourish.