Applying Lipstick: Tips
Here’s some tips on how to apply lipstick.
- Don’t play up the eyes and the mouth Women who wear heavy eye makeup and dark lipstick can look clownish. If you want to wear red lipstick, keep the rest of your makeup light. If you are playing up the eyes, keep your mouth light with a gloss or light lip color that doesn’t stand out.
- For “plump” lips, apply liner just outside your natural lipline. Dab a bit of gloss in the middle of your bottom lip.
- How to apply lipstick? I don’t believe in rules to applying lipstick. Some women use special lipstick brushes (pictured here). I own one and never, ever use it. Others use their middle finger (I once said this was a beauty faux pas and got reamed by a reader, I have since changed my mind). Most women apply right from the tube. Choose what’s right for you, as long as the color gets on the lips, you’re good.
- Use liner on your lips as a base. Lipstick will last longer if you fill in your lips with the liner first. If you’re using light lipstick, try a nude liner. Then slick your lipstick on top. Lip gloss is infamous for wearing off fast, but if you fill in lips first with the liner, the gloss has something to stick to.
- You can line before or after you apply lipstick or gloss. Some women prefer to apply liner first, arguing that you won’t be able to see the natural line of your lips if you apply lipstick first. But I find lips look more natural when I line lips after I apply lipstick.
- Never use a dark liner with light lipstick. Defined lips are great, but make sure the liner matches the lipstick or gloss. Dark liner and light lips is tacky.
- Never use a test lipstick on your lips. It’s just plain unhygienic. Instead, test lipstick on your fingertips. It’s a closer fit to your lips than the back of your hand.
