CREDIT: KAZZAKOVA / THINKSTOCK
Contouring, made famous by Kim Kardashian, can be a difficult skill to grasp. Luckily, strobing does the same job and is much easier.

One of the biggest trends in makeup last year was contouring and sculpting the face, which was made popular by Kim Kardashian’s makeup tutorial. This method consisted of using darker colours to shade the hollows of the face and using light colours on the high points of the face.

While this can change the shape of your face, it isn’t the quickest or easiest method. This year, the biggest makeup trend is all about strobing or highlighting.

To put it simply, strobing is comparable to contouring except you are only using the lighter colour. You want to make the highlight strong so it is the main focus on your face. The best place to apply your highlighter is on the height of your cheekbones, the bridge of your nose, bow of your lips and even your brow bone.

There are many textures you can achieve when strobing such as dewy, matte or shimmery depending on which products you use. To achieve a more dramatic effect chose something shimmery, but if you want something that is natural and can be worn on a daily basis, chose something matte.

For a dewy highlight, cream and liquids are the best textures to use. Nars makes an excellent product called Copacabana that is a beautiful, iridescent white shade that comes in a cream stick or a liquid version. The cream stick, called a Multiple, is convenient and can be used all over the face including the eyes and lips, the only downfall is that it is sheer and needs a few layers to make it look dramatic.

The liquid version of Copacabana is pigmented and achieves a flawless dewy look; the product can even be mixed in with your foundation.

To get a glittery or shimmery highlight, you can use either a cream or powder textures. A cream will hold the glitter better, but could take more layering while a powder can achieve a shimmery look in one sweep. Smashbox’s Soft Light Shimmer is an amazing soft pink powder that uses finely milled glitter to get that true strobed look. This product also blends beautifully over any blush or bronzer.

For a perfect matte highlight, it is best to use a powder product. Many brands such as Shiseido, Lancome and Nars make excellent powder highlights that come in a range of shades from white, to soft pinks, to beiges.

If you struggled with contouring and couldn’t get the blending technique down, try strobing instead. It is a simple technique that can make a huge difference to your complexion and face shape. Play with different textures and see which one works best for you.