How to Have Fuller Appearing Lips Without Injections or Expensive Products

LipFusion, Lip Venom, Too Faced Lip Injection are all costly lip products that produce an irritation on your lips that makes them swell for a few minutes to several hours. Users report various degrees of success (I personally am a LipFusion fan as well as Lip Injection, whereas my sister prefers Patricia Wexler's lip plumper and Lip Venom) but many users do not like the cost, the stinging of the irritants that cause the plumping, and for many they just don't work. Even if you use these products, you will still want to employ some simple make-up tips to enhance your lips. And now that you know about them, if you look closely, you will notice even the likes of Angelina Jolie to apply their lip makeup this way to further enhance their mouth.

Always moisturize your lips. Moist lips are at their natural plumpest, and the wrinkles and creases and cracks that happen when your lips are dry make them look smaller. Your lips have no means of getting moisture naturally, and without protection can easily crack, wrinkle, and chap. Many chapsticks and lip creams contain a sunscreen; your lips are all just as affected by the sun as the rest of your face. Regardless of age, chapping looks bad on males and females. Carmex is a good product to avoid chapped lips and is super cheap. Some ways to get your chapped lips unchapped include applying Vaseline to your lips, then pressing a hot wet washcloth onto the surface of your lips to soften, and exfoliate VERY LIGHTLY with the washcloth or an old toothbrush to remove the flakes. Apply another coat of moisturizer, even light face creams like Oil of OIay or Clinique Dramatically different do not sting the lips and give them moisture. Since sunscreen coverage in lip products wears off when you eat and drink, reapply several times during the day to keep your lips covered and moist.

A natural lip plumper is honey, a humectant that softens the lips and infuses moisture. If you want to try some plumping ingredients, a bit of cinnamon in the honey can plump like Lip Venom. Be aware that the cinnamon can over irritate your lips and surrounding areas, so don't try this experiment for the first time before an event.

Choose your lip color wisely. Instead of coordinating exactly with your outfit, shades of bare, nude or pinky-nude that are a deeper hue that compliments your actual skin tone (sort of like your own skin but flushed) make your lips look fuller, younger and larger. Avoid fuchsia and reds unless you already have virtually perfect lips (you will note Angelina Jolie rarely wears a red, and when she does, her lips do not appear as big and plump as when she wears bare or nude shades). If nudes are not for you, remember the lighter the lipstick color, the fuller your lips look, so roses, pinks, corals, lavender, etc ., are your best bets. If you have a favorite lipstick that is dark, consider blending it with a light shade or a clear gloss to lessen the overall pigment. Remember that the lighter the lip color, the fuller your lips look.

As we age, the skin around the mouth gets darker and the skin below the lower corners of the mouth can appear to pull downward visually, as if you are frowning. To counteract this, dab thin concealer lines beneath the first quarter of your outer lips just below the lip line. Blend, blend and blend more. You can add some highlighter along the outside of the "bow" on the upper lip as well. Philosophy makes a skin lightener for the lip and eye area, available at Sephora, Beauty.com, HSN and QVC. Some find Vitamin K to be a good skin lightener as well.

Use a lipliner to fill in any uneven or pale patches, but only over lips that are already soft. If necessary, try Carmex or your Chapstick for a few minutes and wipe of the excess before applying liner if needed. Blend the lipliner with a lip brush to avoid a tell tale line.

Apply lipstick to the center of lips and work outwards instead of trying to obtain a perfect line and filling in with color, use the lipstick to shape from the center out to the lip line.

Fill in any missing or bare spots with lipliner and blend. You should apply sparingly.

Gloss attracts light and makes an area look diffuse and bigger, so focus on the center and bottom lip to draw light to your lips. Add a subtle line of highlighter to the top lip line if needed.