If you have small lips, thin lips, almost invisible lips or just want to give them a little more oomph then there’s no reason you can’t use a few little tips to fool people into thinking you have Angelina Jolie-esque lips, and you don’t necessarily need to use a lip plumper to achieve them…
Highlight your lips:
Highlighting your lips can cause the lips to reflect light making them look larger, more plump and healthy, there are a number of different techniques you can use to highlight your lips.
Lip gloss: A gloss can add shine and dimension to your lips and help them to appear larger but there is a certain key on how to do this. Rather than applying gloss all over your lips (which can sometimes make it look like you’re drooling!) try applying it just to the center of your top and lower lip, this will reflect light and make your lips look larger.
Highlighter: Just like how you can highlight your cheekbones and numerous other parts of your face you can also make your lips look larger by applying a subtle highlight to the cupids bow of your lip, for the most precision use a clean small precision eyeliner brush or a concealer brush to apply it. You can also highlight underneath the edges of your bottom lip to give the lips a lift and make them appear fuller
Shimmer powder: If you’re feeling a little more adventurous you can also try using a little shimmery powder highlighter in the center of your top and bottom lips.
Shading.
One of the best tips in the beauty industry to make your lips look a little larger and defined is to take a tiny amount of matte brown eye shadow or powder onto an angled liner brush and lightly shade just below the center of your bottom lip, this gives more dimension and makes the center of your lips more in focus.
Lip colour:
We all know that colour on the lips is one of the best things we can do to warm up the face and make it look more lively. There are hundreds of different colours out there, some can make your lips look larger others can make them look smaller.
It’s best to use a creamy sheen formula of lipstick as this will reflect light better compared to other formulas. In order to make your lips appear larger you’ll want to stay away from any dark shades (such as plum, deep wines, etc) and instead opt for lighter tones (or brighter!) shades of lip colours like light pinks, brighter looking nudes and of course don’t ever go past fiery reds and hot fuchsias.
Focus on the lips:
In order to draw the most attention possible to the lips try to keep the eyes quite understated so forget the smokey eyes and instead just opt for a little liner, mascara and a deep brown matte shadow in the crease to add definition and dimension to the eyes without making them the stand out of your face.
Lip plumpers:
These are also a great option for larger looking lips but should be saved as a last resort if possible. Lip plumpers work by containing ingredients which irritate the lips (such as the sting of a bee) and making them swell up, this can really cause the lips to become irritated and sore so use them as minimal as possible and if you have sensitive lips stay clear of them. Some lip plumpers which aren’t too irritating and work well are: Lip Fusion, Pixi By Petra Plumping Lip Gloss and Sally Hansen Lip Inflation Extreme. Be sure to get rid of your lip plumper after a year though as the plumping ingredients can turn bad and make the lipgloss very tacky.
Problematic lips:
If you’ve got one lip that’s bigger or slightly smaller than the other it can be challenging trying to figure out how to apply lip products in the most flattering way, so to make them appear more even use a slightly darker shade of lipstick on the bigger lip and a slighter lighter shade on the smaller lip, and unless you want to rock the ombre lip trend make sure they are almost the exact same shade or in a very similar color group!