It's taken me a long time to come to terms with the rules regarding lip liner. Thankfully, I was blessed with your average pair of lips, meaning they're not too small, they're not too big, they're just right! (Just call me Goldilips). But when I started working at Fragrance Direct, I noticed that all the girls in the office had lip liner filled make-up bags so was this a memo I missed?!
I have always associated lip liner with those terrifying 90s photographs were a brown lip pencil was a girl's best friend (How ironic that this look is now back in style!). But with a tonne of new formulas, shades and brands that are all offering us a piece of the lip liner cake, we're ready to indulge in some serious lip envy calories!
I started my lip liner journey with my trusty Carmex Moisture Plus Balm. There's nothing worse than applying lip liner to chapped, dry lips (I found out the hard way), so apply a generous amount of your favourite lip balm, get to doing the rest of your make-up and by the time you're ready to get lining, your pout will be perfectly prepared!
You can of course match your lip liner to every shade of lipstick you own but that's going to take a lot of time, effort and pennies, so try taking a leaf out of my book and find three lip pencil shades that you can adapt with a range of lip colours.
First up is Pupa's Lip Pencil in the shade 113. I love a deep berry lip, especially during the winter months. I like to apply this lip pencil by very gently shading the outer corners of my lips and then filling in the entire lip with the same colour. Although I'll be applying a lipstick over the top, using a lip liner first will intensify and lock in the colour for longer.
So remember when I mentioned the risquǸ brown lip liner shades above? Well you may want to stock up on a few of this season's hottest shades of chocolate when it comes to your S/S beauty regime (definitely don't hunt out your lip liner from the 90s, that's just gross!). Think Kate Moss, cirque 1995 when a deep, sumptuous brown lip brought out all those lovely bronzed tones in your face, perfect for Spring/Summer.
L'Oreal Studio Secrets Lipliner in 062 Brown is almost a mauve shade of brown that works really well with skin/flesh coloured shades of lipstick. Of course you can go all Jesy Nelson aka Little Mix on us and line your lips with this shade and then opt for a lighter tone of lipstick to really pronounce your lips and make the lip liner noticeable. But if you'd rather keep things low key, stick with a similar colour and enjoy fuller, plumper lips.
No make-up bag would be complete without a red lip liner, am I right? When I want to go all out for a big night out, I instantly reach for a trusty red lip, so when I realised that a red lip liner can only intensify the look, I instantly went on the hunt for the perfect one.
That's when I found Astor Rouge Couture Lip Liner in the shade Bois de Rose. Deeply red and beautifully vintage, I immediately got to pairing this with my favourite red lipstick (which is in fact Calvin Klein Delicious Luxury CrÇùme Lipstick in the shade Clear Rose, just in case you're interested!). Not only does my lip colour last all night, I can enjoy those few glasses of wine without having to check that my lipstick hasn't smeared all over my face!
So lip liner has officially changed my beauty life. Am I late to the party or lip liner a revolution? Let me know by leaving a comment below!
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