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3 Tips To Make Your Lips Look Fuller & Your Smile Brighter With Makeup

Jamie Schneider
Author:
February 13, 2024
Jamie Schneider
Former Senior Beauty & Lifestyle Editor
By Jamie Schneider
Former Senior Beauty & Lifestyle Editor
Jamie Schneider is the former Senior Beauty Editor at mindbodygreen. She has a B.A. in Organizational Studies and English from the University of Michigan, and her work has appeared in Coveteur, The Chill Times, and Wyld Skincare.
Closeup beauty portrait of mature brunette woman with short haircut
Image by Liliya Rodnikova / Stocksy
February 13, 2024
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A classic red lip is, well, classic any time of year, but this week everything's coming up crimson. Valentine's Day is on the horizon, which inspires even the most casual makeup fans to sport a cherry pout. It's arguably the most effortlessly festive look, after all. 

Low lift it may be, but it's just as easy for the swipe of scarlet to transfer and accentuate fine lines, especially as the night goes on. Not to fret! Here, find three makeup-artist-approved hacks to keep your smile bold and bright: 

1.

To prevent feathering

Lipstick feathering—or bleeding—refers to when your lip color escapes from your natural lip line, often spilling into the vertical lines above your upper lip. These creases come naturally with age, and no one can evade lip lines forever (though you can learn how to soften their appearance here), but they do make wearing lipstick, especially darker hues, more challenging. 

The solution lies in the prep—namely, primer and lip liner. "Apply primer—it can be the same primer that you use for your face—around the lip area, then blot the area with translucent powder before lipstick application," Nechelle Turner, global makeup artist for Jane Iredale, previously told mbg about keeping lipstick in place

"Then, fill in the entire lip with a lip liner that is the same shade as the lipstick," she adds. The liner's waxy formula provides a barrier for the subsequent lip color, so it's less likely to bleed into the surrounding skin. 

2.

To make lips look fuller 

Your lips lose volume with age due to a drop in collagen, and a darker pigment can make them appear even thinner. So makeup artists often recommend overlining the lips when wearing red lipstick to make the final look appear fuller. 

You don't want to go overboard here and extend the line too far. The liner should still connect with your natural lip line, just hanging ever so slightly above. 

From there, I personally like to use a blotting technique with my lipstick. As opposed to swiping on the color, which requires much more precision, I take the bullet and press it into my lips, patting layer after layer until I achieve the desired color payoff. 

This technique increases the longevity of your lip color, as it presses the formula into the liner so it stays put. It also helps me slowly build the intensity of the pigment, and it results in the prettiest blurred lip effect (different from feathering). 

3.

To make your smile brighter

As you age, you may notice your teeth becoming more susceptible to staining as your enamel naturally weakens. There are of course some oral care tips to combat this (find them here!), but don't underestimate the power of color theory. 

You see, blue and purple sit opposite orange and yellow on the color wheel, so using these tones can cancel out the appearance of discoloration on the teeth. So when wearing red lipstick, choosing one with blue or purple undertones can help your teeth appear brighter and therefore more youthful. 

Not sure where to look? These burgundy options are timelessly elegant. 

The takeaway 

A red lips easily elevates a natural makeup look, but it also has the potential to accentuate common skin concerns, like fine lines and lack of volume. That shouldn't ever deter you from a painted lip—as long as you feel beautiful, that's really all that matters!—but if those woes do bother you, feel free to try these expert-approved tips above. And we have the perfect formulas below to test out. 

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