Simple Steps to Luscious Lips

Drug stores and department stores are full of serums, lotions, and creams guaranteed to give you younger-looking, softer skin. But all that softening won't help if your lips look dry and wrinkled. Even very young women can have dry lips - but you can have lovely kissable lips at any age.

Softening and smoothing your lips is a lot like softening your face, but the surface of your lips is even more fragile than the skin of your face. There are three basic steps: exfoliating, moisturizing and conditioning, and protecting.

To exfoliate your lips, use an exfoliant made specifically for lips, like Philosophy's Kiss Me exfoliating scrub ($15), or Emulsion Lip Exfoliant from Smashbox ($18). If you don't want to spend that much, you can make your own (see recipe at the bottom of this article). Don't do this every day; too much exfoliation will end up making your lips even drier. Once or twice a week is plenty. With most exfoliants, you apply a small amount of the exfoliant to dry lips, rub it gently for about 30 seconds or until your lips feel smoother, then use a tissue to wipe it off.

The next step is moisturizing and conditioning. Laura Geller makes a product called Lip Heal and Seal ($18) that you can apply under your lipstick or gloss, or use at night to get some intensive healing. Another great product for really dry lips (one I use during the long cold winter) is Clinique's Repair Wear Intensive Lip Treatment ($25). Slather it over your lips at bedtime. Yes, it's expensive, but it works, and it lasts a long time. Caudalie's Lip Conditioner ($12) is an all-natural product containing anti-oxidants and nutrients for your lips that also works well, with a smaller price tag.

After you've made the effort to exfoliate and moisturize, you need to protect your lips. Now you could use something like ChapStick, ($1.99) that protects and includes a sunscreen, but unfortunately ChapStick includes a lot of ingredients that women with sensitive skin should avoid. Some of these are carnauba wax (save it for your car!), cetyl alcohol, methylparaben, and propylparaben, among others.

Instead, you may want to choose something like Fresh Sugar Rosé Tinted Lip Treatment ($22.50) without parabens or any petrochemicals, and with sugar, essential plumping fatty acids, grapeseed polyphenols, and vitamins A,C, and E. Oh, and it provides an SPF 15 sunscreen protection as well. You can get the rosé with a light scent and a hint of pink, or the original Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment that goes on clear. If you want to spend a little less, try Kiss My Face Organics Lip Balm, with all organic plant ingredients and an SPF of 15, for just $3.49. Put these protectors on under your lipstick or lipgloss, and reapply every two to three hours if you're outside, or before you go outside if you've been in an office.

Speaking of lipstick, here's a great routine to follow each morning to keep those lips soft and luscious, and rosy. First, exfoliate. Then apply a lip moisturizer like those listed above, followed by (or including) a protector (at least SPF 15). Next, and this is especially important for smokers and mature women, use a lip primer like Laura Geller's Lip Spackle ($10 for the mini - and it lasts), or Origins' much more melodiously-named Underwear for Lips ($14.50). While the Laura Geller product certainly works, I'd rather put lingerie on my lips than spackle!

Let the primer set, then if you're cursed with those tiny wrinkles around your pucker, line your lips just inside the edge with a color one shade lighter than your favorite lipstick. Next, use a brush (yes, it's a pain, but your lips will look so much better!) to apply that lipstick, and be sure to blend it over the liner so the line doesn't show. If you're a gloss gal, consider using a nude lipstick to help your gloss last longer. Top it off with a colored or clear gloss, and you're set to go! If you're headed for an all-day meeting and don't know if you'll have time to reapply your color, you might want to try Laura Geller's Lip Sealer ($15), a product that's supposed to make your lip color last all day.

Too many steps? Think about what you want people to see when they look at your face. Pretty eyes and great lips? Want to stay kissable? Then it's worth the extra minute, isn't it? Your lips will thank you for it!

(Do-It-Yourself Lip Exfoliant: warm about half a teaspoon of pure shea butter in the microwave until it's almost liquid. Add a half teaspoon of a large-grain sweetener like Organic Sucanat, a dehydrated sugar cane juice. If you want some taste, put in a pinch of fresh minced mint, or a pinch of dried orange peel. Mix it together, and you've got a simple, gentle, effective lip exfoliant that moisturizes, too. If it's too runny, add a little more sugar! You can make it in bigger batches and keep it in the refrigerator, then heat up just what you need, or on hot days, use it cold.)