For contour, you don’t actually need any lip product. Instead, OCool recommends a “small, tiny, flat brush” and a cool-toned brown eyeshadow. This line / smudge brush from Jenny Pattinkin should work like a charm and we love this cool crew nude palette from PYT Beauty. Choose a shade one to two shades deeper than your natural skin tone so you can create the illusion of darker shades.
Once you get your product, “go around the perimeter of your lips very lightly,” OCool says. Start with your lower lip, mark the lower part with a quick stroke and focus the pigment towards the center. You don’t want to overline your lips too much – the pigment should still be attached to your natural lip line, just hanging down so much. But by tracing that dark line, you are helping to create a dimension under your lower lip, which will make your pout look more full.
For your upper lip line, OCool celebrates a tip from celebrity makeup artist Lisa Eldridge: Start at the corners of your lips (where your upper and lower lip connects) and trace upwards until you hit Cupid’s bow. Repeat on the other side, then gently buff the shadow with your finger. Starting from the corner helps you to slightly overline the lips, as you are widening the junction of your upper and lower lips.
To add some extra Umm OCool takes her shadow and draws a straight line between her lower lip – this emphasizes her normal crease through the middle of her lip, which makes both sides look particularly pillowy. She then draws two more lines on her upper lip under her Cupid’s bow, so that the creases on those natural lips can be seen more clearly. “It makes your lips look really thick,” she says.
Finally, grab your lip products: Trace your lip girth with the lip liner of your choice and top it off with any lip color of your choice (you might want to dab, not swipe, so you don’t stain your precise shadow lines). And there you have it! Full, delicious lips with just three makeup products and some strategic contour skills.