Lips, Lips Baby

I have negativ lips. Compared to my husband’s pillowy plush lips I have little angel hair pasta lips. You could say I have flaps of flesh that help me talk. Ok, its not that bad, but I am envious of so many of my friends who have the lips of a muse. But hey, fake it till you make it, right?

You sick of hearing about contouring yet? Well tough, contouring is raging on harder than ever in 2015, and we are bringing the craze to our lips! That’s right, lip contouring. At least a form of it.

Here are some tips that I have found work INCREDIBLY well to make my lips appear fuller and bigger without it looking like a drag (which is fine if that is what you are going for, but my guess is for most of you its not)

 

Here is a bare-lipped picture, just so you can see for yourself how much these help!

The Lip Ombre (creates a plumper lip, and thus fuller ones)

Ever hear about how nude makes your lips bigger while darker or brighter colors make them smaller? Well its true. Sadly, in my opinion, the nude lip on most people looks like the dawn of the zombie apocalypse or the sad lips of a corpse.

I mean seriously, I feel like I look sick in this picture. Ok, it may not be that bad (if you like pale lips I apologize sincerely) I just don’t think it is extremely flattering on me.

Here is a simple, but epically awesome trick to being able to wear a stunning nude, but keep it in the realm of the living

Nudes are close to your skin tone, allowing eyes to not necessarily see its beginning and its end, thus making it appear bigger (our eyes love to complete shapes, thus darker outlines causes the eye to see that shape, whereas something lighter leaves the eye wandering more, expanding it. Make sense?)

Our goal is to trick our eyes into expanding those lines even more.

Fill in your lips with a nude color (I used ‘Istanbul’ from NYX), next take a shade 2-4 shades darker that is in the same family. You want to stick with similar undertones. if your base is a brownish nude, a pinkish nude may not look as natural.  Start feathering your darker shade into the outer corners of your lips (I used ColorPop’s Lippie Stix in Lumiere).

Use your finger to pat the color into the original base. This will feather the colors together making them blend seamlessly (but still both be present)

 

This creates a naturally pouty look. What is darker recedes, and what is lighter is pulled forward- this means the center of your lips look more full compared to the outer corner!

 

Also, I apologize for the slightly different angle.. that also makes it look more pouty, haha! But I promise this trick does work.

Bonus: the light nude color is more of a highlight with the darker shade balancing it out- no more zombie nude lips!!

I mean really, how much more natural does this lip look? No more washed out lips!! You can’t even tell that there are two colors here- and that is how it should be. You are creating shadows, not creating a divined ombre. Hence the color only being 2-4 shades darker.

.

 

This is an awesome trick I use for bright or dark colors too! As we discussed above, those can be limiting and minimizing. So of course I have to wear them all the time! (I hate people telling me what I cannot do, have I said that before?)

I LOVE wearing a dark burgundy on the outer corner of my blue toned reds, or a deeper brown on a stunning mauve. I have even done black on a gorgeous dark plum.

Here I have a vibrant purple from ColorPop in the shade Grind with Nars Audacious Lipstick in Liv in the outer corner.

You do not have to stay within the same undertone, however your lips will end up loping more artistic than voluminous. You want to be creating shadows, not necessarily fading different colors together (though that does look super cool)

.

.

The Lip Liner (creates the appearance of larger, fuller lips)

Alright, This one is awesome for physically making your lips appear larger verses just plumped.

For this trick you will want a concealer or liner 2-3 shades lighter than your skin tone. Outline your lips with the lighter shade and blur the edges with your fingers so that there is no harsh edge but a gradual fade into your regular skin tone.

Next, take a lip liner in either your natural lip color or one slightly darker, just stay near your natural lip color! Line your lips, but instead of doing so in the traditional fashion, draw on top of your natural line verses inside it.

Does that make sense? Think of a coloring book, instead of drawing inside the picture, follow the thick black outlines.  I also then take my liner and lightly feather it into the center of my lips so that my entire lip has color on it. Pop on a lip balm and you have an incredibly long lasting, natural looking lip!

plus- LOOK AT HOW MUCH LARGER THAT LEFT SIDE LOOKS COMPARED TO THE RIGHT!! This is my absolute favorite trick. Your lips just look so soft and round without looking like they are actually over drawn. By tracing on top of the line it is drawing outside of your lips by millimeters, thus  expanding your natural contour but in such a dainty way that you can barely even tell.

I don’t know if you can tell here- but my upper lip is so much more defined, visible and plump compared to the bare lipped picture!

The Product I used above is Becca’s Nude Liner Plump and Define Lip Pencil. I AM OBSESSED. I used to just use my concealer, which is obviously fine, however this little thing is perfection for traveling or even just for simple convenience since it has the highlighting pencil on one end and a contouring/ base shade on the other! I have mine in the shade ‘Nougat’. So easy to use, so awesome. It blends beautifully and has nice payoff!

.

.

The glossy Center (plumps the lips, making them fuller)

 This trick is the simplest, as well as the most widely known. But I figured I should still include it! I prefer this style over the above explained liner look. I think they complement each other well! It is also what is in the picture haha. Alright, so just as light colors draws things forward, so does shiny  color! Gloss is one of the most traditional techniques in how to make lips appear fuller. I personally am not a gloss fan. I love it on other people, I just don’t like it on my own lips! But I have found two ways that I love wearing it (occasionally)

First, instead of applying gloss all over my lips I merely place it in the very center of my lips! This way it create a poutier, fuller look without being an overwhelming mirror glare (I really am not hating n gloss, I promise!)

Next, I like glosses as long as they are silky, balmy gloss with more of a sheen than that wet look. Hourglass makes stunning balmy ones that have a stunning kind of shine that is not overwhelming. Here i am wearing NYX’s buttergloss which I absolutely adore for the same effect at 1/2 of the price!

Or of course,  you could combine all the above! I do it all the time. lets be honest.

.

.

Alright, that is all I have for today. I really hope this inspired you to play around with some new techniques! Let me know if any of them worked particularly well for you! Or if you have your own trick that I didn’t mention, please share!

Hope you are having an absolutely stunning day (cause I am tired and could use a nap, haha)