5 Helpful Tips for Creating Full Lips With Makeup

Hydrate and Exfoliate

Hydration and exfoliation is the key to having both healthy-looking skin and full, plump lips. To keep your pout moisturized and free of dead skin, try exfoliating weekly with a lip scrub then applying a healing lip balm at night to treat lips while you sleep. The best practice for exfoliating lips is 2-3 times per week, and you can also do this during your PM skincare routine, as you'll be taking a break from eating and drinking for 6-8 hours, giving your skin a chance to rest.

For a quick fix, try rubbing an ice cube over your lips to help them stay flake-free and to increase blood flow to the skin, causing cells to turn over more quickly and lips to look plump and full. This is an especially good hack to use during the hot summer months when you've been out all day and need an immediate cool down with added beauty benefits.

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Neutralize Your Skin Tone

If your lips have a natural color to them, take your concealer or foundation and apply it on your lips to neutralize the skin tone, so that when you go to line your lips and create a fuller looking shape, you're working on a blank canvas. Simply dab concealer or foundation on the lips with your finger evening out the color until it matches your complexion. Once that's done, you're ready to line the lips with a flesh-toned pencil that is a few shades deeper than your natural skin tone. Lining just above your natural lip line and creating a rounder, fuller shape will give the illusion that your lips are much larger than they actually are. You don't need a lot of product when doing this, so if you happen to over apply you can just blot it down with a tissue.

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Add Instant Shine

A very simple way to create a fuller looking pout is to add a clear gloss right in the center of the lips, for an added shine that reflects light. When the light is reflected in the middle of your lips, it creates a focus directly in the center causing lips to appear much fuller than what they are and draws attention away from the corners of the mouth that don't always look so full. It also helps lips appear healthy and hydrated. You can do this trick with any type of lipgloss you like, but if you don't want to change the color of your lipstick, using a clear gloss is the easiest and blends with all lipstick colors. For a precise application, dab a small amount of gloss on the center of the lips using your fingers.

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Choose Natural-Toned Hues

Bold lip colors are sometimes more difficult to use when wanting to create a fuller-looking mouth, due to the fact that they are much more noticeable and need a little extra maintenance. When you wear a softer, more neutral looking color, you can blend it out a little fuller on the lip line than you would bolder colors. Smudging the lip color along the outside of the lips helps create the illusion lips are more full and gives a nice rounding to the edges making them appear smooth. If you want to make any bold lipstick a soft stain, simply apply it and then blot down with a tissue until you get the desired color you want.

Need a little more definition? Simply round out the edges of your lipstick again with your neutral colored lipliner until you get the shape and fullness that you want to achieve. By blending the lipliner with your finger, the same way you smudge your lipstick, you're able to create a very soft, natural look that appears more refined.

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Highlight Your Cupid's Bow

If you're not familiar with your Cupid's bow, it's the small "v" shape indentation above your top lip that forms a natural point. When you add highlighter to this portion of your lip, it creates a light reflection that helps lips appear larger and fuller, which is an easy trick to enlarging your mouth's shape. You can add highlighter by dabbing a bit on with your finger or using a brush (cream and liquid highlighters work best when utilizing this tip). Blend with a small concealer brush or sponge.

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