The business of beauty takes talent and time to learn tricks that allow you to do your face up flawlessly. Lipstick is an ideal way to finish your look and make it pop. Some do a stunning job with bold colors that stand out while others prefer to take a more subtle approach. The thing about lipstick is, that no matter what look your going for, making it last and making it look good requires skills. Don’t worry, we have the lowdown on insider tips that will help you perfect your pout.

When you line your lips you get a to reap a variety of benefits. As long as you aren’t engaging in that contrasting hard look of 90s lips the end result is fullness and durability. Properly applying lip liner should be done with a subtle outline using the right color and then blending it into the lip. This provides a couple of advantages. First it sets forth a base to build upon.Second, adding lipliner and then melding it into the lip allows for grip that your lipstick can adhere to which promotes a prolonged look. Additionally, lipliner acts as a boundary keeping your lipstick on your lips so it won’t bleed outside of your mouth and onto the surrounding skin looking ever-so-sloppy.

To softly apply your lipliner, you can warm up the wax by lightly rolling it over your  hand or between your finger tips. Softening lip liner makes it more malleable and easier to apply properly, avoiding the pitfall of going too sharp.You don’t have to outline your lips like you would  draw an outline on paper with crayons. Using the side of the liner to make small sweeps coloring in the shape of your lips works well for a naturally defined appearance.

Choosing the right color is vital because if you are off on tone or shade you won’t get the full natural look you are going for. It will look amateur and unappealing. So chose only a hue that is close to your natural undertone. Then only go no more than one shade darker than what the color of your naked lips are. Keeping your color the right family and with the right amount of depth will give you an end result that is clean.

After you have your colors down, applying your lipliner and finishing it off for a plump appearance takes a bit of an acute eye to detail. You never want to line your lips so far away from your actual lip shape, but you can just go slightly outside of it to give them a bit more volume. Put a light amount of concealer just around the outside of your lips and blend it in. So close to your natural lip line, but just a tiny bit outside subtly colors in your liner. Follow this by feathering it down into your lips as mentioned above.

After you have your lip liner applied put on your lipstick. With a light reflecting highlighting shadow, delicately apply just a bit in the middle of the bottom lip. This will illuminate your pout and make it appear much larger.

The same way that a dab of highlighting powder can make the eyes see a fuller lip, so can the shiney properties of lipgloss. You don’t need a ton or it won’t look natural or inviting. Conservatively apply just a touch. Don’t smear it on because you will ruin your color work with your lipliner and lipstick and it may also result in too much. Put a tiny bit on your finger and tap it onto the lips then with a quick pursing of the lips it will disperse nicely providing a bit of glow. The heat of your finger and of your lips will help it meld and distribute nicely.

Lips get dry really fast, and dry, cracked lips with very apparent fine lines are going to make anything you put on them look more pronounced. It is simply going to be a hot mess for you if you don’t love on those smackers a bit before you start to color them in. Like your face or hands, exfoliation allows for a smooth surface that better welcomes makeup. It doesn’t take but a couple of minutes to scrub those dead skin cells away and reveal supple skin underneath. There are plenty of store-bought concoctions and a ton of DIY recipes that you can use to do a quick sweep of the lips before you apply your products.

Matte lipsticks look great when they are put on in the right order. Without moisture added to your lips you might as well have just not exfoliated to begin with because matte products suck the hydration right out of lips. The way to wear matte successfully is to get some high-quality moisture into your lips before application so that there is a barrier. You should also apply moisture periodically so to keep your lips healthy. Just remember that your moisturizer will need a bit of time to absorb into the lip before you put on lipstick so the two don’t mix together. 

Popular ingredients to look for in lipstick that are moisture-heavy include shea butter, mango butter, coconut butter, vitamin E, and hyaluronic acid.

A bright red hue with sparkling white teeth is breathtaking, but it is almost repulsive when there are red splotches all over your smile. After you are done putting on lipstick, never leave home without blotting with a tissue. After blotting, putting a finger between your lips and then when you pull it out, you will remove potential overages that remain on the inner side of your lips thus protecting teeth from color. 

All the work you have done to pick the right color for your skin tone and natural lip color, the blending of lip liner and the pre moisturizing is all for not when you don’t set your look. Ensuring major long-lasting lip color is as easy as dusting loose powder lightly over your lipstick and you are set.

References: Mayo Clinic, Medline Plus, PubMed, NCBI