Lip shapes
Thick Lips – Select Natural Colours and darker shades where possible, avoid bright and or glossy colours as they make the lips standout even more. To reduce the appearance of thick lips:
- Blend foundation over the lips to disguise the natural lip line.
- Apply a darker lip liner (pencil) inside the natural lip line to create a new line. See Top Tips below
- Fill in the new lip area with the desired shade using a lip bush
Thin Lips – We all like lush lips yet not everyone is born with them, so we have to be a little creative. Consider selecting brighter, pearlized colours (kroylan do a great range). Avoid darker lipsticks, which will make the mouth appear smaller. To achieve a fuller lip:
- Apply lip liner outside your natural lip line, not too much around 2-3mm is generally sufficient and feather in the lines (see top tips below).
- Apply Pearlized lipstick to the lip area, using a combination of two shades makes the lips really pop. Apply a darker shade (red based) around the lip line and in the corners only leaving a natural skin centre. Then apply a pink based shade in the centre blending outwards works great.
Small Mouth – When you line the lips extend the line slightly at the corners of your mouth, with both the upper and lower lips. Employing a dark tone to the lips will help to give the appearance of a wider lip / mouth.
Vertical Lines around the Lips – These can be due to age or as a result of smoking. Applying a nude pencil around both the upper and lower lips will help to fill in some of the lines, once you have drawn around the upper and lower lip blend into the lip using a clean brush. You can now line the lips with a lip lining pencil in the required/desired colour, feather inwards for a nice crisp outline. Apply a MATT cream lipstick to the lips, do not use gloss on the lips as this may bleed into the lines around the mouth.
All lip shapes can be adjusted / corrected with a little practice and selecting the right lipstick / Lip Stain shade for the job. I ALWAYS feather my lip liner for myself and on any clients I apply a lip to, how I do it and why are listed below:
Eyebrow Brush
TOP TIP
I find it useful to outline lips with a sharp lip pencil before filling it in. My favorite go to shade currently is MAC’s nighmoth. When you generally line a male lip due to the relatively large paws and hair follicles, particularly on the upper lip, you often find that you have a bumpy line. I can best describe this as a “dot matrix printer effect”. The line needs to be smoothed out and blended inwards to achieve a nice controlled finish. I use a thin brow brush which I often refer to as a cutting in brush. When you “brush” along the existing lip line you can stretch the line or correct the shape as you go to ensure you achieve a perfect lip shape. This smooths out the outer lip line in ready for the application of your lipstick. I have listed below the basic technique for applying standard lipstick.
How To Apply Lipstick
Listed below is a simple step by step guide on how to apply lipstick.
- Select a lip liner pencil that complements your colouring and the colour theme of your look/make-up. You can use a shade slightly darker than the finished lip colour.
- Using a cosmetic pencil sharpener, sharpen the pencil to a reasonable point.
- Open your mouth slightly, outline the lips, carrying out lip correction as necessary. Begin the lip line at the outer corner of the mouth, and continue to the centre of the lips. Repeat the process on the other side of the lip, commencing at the outer corner of the mouth. At this stage, I feather the line as pointed out above.
- Using a lip brush apply a coating of your desired shade yo your lips being careful not to go over the line you have already created. Be sure to get in the corners of the mouth.
- Apply a clean thin facial tissue over the lip area, and gently press it onto the lips. This process known as blotting, removes excess lipstick and helps to fix the colour on the lips.
- The application of translucent powder on the first application of lipstick will make the lipstick longer lasting.
- A second light application of lipstick may then be applied to add depth (not too thick).
- If desired, lip-gloss may be applied over the lipstick to add sheen.
