If you’d like to look more awake and generally refreshed, with a dash of J.Lo and pinch of Beyoncé, then you’re going to love strobing. As Bey’s makeup artist Sir John told the Cut, strobing, also known as highlighting, is a long-standing beauty technique popular for its ability to direct the eye to strategic areas of the face. Unlike contouring, strobing makes your face look like it’s been bathed in a halo of light, and it only requires one product. You can find extreme strobing examples on Instagram, but the Cut worked with makeup artist Cyndle Komarovski for a strobing how-to appropriate for every day.
Step 1: Start by choosing your highlighter. Komarovski generally suggests pinkish tones for fairer skin and gold tones for darker skin tones. She likes CK One Color Skin Illuminator, which she uses here. The key to strobing is to focus on the places on your face that sun naturally catches, using your bone structure as a guide. Turn to the side and gently pat highlighter alongside the top of your cheekbone in a gentle C-shape until it is blended. Note that you want to pat on top of the cheekbone and not the under-eye area — get too close to any dark circles, and you’ll just draw attention to them.
Step 2: You can also choose to pat a little bit of highlighter on the tip of the nose. Makeup artists also like patting the highlighter in a small straight line down the nose, which can minimize the shape.
Step 3: Komarovski likes to pat a bit of highlighter on the tip of the chin. However, if you are self-conscious about your chin, she recommends skipping this step.
Step 4: Don’t forget a tiny bit on the Cupid’s bow.
Step 5: The finished look.
