Go with the glow

BEAUTY is a fickle business. Just when we'd got the hang of contouring a la Kardashians, a new make-up technique has come along to send us back to the beauty counter.

Strobing is the latest look being flaunted by beauty bloggers and make-up artists.

Whereas contouring was all about adding definition to the face through intricate shading techniques, strobing focuses on creating a luminous skin by means of highlighting your best bits.

The aim is to harness natural light to put your natural features in the spotlight. 

In strobing, the highlighter is key and is applied where light might naturally hit your face: so on your cheekbones, brow bone, forehead, down your nose and chin.

Touche Éclat by Yves Saint Laurent is the beauty world's iconic highlighting pen - so it's no wonder that YSL is leading the way in offering strobing lessons to customers. 

I booked in for a free lesson with Helen Shaw at YSL, Browns, York.

During the hour-long lesson, Helen cleaned and prepped my skin with an array of wonder products from the YSL armoury, including the luxurious Touche Éclat Blur primer which helps foundation slide on for a smooth, flawless finish.

"Simple and good skin-care and preparation will help create a dewy radiance and brighten up the skin," says Helen. And that's before Helen gets to work with her strobing products and techniques.

After applying a foundation which evens out my skin tone, Helen starts to build up layers of shimmering iridescence on my cheeks, brows, forehead, nose and chin, with a liberal application from the Touche Éclat pen.

The product comes in several shades, but she uses No 1 for strobing as its purpose is to act as a highlighter.

Lots of fans of Touche Éclat use it as a concealer to correct under-eye darkness, says Helen, but strobing shows that it can do so much more.

As Helen finishes rubbing the product into my skin, one look in the mirror reveals my skin to be smooth and glowing - in all the right places.

It would be a perfect day-time look for anyone wanting to project a healthy-glow skin.

However, strobing can be taken to a higher level, with a more intense highlighted look, ideal for women who like fuller make-up or are heading for a night out.

Here, Helen uses a shimmering YSL eye shadow on top of the areas first highlighted with the Touche Éclat pen. The effect is to add a bit of burnished shimmer to cheeks, eyes and the cupid's bow.
Helen recommends you finish strobing before applying blusher and making up eyes and lips.

And she likes to keep these simple - the real star of this look is the skin.

So, to finish, Helen sweeps some of the eyeshadow across my lower eyelid, and adds definition with a liquid eyeliner in black and lash-lengthening mascara. Brows are outlined with a pencil and brush.

A bright, red-pink lip colour is applied to complete the look.

A final glance in the mirror reveals a glowing skin that I feel I could replicate at home with confidence.
It's long-lasting too. After a sweaty evening of indoor tennis, my make-up was still intact, and my skin still shining with health.