Sometimes our makeup look seems perfect, but when we do our lip makeup the end result is a big mess and we need to do everything all over again. In this post, we’ll discuss on how to improve your lip makeup so that next time you’ll achieve a truly flawless look.
Exfoliate and hydrate your lips
Dry and chipped lips are lipsticks’ worst enemy. You can get rid of them by exfoliating your lips with a gentle scrub, and hydrate your lips with some lip balm. Lip balms will also give your lips a slightly glossy finish. For the next tip, you will want to blot off the excess with some tissue paper.
Apply some foundation on your lips
This is actually a makeup artist’s trick to achieving that perfectly drawn lip. Apply foundation on your lips, so that you can’t really see the border of your lips. This creates a fresh canvas, and it will give your lip liner something to hold on to, making sure that nothing smudges.
Choose products that match your undertone
As with pretty much everything else, make sure that the lip products you are going to use match your undertone. This way you won’t look sick or washed out because of the colour(s) of your lip makeup. If you are olive, then choose something with a cool undertone for your darker lip products, and for your lighter products you can get away with something that is slightly warm.
Use a lip liner
Lip liners these days come in many shapes and sizes, but the classic one is the pencil. Choose a lip liner that is the same colour as the lipstick you are going to apply or a few shades lighter. If you choose one that is darker, that may give a more aged effect (which you do not want).
It’s how you apply your lip liner that can drastically improve your lip makeup routine. It depends a lot on the fullness, the size and the shape of your lips, and here we’ll try to give tips that will do the trick. However you apply your lip liner, never go beyond the line you have traced.
In case you have full lips, then trace the contour of your lips inside the natural border of your lips. In the opposite case (thin lips) trace the contour just outside the natural border of your lips.
Also, look at how thin the upper lip is compared to your lower one. In case your upper lip is fuller, trace your lower lip’s contour in a way that the look more even. If your lower lip is fuller, do the opposite: trace your upper lip’s contour just outside the natural line to balance things out a bit.
Look at your lip shape
We got a slight peek on this in the last few paragraphs, but it’s worth to give lip shapes their own space. Here we’ll mention some of them in detail.
If you see that on the upper lip it has a prominent dip in the middle, then you have a heart-shaped lip. You can emphasise your Cupid’s bow by applying some highlighter on it. You can look at Taylor Swift’s or at Rihanna’s looks for some inspiration.
Or, look at your smile. Does it stretch from cheek to cheek? If yes, your lips are wide. Celebrities like Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway have them too. You can choose to embrace them or to bring focus away from them. In the latter case, choose a nude lip or try overlining your lower lip a little. Or, if you want to take it up a notch, try an ombré lip with two shades in the same colour palette.
Also, see if your lips are just about the same height, with rounded edges and not very wide. Chances are you may have small rounded lips. With these, try avoiding darker colours and matte shades. Glossier and lighter shades will help them look their best.
Do you feel like you look sad every time you apply your lipstick? You may have downturned lips, like Lisa Elridge. In this case, apply concealer over the corners of your lips and use a lip liner to redraw the curves of your lips. Fill them in with your lipstick and use a lip gloss to give you a more happy expression.
How to apply lipstick
A lot of people “stretch” their lips when applying lipstick. This may not actually be the best way to do it though. A better way to do this is to keep your lips relaxed when you do so ,and eventually “stretch” your lips afterwards to see if you need to fill any little spaces.
Be careful with the lip gloss
Ideally, use the lip gloss only when you want to make your lips look fuller or you want to achieve the “clean girl” look that has taken the Internet by storm in these days. Otherwise, use it sparingly, because it’s not always needed. Rather, invest in a comfortable lipstick that isn’t too matte or too glossy, so you don’t need to keep using that gloss.
How to make your lip makeup last longer
This tip is a trick for how to improve your lip makeup’s wear time by making sure that it won’t budge. And it’s actually very simple: blot the excess away with tissue paper. Put the tissue paper in your mouth, as if you are eating something, and press your lips on it. This way, all of the excess makeup that could have smudged away or even worse, gone on your teeth, has been rid of. You can apply your lip gloss after this, if you want.