But who wants to keep checking their lips every five minutes? We’re busy women, right, and although we love a great pout, time is precious. Here’s how to get the most from your efforts.
1. Moisturise your lips
Ensuring your lips are smooth and soft doesn’t directly help the longevity of your lip colour, but it does create the perfect base for your lipstick.
The trick is to never let your lips dry out. Always use a lip balm with a sun protection factor when out doors, avoid licking your lips, as this dries them out even more and apply a nourishing balm or cream at night, before sleep.
2. Use lip liner
If you’ve gotten out of the habit of wearing this little hero it’s time to bring it back. Liner not only helps your lipstick wear better, it stops it from bleeding too.
Use a liner in a shade that matches your lipstick. Start by lining the outside of your lips and then fill in the rest of your lips before applying lipstick. To make one or both of your lips look fuller draw the line just outside your natural lip line. Liner is also great for keeps your lips looking shapely even when some of your lipstick has worn off.
TIP If you can’t find a lip liner that matches your lipstick go for an invisible or clear lip liner. It will work just as well.
3. Prime first
Lip primers not only hydrate and condition your lips, they also help your lipstick go on smoothly and stop bleeding, yeah!
Cover your lips with primer and leave it for a few minutes before following with your liner and lipstick. Check the product’s instructions for more details.
4. Opt for long wearing
Lipsticks come in many forms – moisturising, matte, satin, sheer, stain, gloss and long wearing being the main ones. For lasting results look for lipsticks claiming to be long wearing. The colour will stay in place for hours, depending on the brand. When it comes to surviving a meal they’re pretty good, especially if you avoid your lips as much as possible, but if you eat something oily, you will need to reapply.
5. Smudge the colour
This is a completely different approach to lipstick application. Instead of going for a clean straight lip outline and go for smudged edge instead. This works well for softer, natural shades in all types of lipstick and it can also help create the illusion of slightly bigger lips.
Skip using lip liner. Use your ring finger or sponge applicator if it has one to pat on your lip colour. A gentle touch will give you more control of how much colour you apply. Aim for a lived-in natural look.
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