Strobing! The New Contouring?

Hi everyone!
Hope you are all well :)
Today I wanted to talk about strobing, which in basic terms, is highlighting. However strobing is an extreme form of highlighting the face. Highlight is the opposite to contour. Contour creates shadows and makes things look slimmer, Highlighting is going to extenuate the facial feature you want to bring out the most.

 The white bits here on the face is where we would highlight normally. Highlight can be done with cream and powder products. Today I would just like to focus less on the cream products and more on the powder side of things. If you want to do cream highlight then just take a concealer or foundation or makeup stick about 2/3 shades lighter than your own shade and place under the eyes, down the nose, in the middle of the forehead and chin ( if you have a larger chin, highlight will make it stand out even more so try to avoid this area if you want ). Another option is to highlight under your contour too which I do most of the time to clean up the edges. Personally I love a really strong contour but if you don't you can skip this step also. Blend everything together and you'll have a beautiful looking cream contour and highlight.

Now lets take a step back further, before we even apply makeup. Prep the skin. I myself have very oily skin so after I have washed my face with a face wash, I cleanse my face to remove even more oil. At the moment I am using Garnier Micellar Water which can be bought in Penneys for €4.50 or any other chemists. The bottle is huge and will last you forever. After cleansing I moisturize my face, just use your normal everyday one. It is so so important to do this even if you have oily skin.

Next is the actual strobing prep! I use 3 products on the skin. First I take my MAC strobe cream which can be got in MAC or Brow Thomas, I have the mini travel version and it costs €10! I'd recommend this to anyone, even with oily skin and it's not too expensive to have a little bottle of it to yourself, a little goes a long way. Then I take my Rimmel London face primer. This smooths out my skin, over blemishes and fills in my pores while also adding a nice glow to the face. Finally, I use High Beam by Benefit, this is just the cherry on top. I only apply this on the cheeks,nose,lip and above the arch of my brow. By now you're looking some what like a disco ball but that's okay, that's what we are going for!

You should be looking something like this!

Next I just do my usual makeup routine, brows, eyes, foundation and then i get into the highlight and contour. I highlight a little bit by using a concealer under the eyes, down the nose, on the chin and forehead. I use MAC Pro longwear concealer in NC20 to do this. Then I cream contour, which I have a blog post on. Then I set my face with a powder from my Blank Canvas contour kit and now onto the strobing.

I used about 3 different highlighers to get this look so bare with me haha! 

• Products used:

1. MaryLou by theBalm €20.50
2. Melon pigment by MAC €24.50
3. Soap&Glory shimmer brick €15

• Brushes used:

1. Real Techniques duo fibre brush €30 in a set of 3
2. Fan brush from eBay €14 in a set of 32

So I applied these highlighters very generously and heavily to the face. I may have even done two layers of each! I applied them on the cheekbones, down the nose, on the very tip of my nose, as a brow bone highlight, the inner corner of my eyes, above the arch of my brow and I think that is all haha! I dusted a small bit under my contour but it's not something that must be done, I didn't find much difference in it to be honest. You can also apply this to your cupids bow (top lip) to make you look like you have pouty lips! I think I did highlight my lips, i basically highlighted my entire face! It was very wet looking in the end, Such an intense look.

I am now a huge fan of strobing but I still love me some cheek bones! I don't think contouring will go away just yet. I think it may become less harsh as the highlight begins to take over but I don't see why we can't have the best of both worlds! Intense contour and highlight? I say yay.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and maybe learned something from it :) I think strobing is great for the summer time when you have a tan ( natural or out of a bottle ). Give it a go ladies and I would love to hear your thoughts and see photos!

I shall leave you with some more selfies so you can see for yourself and also my next posts will be my contouring kits and maybe a smokey eye tutorial? We shall see :)

Smokey eye tutorial perhaps?

Thank you for reading! Xx

Contouring

Hi everyone, welcome to my first ever blog post!
I thought this would be easier to use for my makeup tips and tricks as I have a lot to say,
Facebook just isn't the correct place to demonstrate these tips and tricks to be honest.

I am not wanting to become a blogger, this is just the best format, I think anyway, to show all of these tips that I have and best way to show pictures and give reviews.

So without more rambling on lets get right into it

Contouring.

Contouring is creating shadows on your face to maybe make it look slimmer or bring out features such as strong jaw line.

The darker shadows in the picture above is where we would typically contour.

The lighter parts are for high light but that's for another post.

The picture above is a very drastic depiction of contouring but it doesn't have to be this harsh all the time, you don't have to do this everyday.

You can use cream products or powder to contour, or a mix of both.

Personally, I use both but I just cake my face with makeup!

Cream Products:

W7 Catwalk Faceshaper is about €7 and can be found in most chemists, I got mine is Sam McCauleys, as you can see it's very bronzey and this is the lightest shade I use when I'm being very pale :) A brush comes with this kit but its awful and the white 'highlight' side is just a sticky mess but well worth €7 for the cream contour.

Next up when I'm tan, I use a MAC cream colour base in the colour Take Root. This one is fairly dark compared to the first W7 one as you can see. I use this on night outs and I find it to be a great contour shade! Can be found in MAC stores and I'd say about €24 or that, the most expensive one out of the three that I use.

Last and least is this contour kit I got on eBay for about €2, literally. It was the first cream kit I got just because I wanted to learn how to do it on a cheaper product than wasting a more expensive product. This is grand, it does the job and actually blends out well. It's the 3rd swatch on my arm so you can see the colour and how good it is for the price! The palette comes with 15 cream shades in there so defo a colour to match everyone. As I said I don't use it much anymore but it's nice for a beginner. eBay Contour Kit Link!

 Brushes for Cream Products:

So to place down the cream I use the Real Techniques small pointed foundation brush:

It's just the right size for swiping on the cream into the hollows of the cheeks.

This brush comes in a set with 3 other brushes for about €30, in Sam McCauleys.

And then to blend out the harsh lines, I use Real Techniques buffing brush:

This brush is also included in the kit with the small pointed foundation brush

Powder Product:

The Blank Canvas contour kit is the only powder product I use for contouring, I do use bronzer and that but solely for contouring, this kit is the best. It's only €10 from http://www.cloud10beauty.com/ and I honestly couldn't and wouldn't find anything greater than this product. I use the two last and darkest colours in the palette to contour with. 

Brushes for Powder Products:

W7 brush that you get with the Catwalk Faceshaper kit, I find it awful with cream but great with powder. I use this to create that sharp, strong, contoured cheek look and also for the sides of the nose.

This tapered brush by Jessup, which is an eBay brand, this brush comes in a set of 15 brushes and it costs €15! I find this to be the best brush like I can't tell you how much I really love it. eBay Jessup brushes < link to the Jessup brushes.

 A large fluff brush also by Jessup and in the same kit and the brush above. I use this mainly for the sides of my nose.

And then to blend everything out I use this Duo Fibre brush by Real Techniques, but if you do buy the Jessup brushes a duo fibre brush also comes in that set so no need to be getting this one, they all work just as well :)

Honestly I wouldn't recommend the brush set if I didn't like it myself. It's perfect for a beginner or someone who does makeup on others. They do not shed hair and wash really well! Worth the €15 but take about three weeks to get here!

Well girls I hope ye enjoyed this post all about contouring. It was too long to post on Facebook itself. I hoped this helps some bit!

Xx