How to Apply Lip Liner for a Plump, Long-Lasting Lip Look (2024)

By

Reviewed by

Contributing Writer and Makeup Artist

How to Prep Your LipsHow to Apply Lip LinerAssess Your Lip ShapeChoose a ColorTrace Your Shape

Create a Small ShadowApply LipstickClean Up the Edges and Add Some GlossThe Final Look

• Ashley Rebecca is an NY-based makeup artist and Byrdie contributor.
• Sam Kyle is a makeup artist who works in creative development and design at Mirabella.
• Tim Quinn is a celebrity makeup artist and the founder of Halo42 Skin & Wellness.

Assess Your Lip Shape

Everyone has their own unique lip shape, so the best thing you can do is to assess your own and really understand the shape before applying lip liner. Look in the mirror and ask yourself a few questions. "What do I love about my lips?" and "What would I like to change about them?" are two great places to start. You might have a fuller bottom lip and want to enhance the top lip shape, or you might want to create more fullness all around. Identifying what you already like, and what you'd like to tweak, is key when understanding how to get the most out of your liner.

Choose a Color

A great general rule of thumb is that nude lip liner goes with any lipstick color you're going to wear and can be a great base to kick off enhancing your lip shape. If a nude liner isn't your thing, you can go for a liner that matches your chosen lipstick shade to ensure there are no obvious lines. And don't count out clear lip liner!

"A true makeup multitasker, clear lip liners, like Mirabella's Perfecting Lip Definer, complement every lipstick in your makeup arsenal, eliminating the stress of finding a perfect shade match," raves makeup artist and Mirabella creative Sam Kyle. "In addition to creating a barrier around the lip line to prevent lipstick from bleeding, feathering, and fading during wear, a clear liner also doubles as a phenomenal lip primer to aid in prolonging the wearability of lipstick, especially in bold, pigmented shades. I love lining and filling the lips with a clear liner to ensure lipstick glides on for the smoothest, most flawless application. And, while it may seem obvious, it's worth noting that an application of a rich red or poppy pink lip liner can quickly go southwithone slip of your hand, a clear lip liner's virtually undetectable nature means you can apply without the pressure of a costly mistake!"

Trace Your Shape

Once you've figured out what lip liner formula fits you best, it's time to subtly trace the areas around the lips that you want to focus on. For instance, if a fuller top lip is what you want, lightly trace around the top lip, exaggerating the lips ever so slightly to create a fullness that looks realistic.

Create a Small Shadow

To complete filling your lips out with liner, create a small shadow in the center of the bottom lip with your pencil. This creates the illusion of a much fuller bottom lip. It is a trick I often use to enhance the shape of lips for photoshoots. Exaggerate the color here ever so slightly to mimic the effect of a shadow, which helps lips look much fuller.

Want to know another great trick? Celebrity makeup artist Tim Quinn loves to use a barely-there toned lip pencil to outline the lip slightly, and then fill in the inner corners of the lips with a deeper colored pencil. "This is great to do before lipstick application, as it adds contour and shape to lips and is a creative way to use your lip liners," says Quinn. Something else he loves to do is to use nude lip liner along the lash line on top of a dark liner to soften it up a bit. Genius.

Apply Lipstick

It's important that your lip shape is balanced, so take note of where you need to tweak the shape and balance everything out once you've identified how you want your lips to look.

Now it's time to apply your lipstick. Though we went with the lipstick that matches our lip liner, you can choose any shade you want—don't be afraid to make it fun.

Clean Up the Edges and Add Some Gloss

If you overdraw your line or find that you need to clean up the edges a bit, that's perfectly okay. There are a few ways you can clean up your lip's shape. You can use your finger to lightly smooth everything so that it looks cohesive, or apply concealer lightly around the lips and blend it with a brush to highlight the shape. You can also take a thin, precise cotton swab and lightly shave off any excess liner for a pristine shape.

After you've tidied up your liner and lipstick, you can go in with a gloss to add a little shine and even more dimension to your lip look.

The Final Look

Congratulations, you're now a lip liner pro. You've mastered the technique of shaping your lips, and things will only get better as you become more comfortable with using lip liners of all kinds. Whether you're wearing a neutral tone or a bright power lip, we have faith that you'll slay your lip liner application each and every time from here on out.