A while ago (it may have been last year, or even the year before that), I pointed out that I had been comparing recent and old photographs of myself and seeking – in a highly scientific and objective manner – to recognize which changes to my face were probably the most ageing. (You’d think it would be difficult to look at your own face in an objective way, but if you’ve spent ten years or more as a model, with people zooming in on your nose and lips and maintaining a running commentary about your eyelid colour or the spacing of your teeth, then you definitely learn to be as detached as possible!)
One of the things that I noticed was it looked as though my lips were losing their volume. And as lips tend to get less plumptious as we grow older (pretty much everything gets less plumptious with age, as collagen production slows down), it follows that thinning lips can make you look a little less youthful. I asked my friend Caroline Barnes about this (Caroline is a very experienced and in-demand makeup artist and knows all sorts of cosmetic trickery!) and she said that it’s not only about the lips losing volume, it’s about the lip line losing its definition, which in turn makes the lips seem much smaller.
We did actually film a video along these lines, if you’ll excuse the pun, and you may watch it here – but it’s only in the past few months that I’ve properly taken Caroline’s suggestions about board. (Shame on me!) She suggested utilizing a lip liner to redefine the lips and, if they’re without volume, “cheating” a bit more of a curve. My lips don’t really lack volume, however they do lack a little definition and so I’ve been using a nude lip pencil to subtly trace along the outer lines.
And does a lip liner make a difference?
Too right it does! I’ve taken to using one every time I do my makeup – what have I been playing at for many of these years? It’s like an instant lip overhaul! Sometimes I put it on even when I’m not wearing any lipstick, sketching the faintest of lines and then using a plain or tinted lip balm over the top.
Take a look at my “with and without” pictures – I’ve used a pink lip liner, that might seem odd, but I thought that it was good to choose a shade which was a little noticeable, so that you often see where I’d drawn it on, but additionally subtle enough for you to get the thought of the final effect. I don’t go about with pink lip liner on and no lipstick normally, rest assured! Here I am without lip liner:
and with:
Can you see how the extra definition provides a fuller look? I was careful not draw outside of my actual lip line, because this informative article is about redefining and not about using liner to “enlarge”. That’s a brilliant cheat, but a whole other story – I always think that’s quite a specific skill, and I’ve had many a makeup artist botch it to my face, leaving me looking clown-like and slightly grotesque.
Here’s a close-up without lip liner after which with – again, excuse the pink. I figured that it would be helpful to have the ability to see it, but now I wish I’d taken the photos using a nude one!
Note how my lower lip line is sort of smudgey and non-descript in the before picture; the liner just gives a nice, definite edge and reasserts the lip boundaries, for want of a better phrase. Lips look fuller, however the application method is foolproof – it’s simply tracing what’s already there.
I realise that I’m probably very late towards the lip liner party – I never really understood the need for it, before, but it’s bloody great stuff! A lip pencil matched exactly to your own lip shade is a thing of great magnificence (at the moment I’m using one that’s had all the writing rubbed off, so I can’t even tell you what brand it's let alone the shade!) and I shall now not be without one.
I also realise that this informative article is stating the obvious almost to the point of hilarity. I mean, “for redefined lips, take a lip pencil and trace around your natural lip line.” It’s all rather Pippa’s Tips. But there must be other people out there who have i never thought to delve into the world of liners, especially if they don’t wear lipstick.
Tell me: are you currently a lip liner aficionado? Or is it one of those makeup items you’ve never bothered to try?
