One of my biggest beauty problems is getting lip color that lasts. There have been so many times when I’ve applied lipstick and it looks fabulous, until 15 minutes later, when it’s faded substantially and just looks kind of sad.

Then the ever-resourceful Carly sent me this link for how to wear red lipstick, and I immediately had to try A Practical Wedding’s tips out… with a few of my own modifications, of course 😉

All the red, all the time!

Step One: Line your lips and fill in your lips with lip liner.

Start with the center of your upper and bottom lips: take the time to very carefully line the fullest part of your bottom lip and the Cupid’s bow on your upper lip. Then gently, slowly, with small strokes, line the rest of your upper and lower lips.

When you’re just starting out, make the line slightly inside your lip—it will help get a more defined look and also be useful if you make mistake (if you draw outside of your original line, it won’t matter so much!).

Then, fill in your entire lip with the lip liner. This will ensure that you don’t get a weird line around your lips; instead, you’re filling in all of your lips with the same color, and providing a nice base for the lipstick to cover.

When you’re using lip liner and lipstick, you can actually change the shape of your lips (to a small degree). Have fun with it!

Step Two: Slick on lipstick over top of the liner.

Since you have covered your entire lips with the liner, you don’t need to use a lipstick that exactly matches the lip liner color. In fact, my current favorite thing to do (as pictured here) is to use a crimson lip liner and a purple lipstick. It creates a really lovely red color, whereas choosing a crimson lip liner and red lipstick can sometimes create more of a pink look. Don’t be afraid to experiment with color!

When you’re applying your lipstick, carefully color in every part of your lips with this shade.

Lip liner is one of the secrets to long-lasting lip color #beautytips

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Step Three: Blot with a tissue.

I use a regular Kleenex, fold it in half, and kiss it to blot the lipstick. Then fold it in half again and gently place it between your lips, pressing them together gently, to prevent any lipstick residue from getting on your teeth.

Might as well match those lips and nails…

Step Four: Reapply a light coat of lip liner.

Do the same thing you did in Step One, except use a lighter hand. You don’t need to get a thick crayon of color on your lips; you just want to redefine your lips.

Step Five: Apply another light coat of lipstick.

The key word here is light. Add just enough lipstick to provide the color you need!

Step Six: Blot with tissue (and clean up any edges with a Q-tip if necessary).

With this step, you’re really repeating Step Three, and then if you see that your lip color has smudged at all, just use a Q-tip to lightly rim your lips. You probably won’t have to do this after the first couple of times, once you’ve gotten the hang of it!

And that’s it! You’re done. Applying the lip color twice will make it last for hours—and it will look gorgeous.

What are your tips for getting long-lasting lip color? What’s your favorite lip color trick? Are you fan of red lipstick? Share in the comments section below!

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