This Lip Liner Technique Makes You Look Like You've Had an Instant Lip Lift
Once you learn how to use lip liner to your advantage, it's like a new superhero power has been unlocked. You finally understand why your grandmother always had one hiding away in her purse all those years. Not to be dramatic, but it makes a monumental difference. Not only does it prime your lips for a more long-lasting finish that doesn't smudge or feather into fine lines, but it also feigns a fuller, plumper look overall, making it the easiest way to instantly flatter and boost your natural lips.
So, yes, lip liner should be considered an essential step in your makeup routine when planning to apply lipstick or lip gloss. Even tinted lip balm! However, how you apply it is the most important part. It can go majorly wrong, and we've already outlined some of the top lip liner mistakes to never make. Luckily, there's a new technique for applying lip liner that makes it easy to understand and instantly gives your pout a lifted look, instead of dragging your lips down.
Coined by makeup artist and founder of Makeup by Mario, Mario Dedivanovic, this lip-lifting liner technique is here to help you put your best pout forward. While most believe that you need to overline your entire lip line, top and bottom, to achieve a plumper, fuller look, it's actually more about placement. Dedivanovic recommends using a lighter hand and only overlining one key area: the Cupid's bow.
Courtesy Makeup by Mario
Here's how to master the technique at home.
Step 1: Using your lip liner of choice (Dedivanovic recommends his Ultra Suede Sculpting Lip Pencil that comes with a built-in blending brush), you'll want to start by slightly overlining the upper lip line only on the Cupid's bow area. From there, extend the lip liner towards the outer corners on the edge of your natural lip line. These outer sections shouldn't be overlined. Overlining the Cupid's bow makes lips appear fuller and more enhanced.
Step 2: Next, slightly overline the center of the bottom lip line, and then extend the liner upwards towards the outer corners of the mouth, moving the liner back inside the lip line. You're mirroring the same technique as used on the top lip. On the bottom, this creates the illusion of a lifted lip.
Step 3: For a more natural look, softly diffuse and blend the lip liner from the corners inward with the custom brush on the aforementioned lip pencil or by using a clean eye shadow brush.
Step 4: Finally, complete the look with the lipstick of your choice. (You can't go wrong with Charlotte Tilbury's signature Pillow Talk Matte Lipstick.)
As a result, you get fuller-looking lips without pulling them down with too much overlining. It's less work, less room for error, and turns out subtle and flattering. If you're a visual learner, watch a demonstration of the technique here. Now, how about a fresh lipstick shade to pair with it?
