The Summer of Strobe
By Alina Avery
Strobing. So hot right now.
If you haven’t heard (I’m sure you’ve heard), “strobing” is using intense highlight to contour the face, rather than trying to blend a darker color and create a shadow. Instead of creating depth, you create height and volume (yes we’re still talking about skin, not hair) by extreme highlighting.
While this is a great look for photos, strobing, like contouring, is not the most natural look in real life. My preference to interpret this trend, is to layer products to build up to an intensity you’re comfortable with. Here’s a list of my favorite products to get there:
- An illuminating primer – It’s going under your foundation, so it’ll give you a super subtle glow. It’s taking you one step closer to the strobed look and is super fast and easy. A thin layer all over the face will catch the light where the light hits you but blend into your natural skin everywhere else. I like Burberry Fresh Glow Luminous Fluid Base and the Laura Mercier Foundation Primer in Radiance. You can stop there or continue to…
- A reflective liquid – Think Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector or Armani Fluid Sheer. These formulas are super light and can be mixed in with your foundation to kick up the dew a notch or tapped lightly into the high points of the skin. I find liquids like these the most versatile and buildable.
- A cream highlight – I usually skip this step to be honest, but if you really wanted to amp up the shine, grab something like MAC Cream Color Base or Becca SSP Poured.
- Subtly glowing blush – Now is not the time for a matte blush. It may seem over the top, but a blush with a bit of a gleam will blend into your highlight and give you less of an overly highlighted look and more of a glow. Try my all time favorite, Becca Gypsy, or Clinique Cheek Pop (my faves are Pansy Pop and Nude Pop)!
- A powder sheen – I wore Nars Dual Intensity Blush in Jubilation for my wedding, the peach side as a blush and an extra layer of the gold half as a highlight. I thought it looked amazing in photos. I still reach for it on days where I really want to look bright and awake. Also from Nars, Albatross is an amazing gold.
I tried to take arm swatch photos of the products alone and layered, but my amateur photo skills combined with the subtlety of some of these shades made it hard to capture. You’ll have to settle for a selfie instead, I guess!
(Pores by #nofilter)
