This Lip Balm Is My Secret To Fuller-Looking Lips & Effortless Color

The older I get, the worse I get at makeup. In my early 20s, I could nail a wing in no time. In high school, I'd do my friend's faces before school dances. I could blend together megawatt eye shadows and rock a bold lip and contour my cheekbones to the heavens. 

Nowadays I consider myself done up if I've applied highlighter. To be fair, my skin has gotten better as I've gotten older (less acne, more glowy), so I tend to just enjoy minimal makeup more. 

One way I've learned to pull a look together fast is to accentuate my lip color and shape. Much like a brushed-up brow gel or coat of mascara can help you feel polished in no time, a bit of well-placed lip product can really do wonders. Here, how I do it. 

I have a double lip line. In fact, lots of folks do! It's fairly common—and honestly, most folks will go their whole life without thinking twice about it. However, you may have recently been introduced to the concept on social media as lots of people are discovering what exactly the term means. 

To start, I always apply a light layer of mindbodygreen's newly reformulated lip balm. It makes for an excellent hydrating base as it contains antioxidant-rich botanical oils (like organic moringa seed oil) as well as plumping sodium hyaluronate (a smaller version of hyaluronic acid for deeper penetration). Not only will this smooth out the skin, but it will provide lasting moisture—that way, you won't get cracks and fine lines as the day goes on. 

After giving it a few seconds to settle, I take my lip liner of choice. My daily look is fairly nonfussy, so I like mauve-y hues that mimic my natural shade, such as Tower28's OneLiner Multi-Liner in Work Of Art. 

Here's where the tweak is: Rather than lining the entire lip with the pencil, I just trace along my cupid's bow on top and in the center of the lower pillow. (If you'd like even more volume, you can overline the lips just outside the border.) I do this with a very light touch, then shade in the lips themselves. 

As for the corners of my lips, I add a thin line of concealer to cover up the double lip line. Using Jones Road The Face Pencil, I very lightly add pigment, pressing and blending outward as I go. This minimizes the corners of the lips, while the color (and therefore attention) is concentrated in the center. 

Finally, I top it off with another layer of mindbodygreen's lip balm. It has a satin-like finish (read: not too shiny but never dull) that subtly reflects light. While topping it with the second layer, I just gently blend in the lip liner with my finger—removing any striking evidence it was there in the first place. When I'm done, I'm left with a color and shape that's just an elevated version of my own.

As I noted earlier, this requires minimal refreshes throughout the day. One of the balm's main ingredients is a special castor oil, which is actually an eco-friendly dupe for petroleum jelly. It hugs the lips, offering a protective coat that has staying power. 

The above look can certainly be tweaked as needed for your own lip shape—the liberating thing about makeup is that no advice is universal for all folks. So even though I like to do my lips this way and use these particular products, you're more than welcome to play around with different techniques and products to get the final effect you want.

Really, the only thing I strongly encourage you to do is a double layer of balm (one prep, one post) for better wearability. Other than that? Feel free to color outside, inside, or on no line at all.