Last year, all anyone could talk about was contouring. And avocados and Kim Kardashian. But mainly contouring. This year, a new trend has taken off in the beauty world: strobing. We’re going to show you how to do it, with SEVENTEEN, exclusive to Boots.
‘It’s contouring, but in a different way,’ explains Vanesa Guallar, SEVENTEEN’s make-up artist and brand ambassador. ‘It’s a way of highlighting your face to maximise your skin and your best features.’
For this, leave your brown contour shades behind – this is all about creating a bright, glowing face, rather than perfectly chiselled cheekbones. Basically, it makes you look like you’re constantly bathed in light like an absolute superstar.
Probably the best thing about it, is that it’s not as difficult as contouring. In fact, it’s actually pretty easy to do it once you’ve got the basic steps down, which, luckily for you, we have. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1
First things first: your base. Start with a mattifying and colour-correcting base like the SEVENTEEN CC Cream, £6.99 for 30ml, Boots.com, to create an even skin tone so it’s ready to get strobed. This one isn’t too mattifying either – it contains brightening technology to stop it from looking too flat – and adds to your overall glow.
Step 2
Time to conceal any spots or dark circles. The SEVENTEEN Lets Face It Face Palette, £7.99, Boots.com, is a good choice because it contains two concealers: one yellow-toned and one pink-toned which do a good job of cancelling out dark circles depending on your skin tone.
Plus, you can use the powder to mattify any areas that you think are a bit too shiny already, and leave the cream blush for another time – we’re all about the highlight right now.
Step 3
Let’s start strobing on the cheekbones because it’s the most obvious area. Take the SEVENTEEN Skin Wow Primer, £5.99 for 30ml, Boots.com, pump some onto the back of your hand and apply three dots along your cheekbone. Then you can use your fingers (or a brush or sponge, if you prefer) to tap it into the skin, gently blending it.
‘It’s all about the blending!’ Vanesa tells me. Repeat this on the other side.
Step 4
Using the same highlighter, apply it to the centre of your forehead (basically just above the middle of your eyebrows), down the centre of the nose, the cupid’s bow and the middle of the chin, and blend again. Putting it on the high points of the face gives the strobe effect.
Step 5
Depending on how intense you want it, you can top it up with a powder highlighter. We used the SEVENTEEN Instant Glow Shimmer Brick in Gold Bronze, £4.99, Boots.com with the SEVENTEEN Powder & Blush Brush, £2.99, Boots.com to give the cheekbones an extra pop.
Step 6
To finish, use the powder highlighter on the brow bone and the inner corner of the eye using the SEVENTEEN Eyeshadow Brush, £1.99, Boots.com. This will really open the eye up too.
Step 7
Warn everyone around you to wear sunglasses because you are strobing hard right now.
*You know what’s great? Order at boots.com or at your local store today by 8pm and collect free in store from 12pm tomorrow. Perfect.
See boots.com/ordertodaycollecttomorrow for more info. Monday-Saturday only. Geographical exclusions apply.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.