Corrective Makeup for lips

The Lips: Shape and Color

The easiest and quickest way to alter a face is to simply apply color and/or texture to the lips.  A great lip color will brighten not only the smile, but also the entire face.   The key to creating a beautiful lip is creating a mouth that contributes to the overall harmony of the other features and shape of the face. Makeup artists can create subtle changes by use of a lip pencil, and a variety of textures to manipulate the shape of the lips.

The texture of the lip products may be matte, creamy, iridescent, glossy or pearlized. It is best to work with richly pigmented lip products; the makeup artist will have more flexibility; the lips can be kept deeply pigmented, or the lip product can be opaque sheered down, or gently applied on the lips with a dab of the fingertip for a softer effect. In addition, with intensely saturated lip color, there is less chance that the product will move. Layering color will make the lips look fuller and create the impression of depth and volume. In short, the selection of the lip product color and texture, together with the shape defined by the artist, will dramatically alter the appearance of the lips and, therefore, the face.

In various corrective lip techniques, the makeup artist may first choose to use concealer or foundation, and then set with powder, to create a new palette on which to better define the lip shape.

Full Lips:  In order to deemphasize the full, symmetrical lip, the makeup artist may also choose to use a neutral lip pencil and draw within the lip lines to make the lip look smaller. Conversely, to create full lips, the makeup artist may also choose to use a neutral lip pencil and overdraw the lip lines to make the lip look larger. The use of gloss and/or a bright, heavily saturated lip color will make the lip look more prominent.

Small Lips: The use of gloss is key in creating the illusion of a larger lip. The makeup artist should first, using a natural-tone lip pencil, draw the lip lines slightly outside of and wider than the natural lip lines until desired fullness is reached Deeply saturated color and harsh lines should be avoided but gloss is recommended to enhance the enhanced lip shape. 

Thin Lips: Similar to small lips, correction involves drawing just outside of the natural upper and lower lip lines and adding a gloss. The lip pencil should correspond to the lipstick color and be applied symmetrically. Lip products in red, or in light to medium tones may be used to create the illusions of larger lips.

Uneven Lips: The most challenging correction will be on those lips that are not even or symmetrical. In this case, the makeup artist may first wish to cover the lips with foundation and then set with powder. With the use of lip liner, the lips may be redrawn. The artist may first correct whichever side is uneven to match the other side; i.e., draw the even side as is, while the other side will have to be drawn to match.

Downturned Lips: In order to give the mouth a “lift”, the makeup artist should avoid sharply defining the outer corners of the lower lip. The lip line can be filled in accordingly, but the focus on the outer corners of the lower lip line should be minimized by even adding concealer and drawing the lower lip line up.

Mature Lips: For the lip line, the lip pencil in a neutral tone is used to draw a cupid bow at the top center of the upper lip. The lines from the bow’s peaks should be drawn naturally curving down. A natural curving line, directly under the Cupid’s bow, should be drawn in order to better define the lower lip line. 

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