Makeup artist Asya teaches women makeup techniques, and many find that lip contouring can be quite a hard nut to crack. “They are often unnecessarily afraid of accentuating their lips. They don’t want it to look vulgar or ridiculous. It’s all about the right balance of colour, texture and shape,” she says. Asya Meytuv works with a range of clients, models and photographers, but what she enjoys most is one-on-one consultations and writing about makeup. “Makeup is a language, and every woman should be able to speak it at least at a conversational level,” she says emphatically.
Lips are every woman’s source of pride and worry. We don’t always know exactly where our lips begin and end, or what lipstick colours or textures suit us best. So let’s take it step by step, taking a look at lip liner, lipstick and lip gloss, and their possible combinations.
I wouldn’t say a lip primer is an essential step, but just like with face makeup, preparing your lips is key. Whether you opt for a nourishing balm as the base, a lip mask, or an ultra-smoothing primer, any lipstick will simply look better on well-hydrated lips.
Just like eyeliner, lip liner can be either sharpened or retractable. The choice is entirely up to you, but the application technique and placement of the liner are important. Always start from the centre of the lips and draw the line directly on your natural lip line. Once we have carefully lined the Cupid’s bow and the lower part of the lips, we can continue towards the corners. You can then fill in all of the lips and use a pencil as the base, or gently smudge the line inwards.
If you want to visually plump your lips with the liner, follow the same procedure, but when you first draw the basic line, go a tiny bit above your natural lip line. Towards the corners, however, connect back with the original line, so your lips are only visually bigger in the middle and still look really natural.
With the right choice of liner colour, you can decide at this point whether to just coat the lips with gloss, or continue with a lipstick. There are no limits to the imagination and, for example, a bold lip line in a darker nude shade combined with a sheer gloss can look incredibly sexy.
We could talk about lipstick for hours, days even. But instead, I’ll say just one thing – try every colour on your lips! Only in the context of your lip colour, hair colour, eye colour and skin colour can you tell if a particular shade suits you. So don’t just choose your lipstick by sight, because new combinations can surprise you. Really, test it on yourself. And if you can’t wait for that new lipstick and don’t have enough time to try it on, our Virtual Try On can help.
Lip glosses go through different trends, but at the moment, all types are very popular. You can wear it on its own, over lip liner or over lipstick, and your lips are sure to look juicy and plumpier. This effect can be enhanced if you use a plumping lip gloss, which uses cooling or burning ingredients to make the lips slightly swollen, to temporarily plump them.
And now the most important thing – lip liners and lipsticks come in many colours and textures, and there is no single correct technique or look. Perhaps you'll find yourself suitable nude colours, muted contours or just gloss, or maybe your signature look will be a bright red or orange lipstick. The important thing is to keep on looking and trying, and to look at yourself with new eyes every chance you get.
Do lipsticks and lip liners feel easier to deal with now? Check out our video!