Let it Glow! The Best Highlighters for Strobing

There is no denying the fact that strobing is the hottest makeup trend of the year. By now, you’ve heard (and maybe seen) the “strobing” trend all over the Internet. Don’t let its fancy name intimidate you, though. Strobing is all about highlighting your best facial features. Simply put, strobing is strong highlighting without the contour. So, it’s nothing new…if you can highlight, you can strobe! Not only does strobing make your complexion look radiant and fresh, but it also takes less time and artistry as contouring. It really is the lazy girl’s way to contour!

While contouring involves applying both bronzer & highlighter to sculpt your face (and can be a little challenging!), strobing exclusively focuses on highlighting to accentuate the high points on your face. The outcome is the illusion of high cheekbones and strong features, with a luminous, glowing finish. As someone who can never contour perfectly, I am loving this new easier technique for enhancing your natural features…this is totally my kind of  ‘contouring’!

So, where to apply highlighter for strobing? The idea is to use the highlighter where light would naturally hit your face (cheekbones, brow bones, the center of your forehead, down the bridge of your nose, above your cupid’s bow and center of your chin.) Don’t spread the product all over your face, or else your glow will turn into a greasy mess. If you have oily skin, choose a matte formula for your other makeup (foundation, blush, powder) and skip the highlighter on areas like forehead or nose so that you can avoid looking too shiny.

I like using a cream or liquid highlighter as it’s easy to work with and blends easily with fingertips. Also, it’s important that you use a highlighter that best matches your skin tone to avoid a frosty look. Here’s a quick strobing cheat sheet for all skintones :

Fair Skin –  Soft white gold/champagne tones
Light-Medium skin – Pink/peach champagne tones
Olive Skin – Golden tones
Dark Skin – Terracotta tones
If you are not ready for full-on strobing and want a more subtle, lit-from-within glow, just add a few drops of your favorite liquid highlighter or illuminating lotion to your foundation and you’re good to go! So now that you know what is strobing and how to strobe your face, check out my favorite highlighter products for strobing.