Most women want to have fuller lips, or at least give the impression that they have fuller lips. As we age our lips get thinner. But there are different techniques you can do to give the illusion that your lips are full and youthful looking.
The first step is to apply some sort of moisturizing lip balm. You can use any lip balm, or even a thin layer of Vaseline and blot off any excess. I happen to like using Aquaphor (healing ointment by Eucerin) but you can really use anything to make your lips smooth looking. Next, you want to choose lip colors on the lighter side. Pinks, nudes, and corals are nice choices. Darker colors have a tendency to give off the illusion of thinner lips, so avoid dark colors. Sheer moisturizing lipsticks are better choices then matte finishes. Light reflects better off the sheer lipsticks than off of matte finishes, and make the lips appear fuller. The only down side of sheerer formulas is that it doesn’t last as long as matte finishes would, so you may have to reapply throughout the day.
The next step is not an absolute must, especially when using light sheer colors, but it can help filling out the lips. Line the lips in a shade that matches the lipstick color, but make sure you don’t go too far down on the skin; it will make the lips appear unnatural. If you skip lining your lips, then you can apply the lipstick straight out of the tube since the application does not need to be precise. If you do line your lips, then it’s preferable to use a lip brush for this step.
Now for the final step, you can apply a little lip gloss to the center of your lips. If you don’t want to apply lip gloss over lipstick, you can apply a tinted lip gloss and skip the whole process above, but keep in mind that lip glosses last a shorter time then lipsticks do.
Sharona Silva is a makeup artist, specializing in airbrush makeup, who works in the New York City area. Sharona recently launched her own skin care line for all types of skin. Please submit questions to [email protected]. Questions may be used in future columns; all inquiries will remain anonymous. Visit www.sharonasilva.com for more information.