The beauty world is lip crazy right now, with new products, shades, textures and in this Millennial focused world we live in. Women have become more experimental with makeup and colour, more than ever!
We have tutorials galore and women are becoming more like mini makeup artists, purchasing palettes and lip kits over the traditional ‘one lippy shade will do for me’ point of view and I love it!
For some of us, having full lips is just as important as plump skin in general, so the way we shape our lips and the use of multi tones is big in the makeup scene. Let me break it down.
image via pinterest
LIP CONTOURING
Yes, there is such a thing! Actually, every shade you apply to the face has either a highlight and shade/or shade effect, so every colour choice is more important than you think for the result you may want to achieve.
Just to recap in case you have been living under a rock and missed the contouring craze…
Highlight shade
Anything lighter or brighter than your skin tone, usually works best when in a metallic or high shine to reflect light and make an area appear larger.
Shade Tone
Anything deeper and usually more of a matte finish. These shades can be applied to the skin usually in the hollows, to assist in receding and area to give a more sculpted look.
In the lip world, it’s important to know the shades to avoid…
So if you have very thin lips, stay away from dark matte shades. Go lighter and brighter with a touch of metallic to the centre of the lip at least to reflect light and make the area appear fuller.
A great way to add depth if needed is to apply the deeper shade first (this could be in liner form too) and then a lighter/brighter shade from that colour family over the top, in the central area of the lip.
LIP HIGHLIGHTING
There are a few little tricks you can do to create a better pout, especially when photography is in use.
One being to add a highlight to your top lip, almost like tracing the lip line, especially the peak of the Cupid’s bow. This technique will reflect light making the top lip appear fuller.
Another is to add some shading directly under the middle of the bottom lip. This will create a shadow, giving the illusion that the bottom lip is fuller in the centre part.
Once a lip shade you like is applied, use a skin highlight shade to dab onto the bottom lip and keep it very central.
Once again, this will reflect light and expand the centre of the lip.
LIP FINISH
Using a bright and/or light shade is one thing to create more plump, than say using deep shades, but the finish can make a big difference.
Any lip shade that has a gloss, sheen or metallic finish can reflect light and give the illusion of a fuller lip.
So even if you like strong matte pigment, reflect light by adding a slight sheen in the centre of the mouth.
When wearing nude shades, they can sometimes disappear from your face, so defining the lip edge in a similar shade is recommended.
Yes going a darker lip liner just over the natural lip line can give more pout, but that look also could look very obvious.
My advice is to naturally line the lip edges before applying lipstick, but not filling the lip in fully, leaving the centre free of colour. Apply lipstick as normal and slightly go over lip edge again. This should create enough contrast so your nude lip does not get lost and of course, looking nice and full.
Follow Michael Brown: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Want more advice for living a fabulous life? Follow us on Instagram or join the Rescu. community by tagging #liveyourfabuslouslife in IG posts.
