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nless you’ve been stuck under something heavy for the past year, you’ve probably heard about contouring. First popularised by Kim Kardashian and now a social media phenomenon, it’s the technique that involves using a small army of make-up products, two shades darker and lighter than your skin tone, to slim the nose and create cheekbones like wing mirrors. A face-changing alternative to surgery, yes, but its painterly stripes are a time-consuming affair (who apart from Kimmy K has space in their day for this level of colour-bynumbers expert shading?). Layers of pore-suffocating make-up also don’t sit well when the Mercury rises, something that we desert-dwellers are all-too familiar with. So it may be time to surrender your bronzing powders, as strobing is in and contouring is out.

The polar opposite to contouring, which is all about adding shadow, strobing bathes skin in light to create dimension. The technique takes its name from actual strobe lights, as the effect is just as flattering as a pop of ring-flash. But in practice, strobing is pretty simple to master. Skin-mimicking highlighters are strategically placed on the high points