Painting on lipstick can provide a dramatic or high fashion look. It also accentuates lip shape, which stops character from getting lost in front of the camera. Some people wear lipstick on a daily basis to brighten up their complexion and it is one of the powerful makeup products that helps you put on a face for the outside world.
Building Structure for Thin Lips
Thinner lip shapes are often made-up to look fuller for the camera. This creates an illusion for photographs but can look a little too obvious close-up. Whatever the occasion when plumping lips, use the lip line as a guide to fill out the shape gently, rather than drawing on a much larger mouth. You could also experiment with neutral and bright shades, such as nude, tangerine, coral and tomato red. These draw attention to lips without making them look smaller, and also show-off a broad smile.
- Hydrate lips with a moisturizing lip balm, containing nourishing natural oils rather than just protective ingredients. This plumps up lips to their natural fullness.
- Blot off excess balm after a few moments.
- Blend a tiny dab of concealer around the outside of lips with a finger. Blocking out colour reveals the contours of the mouth and makes it easier to draw right up to the lip line. Some people lose colour from their lips as they age and then only apply lipstick where their lips are still rosy. They might believe their lips are shrinking when it is just the colour fading.
- Shade in your lip line with the side of a lip pencil. Go right up to the raised edge of lips to find the actual lip line.
- Draw a little outside the lip line only if you want to make lips appear fuller.
- Fill in lips with a creamy or moisturizing lipstick formula. This ensures that they stay hydrated and plump all day.
Smoothing Dry Lips
Dry lips often suck in the moisture from products, so lipstick fades quickly. Achieving a smooth colour application on dry lips also requires preparation.
- Exfoliate lips gently, to remove loose skin. The best exfoliation prep for lipstick application is sweeping a liquid exfoliant over lips on a cotton pad. This contains alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), which remove flaky or crusted skin without stripping or chaffing lips. Try Aveda Botanical Kinetics Exfoliant ( £17/ $27 150ml) Alternatively use a rinse-off lip scrub.
- Apply a lip balm containing nourishing and hydrating ingredients.
- Leave lip balm on for as long as possible before blotting off with a tissue. This leaves lips supple but not greasy.
- Line lips with a pencil, using the side to shade a softly defined line.
- Apply lip colour with a brush, which helps to smooth the product down without it catching and looking cakey. If lips are prone to looking chapped or shrivelled, avoid matte, chalky formulas.
- Dab on a little gloss if you want a high-shine, moisturised appearance
Lipstick Bleeds or Lips are Lined
Lipstick sits so perfectly on smooth, young lips but as we age it shifts around, gets into the creases and then often bleeds. This also happens to anyone who has a dry lip line and is common with smokers of all ages. Applying lipstick to prevent this keeps a strong lip shape and is also necessary for long photo shoots, when constant re-application and tidying interrupts the day.
- Moisturise lips, paying special attention to the outside where vertical lines encourage lipstick to bleed.
- Line just outside the lip line with a wax pencil or waxy concealer pencil. These place an invisible barrier around the lip that helps to stop lipstick bleeding. For lifelong smokers or those interested in anti-wrinkle skincare products, creamy fillers that also have a plumping effect on the skin are made by some premium skincare brands.
- Feather small strokes of lip liner pencil around lips to get a defined shape.
- Use a lip brush to fill in lips with lipstick.
- Blot by pressing lips to a tissue. Then reapply another fine coat of colour. This helps provide a stain rather than a single thick layer, which will slide off more easily. Avoid very greasy, fluid or shiny looking formulas, which can be prone to running.
TIps for Lipstick Application
- Matte lipstick formulas are an ideal way to wear a bright colour on full lips, especially if glossy or shiny finishes make you feel too made up. Reminiscent of classic looks from vintage Hollywood in the 1930s to 1960s couture, matte formulas come in distinctive colours and are usually available from high-fashion or artistry brands, such as Mac and Nars.
- Very dark colors such as plum and wine make lips appear smaller than neutral or brighter tones.
- Blending a very little facial concealer around the lip line makes the colour appear crisp. It also has a slight highlighting effect, which enhances lip shape and can make lips look a little fuller.
Gaining confidence with perfect lipstick application is not only for those addicted to wearing bright red lips every day. Most 20th century vintage looks involve lipstick and for basic makeup artistry, applying a perfect lip can tie together a whole design. Lipstick is one of the most fun yet ritual makeup products we still wear, with a long heritage that we pay tribute to with every stroke of color. Getting an application perfect makes painted lips look amazing.
Shefali Choudhury - Writer and visual artist, Suite Beauty topic editor, Shefali spent 10 years in professional makeup artistry from beauty to blood ...
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