Have Beautiful Lips

If you want healthy, full lips, the first step is to keep them moisturized. Lips tend to dry out easily, especially during the winter. When your lips are in good condition, you can help them look even more beautiful by using lip gloss or lipstick to give them an extra boost. Eating a healthy diet and staying hydrated will help your lips look pretty from the inside out.

Steps

Keeping Your Lips in Good Condition

1. Exfoliate your lips. You probably already exfoliate your face, but do you include your lips in your routine, too? Lips tend to get dry and flaky, so they need to be exfoliated every few days to stay in good shape. You can exfoliate your lips the same way you'd exfoliate your face, using a gentle scrub or brush to remove the dead skin cells that have built up.
   • Be gentle with the skin on your lips, which is fragile like the rest of your facial skin. Don't use a harsh body scrub. Choose one that's formulated specifically for use on the face.
   • If you want to make your own gentle lip scrub, mix 1 teaspoon of honey with 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar. Rub it on your lips to smooth away the dead skin, then rinse it off.
2. Moisturize them well. After exfoliating, apply a gentle moisturizer so that your lips stay smooth and supple. Look for a nourishing lip balm made from natural and organic ingredients like shea butter, almond oil, aloe, tea tree oil and beeswax. When you wear lip balm, you end up licking your lips and ingesting a little, so you want to choose one with ingredients aren't harmful if ingested.
   • Avoid lip balms that contain alcohol. Alcohol is often used as a preservative in cosmetics, but it's drying to the skin. If you apply lip balm that contains alcohol, your lips will actually dry out more quickly than they otherwise would. Alcohol-free lip balm keeps your lips in good condition without making the problem worse.
3. Protect your lips from the sun and cold. The skin on your lips is susceptible to getting damaged during extreme weather. A sunburn or a bout of cold weather can leave them dry and cracked. Be sure to protect your lips all year round to keep them looking soft and supple.
   • When the sun is strong, wear a lip balm that contains sunblock with SPF 15 or higher.
   • During the winter, protect your lips with a lip balm that contains a thick humectant such as shea butter or coconut oil. This will keep moisture in and protect your lips from dry, cold air.
4. Use a humidifier in the winter. If your lips tend to get extremely dry and chapped in the winter, you may want to consider using a humidifier to add moisture to the air, especially while you sleep. During the winter, the combination of cold air outside and dry, hot air indoors wreaks havoc on lips (and the rest of your face, too). Do yourself a favor and use a humidifier to keep your lips moisturized all winter long.
   • If you don't have a humidifier and don't want to buy one, you can add moisture to the air by boiling a pot of water on the stove. Let the steam from the boiling water travel throughout your house.

Playing with Color and Size

1. Choose colors that suit your complexion. Lipstick comes in every color of the rainbow, and choosing just the right shade can be a little confusing. Trendy colors are fun to experiment with, but if you want your lips to stand out in a good way, you need to know what colors complement your complexion instead of clashing with it. Have a few staple colors in your collection that you know make you look beautiful, and rotate in some trendier colors now and then to keep your look fresh.
   • If you have warm yellow undertones (your wrist veins appear green), go for warm colors like reddish browns, mauves, orange-reds, and so on.
   • If you have cool pink undertones (your wrist veins appear blue), go for cool colors with blue undertones, like berry colors, pinks, and purples.
2. Choose a texture that works well with your skin and preferences. Lip shades are available in every texture from wet glosses to thick, waterproof sticks to barely-visible creams. The texture of your lip shade really makes a difference in your appearance. For example, if you're going for a knockout look, you'll want a long-lasting, matte lipstick in a very rich hue. For a subtler affect, a tinted lip gloss that provides just a hint of color works very well.
   • Lip color that's extremely glossy, shiny, or glittery makes you look more youthful, but it can also be a little overwhelming.
   • Matte lipsticks are the go-to choice for a mature, classic look that never goes out of style.
   • Lip stains and tints are great choices for times when you don't want people to stare at your lips. Just a swipe of a neutral lip tint can make your lips appear more full and alive.
3. Apply lipstick, stain or gloss. Start with clean, recently exfoliated lips so that your color won't flake off. Make sure your lips are well moisturized, but don't apply lip balm right before you put lipstick on or it might smear. For beautiful, colorful lips, apply your color like this:
   • Start from the middle of your bottom lip and work toward the corners, applying a little color at a time.
   • Press your lips together to transfer color to your upper lip. Use your finger to cover your lip more completely.
   • Blot using a tissue to mop up extra color.
   • Repeat and blot once more. Applying your color twice will help it last longer, since the first layer provides a base for the second.
4. Skip the lip liner. When lipstick first became popular, it was formulated with ingredients that tended to bleed past the lip line, so people used lipliner to keep the color in place. Today's advanced lip color formulas don't bleed, so you can skip the lip liner unless you want to drastically change the shape of your lips.
   • If you're worried about your color staying in place, apply powdered foundation around the edges of your lips.
   • You can also use a lip liner to touch up just one part of your lips where you tend to bleed, like the corners. Using lip liner around your entire mouth may look too severe.
5. Try a lip plumping product for fuller lips. If your lips are a little thin, you might consider trying out a lip plumping product. Lip glosses and balms containing ingredients that temporarily plump your lips are available at beauty supply stores. They usually work by slightly irritating your lips to temporarily cause them to swell. Too much irritation can cause your lips to get flaky and dry, so don't plan on using these products every day.
   • You can make your own lip plumper using ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. Many commercial lip plumpers contain cinnamon, cayenne pepper, or peppermint, all of which slightly invigorate and plump the skin. To make your own, mix your favorite lip balm with a pinch of cinnamon, a smidge of cayenne pepper or a few drops of peppermint essential oil, then apply it to your lips.
   • For longer-lasting results, many people decide to get lip fillers. Collagen and other ingredients are injected into the lips to give them a fuller appearance. If you want lip fillers, be sure to find an experienced technician who comes highly recommended.

Staying Hydrated and Healthy

1. Drink water. Dry, chapped lips often happen as the result of dehydration. The simple act of drinking enough water can make your lips look much more beautiful. Plan on drinking enough water so that you never feel thirsty. Try switching out a regular cup of coffee or glass of alcohol for water instead.
2. Deal with cold sores. There's nothing more annoying than an unsightly cold sore appearing on your lips. Cold sores are caused by the herpes virus, which can be spread by kissing or sharing a drink. The virus tends to flare up when the body is under stress or the immune system is weakened. If you get cold sores, take care good care of your lips to help them heal faster. To quickly get rid of a cold sore,
   • Try an over-the-counter cream containing docosanol to make it go away faster. Other over-the-counter treatments contain alcohol, which can help a cold sore dry out.
   • Apply ice or a cold washcloth to help with the pain.
   • Don't wear lipstick over the cold sore. This can prevent it from healing as quickly.
3. Stop smoking. Among the other health problems smoking causes, it also affects the beauty of your lips. Smoking is so harmful to lips that there's actually a term for the problem it causes: "smoker's lips." Smoking causes the lips to darken in color and form wrinkles, especially on the upper lip. If you smoke cigarettes, stopping as soon as possible can help restore your lips' beauty.

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Sources and Citations

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