Watch our video on how to strobe like a pro with Iantha Yu and Sharon Farrell.
Sharon: Strobing is almost the opposite of contouring; it is using light to sculpt the face rather than using deeper colours. We are going to be focusing on highlights today. It is an easier way of giving your skin a bit more dimension, and it is really flattering on any skin tone.
Today I am going to be using this magic product. This is Luna cream colour base by MAC. This is the number one best selling product in South Korea from MAC. Korean women are obviously really into that glowy skin look and this is the best product for the job because it has that really white, bright base. Try M.A.C. Cosmetics Cream Colour Base in Luna, $36
Iantha: To me that looks really terrifying to use, I’m not sure how to use it so…
Sharon: Well let’s get started. So I am just going to use my fingers for this. It is really, really easy. With cream products like this, you want to work your finger in to warm up the product. It makes it a bit easier to blend. So rub your finger around and then tap the excess off on the back of your hand. I will use my middle finger, you don’t apply as much pressure with your middle finger.
Iantha has fabulous bone structure so it will be really easy to figure out where to place this product. So first of all I am just going to pop it right up the very top of the cheekbones and just dab it on and the heat of your skin will really help to melt this product in.
Iantha: Do you do it after foundation?
Sharon: I would do it after foundation but before your blush. You usually want to put like on like, so if you are using a cream foundation put this cream product on straight away, and then you can powder around it. Sometimes if you pop a cream product on top of a powder product it can go a little bit cakey.
I am just bringing it a little bit around this kind of a C shape up onto Iantha’s brow bone. It’s surprising although the product looked really bright in the pan, when it actually goes onto the skin it really doesn’t. It just gives this lovely luminous sheen to the skin.
Iantha: I suppose there is a really fine line between looking too shimmery and too wet and oily. You just want to look like you have a healthy glow.
Sharon: Absolutely, so that will come down to where you place the product as well. You definitely want to avoid adding highlighter to any area where you would naturally get oily. So adding it to the T zone of your face is generally not good.
Having said that I will place a bit of highlighter on the very tip of the nose. This adds a beautiful dewiness to the whole face. It can also make you look like you have a lovely little button nose, which is quite cute.
I’m going to pop some right on the cupids bow. You know what I am going to pop a little bit between the brows to bring that forward a little bit and right on the very inside corner of the eye.
Ianthe: It is a much more subtle way of highlighting the eyes instead of using powder.
Sharon: Actually for areas where it is a little bit trickier to get the fingers in, you can just use a brush to blend this product out. I am just going to take a big fluffy brush just to make sure there are no harsh edges on that product.
I am going to leave it at that because I know that Iantha does have combination skin so I don’t want to add any highlighter to the chin because that will probably get oily and shiny by itself anyway. So you do need to adapt it to your own skin type and your own face shape too.