Lipliner and beautiful lips?

[Carolynn]

Ummm, this is a reprint from a TS board in answer to doing lips. It seems interesting and useful, with some interesting tips.

Hi Jamie,

I sometimes think I am in a decided minority here, since I actually do like makeup... but even I usually can't be bothered to do my makeup more than once a day, or to take more than 15 minutes total doing it... (BTW, I live in a large city, and mostly work with rather conservative, often formally dressed business people -- as someone pointed out in a chat room to me last week, that may make a difference to how much makeup you want to wear. They also commented that rural folks tend not to wear as much as urban types...)

But it did take a while to learn how to do it that fast -- I recall taking well over an hour from starting with a three step skin cleanser & moisturizer routine, to out-the-door fully made up, in my earlier days. Practice does make perfect (and adds a lot of speed and precision.) And you want to develop a subtle touch -- when you are done, you want to look like you are not wearing much, if any, makeup...You, only better. :-)

[Okay... I don't always follow that rule. I like a cats-eye look to my eyes that is somewhat obvious, but it is still lightly and finely done, not the piled on "drag queen" look.]

Anyway, I don't like to extend the lip line much (it tends to look artificial), but I do "enhance" things a little with my upper lip. Exactly how I do so varies a little with the look I am going for.

For an evening look, I usually just touch up my daytime look -- but sometimes I go more dramatic, if I am going to be in a dark nightclub, for example. When I do that, I use a darker shade of lip liner (MAC "Plum" liner), blot, then add a darker lipstick such as MAC "Satin Faux" (which is nearly identical in shade to the "Plum" liner), applying the lipstick with a MAC # 316 lipstick brush. (BTW, that particular brush is one that you can load the brush with extra lipstick, then detach the tip and store it into the small, hollow handle. So you can do touch-ups later without having to carry a larger lipstick around in your purse, just the smaller, thinner brush...). Use a brush to apply, rather than just the lipstick itself, as you can work less of the product onto your lips, painting carefully to get the best coverage, and to blend the edges of the lipstick and liner. (Less important if the two shades match, but sometimes I use brighter shades with the same liner). Press the lips together, and work them against each other (carefully! Don't smear outside your lip liner...). Blot on a tissue, to remove excess product.

But although the above liner is long lasting, the lipstick is not terribly so. It tends to leave marks on glasses (and people <g>), and it does need to be checked and re-touched during the evening.

For a daytime look, I prefer a more durable combination, that won't come off if I have a hot drink, or smear at all easily. (Though you can, if you really work at it...) The following look was suggested to me by a MAC artist for dental visits (done right, it is that durable, and smear-proof), but I find I like it so much that it is almost the only look I use, these days.

Start with clean, dry lips (the liner won't adhere well to moist lips). Take a high durability pencil such as MAC "Whirl" lip pencil (a shade that is very close to my natural lip color), and start by shading inside your natural lip line. Work mostly with the side of the pencil tip, rather than directly with the tip, and lightly shade the entire lip as a foundation. Then go back and carefully extend beyond the lip whenever you feel you need it. For me, I enhance the "poutiness" of my upper lip line, by going maybe 2 mm above the "peaks" of my upper lip, doing so in a way that moves the peaks slightly outwards. I then taper back down from these peaks to my natural lip line, blending in near the corners of my mouth.

BTW, genetic males on average have proportionately wider (surprise! I know that sounds backwards, but it is true), and thinner, lips than GG's, so if your lips are average, don't extend the lipstick totally to the corners of your mouth. You can enhance the fullness of your lips better if you only exaggerate slightly the middle portion, then make the mouth appear narrower by leaving the outer corners alone (or even using a touch of concealer slightly onto the dry portion of the lips at the corners, to narrow the appearant width). If you extend fully to the corners, you will have to go farther outside your natural lip line, to create natural looking lips. The enhanced upper lip line also works best if you bear in mind that with naturally fuller lips, would normally come an increase in the depth of the vertical "hallow" in the centre of your upper lip, from the lip to the nose. You can enhance that as well, by using just a touch of a neutral shade of eyeshadow to add a false "shadow" in this hallow, slightly (slightly! This is a subtle effect...) broader and darker towards the lip, tapering and becoming lighter upwards. (I usually use a neutral shade on my eyelids, so I just give a quick, light, touch under my nose, with the last little trace of shadow that is left on my brush after doing my eyelids.) If desired, the vertical ridges can be enhanced as well, by adding a lighter than skin tone concealer to them, before you apply foundation and blot powder. Just keep in mind where you plan to place the "peaks" of your enhanced lip line, and create brighter "ridges" down to those points, rather than your actual upper lip points.

Anyway, once you have the lip line drawn to your satisfaction (remembering that your concealer works as a nice eraser, if you use a fine tip brush to apply it), press your lips together and briefly work them against each other, to even out the shading and work it in. Blot excess on a tissue, then set the colour with a light touch of blot powder. (Press your lips together again after applying powder.)

Finish the look by adding a touch of long lasting gloss. I like MAC Lac Luster ("Coy" shade), applied remembering that a little goes a long ways. With very little product on the built in application brush, put just a dab of product on the upper lips under the peaks, then a touch in the center of the lower lip. Press your lips together and work them to spread the product, remembering to be careful that you don't spread it beyond your lip line. Blot the excess with tissue, then set it with a touch of blot powder.

The result will last most of the day, though after eight to twelve hours you might notice some "pealing" of the products on the moister portions of the mouth. It is easily removed by scraping the lips against your opposite teeth. And as the whole look is very close to my natural shade, the portions that are "bare" do not show, but blend in. You can eventually wear the product off, but it takes a while... If I don't use makeup remover before going to bed, it is usually still in place and looking good the next morning. (Not really recommended, since I am told it can cause problems with the skin to sleep with makeup on -- but using high end brands like MAC, I have never had a problem...) It will handle eating and drinking, or exercise, without much difficulty. But remember the comments about using little product -- if you pile it on thickly, it will cake up faster...

Hope this helps (and didn't put you to sleep, with TMI -- Too Much Information).

Tia

[Virginia]

Yes, Lip Liner is essential, it seems as you get older, it becomes even more critical as lip stick tends to "bled-out" I have stated before, but I notice it seems to only have the efect when I am home, I think that lipstick on the rim of a coffee cup is sexy, but that is just one girl's opinion. I don't guess it is as sexy when you are out to dinner as you begin to realize that it is part of your make-up and you have left it on a "foreign object."
Anyway, thanks for the pointers and yes, "practice does make perfect," I am even getting better at putting on eye make-up.
Virginia