Strobing makeup is nothing new, but it’s having a serious moment in the beauty world right now. A simple way to highlight your face, strobing gives you a youthful, dewy glow that’s less time and commitment than contouring your face. If you want to learn the ins and outs about the strobing makeup trend and how to do it yourself, you’ve come to the right place! Check out our best tips and tutorials for beginners.
What is ‘Strobing Makeup’?
Strobing makeup is a highlighting technique that allows you to create a youthful, luminous glow without layers of makeup. While highlighting is typically paired with contouring, strobing is purely highlighting and offers a fresh, dewy finish. Strobing is a simple technique that involves illuminating strategic spots on your face to give your skin a bright, glowing look.
Your glow can be enhanced further by mixing liquid illuminator into your foundation to prime your skin with brightness from the start. Strobing emphasizes the high points of your face by applying highlighter under the eyes and at the top of your cheekbone, as well as the bridge of your nose, brow bone and temples.
3 Strobing Makeup Products to Invest In
1. Maybelline Strobing Stick Highlighter
A strobing stick is a great product to have in your strobing arsenal. It makes application so easy – all you have to do is swipe and blend. This strobing stick is an illuminating cream highlighter that adds dimension and enhances your best features thanks to the creamy formula mixed with ultra-fine pearls. It boosts your skin’s glow for a targeted highlight and is available in two shades for every skin tone.
2. Benefit High Beam Liquid Highlighter
A liquid highlighter is a key part of a successful strobing makeup look. Apply it before or mix it in with your foundation to give your skin a soft glow from the very start. It will give your skin a subtle luminescence and prep it for more intense highlighting later in your makeup routine.
3. BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter
It’s also ideal to have a powder highlighter in your strobing makeup kit. This ultra-buttery formula melts into the skin for the ultimate high impact glow. It builds and blends seamlessly without ever getting too chalky or glittery, and it reflects light from every angle for your most natural, luminous glow.
5 Strobing Makeup Tips & Techniques
1. Start with a Good Moisturizer
The goal of strobing is to have more youthful, glowing skin, so the first step is prepping and replenishing dull skin with a good moisturizer. This will create an amazing base for the rest of the illuminated look. If you have oily skin, make sure to use an oil-free moisturizer.
2. Find the Right Shade for You
Like any type of makeup, it’s imperative you find the right strobing shade for your complexion. Since strobing is basically highlighting, you want to use a colour that’s paler than your skin. For light to medium skin, a pearl highlighter would for best, and for deeper skin tones, use a golden, rose gold or bronze hue.
3. Mix a Liquid Illuminator Into Your Foundation
You want your skin to look like it’s glowing from the inside out. A great way to achieve this is by mixing your liquid illuminator into your foundation. This will provide even brightness to your complexion, which is the perfect base for a strobing makeup look.
4. Highlight the Spots That Catch Light
For a seamless glowy look, use highlighter on your cheekbones, along your temples, down the bridge of your nose, below your brow bone, in the corners of your eyes and above your cupid’s bow. This will enhance your natural high spots without making you look like a disco ball.
5. Use a Powder Highlighter On Top of a Cream
To highlight the high spots above, first use a cream highlighter, then a powder one on top to magnify the colour and brightness of the products. Using both will allow you to get that gorgeous highlight strobing is known for.
3 Step-by-Step Strobing Makeup Tutorials
Easy + Simple Strobing Makeup Tutorial | Kaushal
For a dewy, summery-inspired strobing makeup tutorial, look no further. This is all you need for a gorgeous, youthful glow. She starts her routine with the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream Moisturizer, which has the slightest bit of shimmer to it to add to the highlighting effect of the whole look. She then applies the MAC Strobe Cream to the high points of her face. She also uses the Balm Mary Lou Manizer as her powder highlighter to intensify the same spots to really make them pop.
Strobing Makeup Tutorial | EMAN
This tutorial offers a great explanation of what exactly strobing is and exactly how to do it. She gives you the step-by-step on how to get her beautiful, glowing look with products like the Benefit High Beam Liquid Highlighter, the L’Oréal Magic Lumi Concealer and the Make Up For Ever HD Powder. Make sure to listen to her tips as you watch and apply the makeup!
Latest Makeup Technique: Strobing Tutorial | Tina Yong
This is another great tutorial if you want to learn the ins and outs of strobing makeup. She takes you through her entire routine which includes priming her skin with the Embroylisse Face Cream. She talks about the importance of starting with a clean, moisturized face since strobing is all about getting that flawless, glowing look. She mixes her foundation with the MAC Strobe Cream and conceals with the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer. She also places the Laura Mercier Baked Highlighting Powder on the high points of her face for a truly glowing finish!
Strobing is a simple way to get the glowing, youthful makeup look you’ve been seeing everywhere. Try these tips and tutorials to get the look yourself!
