Want that Party Season Glow?

Has winter taken its toll on your skin yet? Is your makeup feeling as dull and flat as the weather outside? Bring a little light into your life and revive your face with a little strobing. Not sure what this is? Basically, it's the opposite of contouring (Who could ever get it right anyway!). Instead of receding features to enhance them as contouring did, you focus solely on highlighting or "strobing" the high points of your face, where the sun would naturally hit. And with so little sunshine these days who doesn't need a little extra help to make themselves feel luminous. So light up your life by adding a little party season glow to your face.

This look is all about dewy, glowing skin and the best place to start is ensuring you gently exfoliate your face 1-2 times a week  to rid yourself of any tired or dull skin. Always apply a good replenishing moisturiser after and leave this penetrate the skin for at least ten minutes before starting your makeup.

Strobing usually takes place after you have applied your foundation however this time of year every little helps so you can begin the process with your primer.  Try Bourgois Paris Happy Light Luminous Serum Primer,(€15.99, Boots). This lovely little primer will prepare your skin for a flawless foundation application while its light reflecting properties will peep through to enhance your natural glow.

Many people prefer to use a cream or liquid based highlighter as they give a more dewy effect however, for those of you with oily skin its best to stick to powder formulas. For those with paler skin try using a Champagne coloured highlighter, try NYX Liquid Illuminator, Born to Glow, (€10.00, Boots). Medium complexions can opt for a pinker/peach shade, use Rimmel Good to Glow in Picadilly Glow, (€6.50, McCabes Pharmacy). If you have dark skin look for a highlighter with an orange or burgundy undertone, try  Inglot AMC Face & Body Illuminator 62 (€20.00, Inglot Stores).

The trick to keeping this look fresh and not making yourself look like a Christmas decoration is to keep all other powder products you use on your face matte, this includes blush, shadows and bronzers.

 

How and where do you apply it? you may ask, well its simple really, think of the sun hitting your face, stick to the high points... cheekbones, chin, cupids bow, brow bone along the nose and for a little extra dab some into the inner corner of the eyes. Not having a great skin day?, maybe stay clear of the highlighter in that area as you do not want to draw attention to it, other than that it's sooo much simpler than contouring and really does leave you feeling more radiant and fresh faced plus it's not half as aging as contouring.