Beauty how-to: winter lip care

Our makeup needs often change with the seasons. The cold weather and dry indoor air can make for especially dry chapped lips. However, with a few of these tips, you can ensure your lips are looking their finest with a little extra moisturizing.

Tips to maintain winter perfect lips:

1. Wear lip balm overnight: Similar to your skin, your lips need to be a clean, smooth canvas. Equip yourself with a basic lip balm like Vaseline, Nivea or Burt’s Bee.
2. Weekly lip exfoliating: Opt for a quick and easy homemade lip scrub with this trusty trio: sugar, olive oil and honey. If you’re willing to splurge, I recommend Fresh’s Sugar Lip Polish at Sephora. For smooth lips ready at a moment’s notice, whether it’s for loud or subtle hues, add exfoliating and moisturizing to part of your beauty regime.
3. Combine less creamy formulas: Compared to higher-end brand lipsticks, a lot of drug store brands may have a less creamy texture and may result in easier feathering, blotchy fading or settling into lip lines. To counter this effect, ensure your lips remain moisturized by applying lipgloss during the initial lipstick application (and reapplying throughout the day) or use a creamier lipstick combined with your drugstore brand lipstick.



4. Gel formulas: For winter especially, gel formulas add extra needed conditioning, as they’re less opaque than regular lip pencils.
5. Drink water: This may seem like a given, but with exam studying and term paper deadlines, our water intake and skin hydration may fall a little short. Drinking water will ensure your skin and lips won`t be as dry or prone to cracking.

With a few of these beauty tips, you’ll attain your perfect pout and ease any wary-weather apprehensions:

1. Prime: Apply a very tiny amount of primer (or concealer) to the skin around the lip line. If you’re looking for a worthy investment, purchase a lip primer. By doing so you’ll prevent your lip colour from bleeding, and you’ll mask any fine lines and even out your skin tone. I find Smashbox’s Photo Finish Targeted Pore and Line Primer or Too Faced’s Lip Insurance Lip Primer does the perfect prep work.
2. Line: Starting at your cupid bow, use a lip liner to feather outwards and define the shape of your lips. Keep lips parted and try smiling a bit in order to stretch your lips for easier application.

   

   For longer-lasting coverage, apply liner all over the lips. Lip liner tends to have colour pigments that last longer, making itwork as the perfect base. Select a liner that will be either a shade lighter or the same shade as your lipstick, but feel free to experiment with varying shades to achieve subtly different effects.

3. Fill: Using a lip brush, apply lipstick starting from the center and work outwards to the edges. Gradually build the colour and add more for a dramatic look.

   I recommend using a brush in order to have more control and precision in layering the colour. A layer or two usually does the trick – anymore and you might have a chance of the colour bleeding or smearing.

   Try Clinique’s Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm, Givenchy Ultra Shiny Lipstick or Revlon Shiny Sheers




4. Set: Take a regular three-ply tissue and separate it into layers. Use one thin layer to blot your lips by pressing down very lightly.

   Through the tissue, brush foundation powder to maximize the staying power of your lip wear. Now you’ve achieved a matte effect. For added bleed protection, take a cotton swab and brush a thin dash of powder on the skin around the lip.

5. Highlight: To make your lips appear plumper apply a light dusting of shimmer or translucent powder or lip gloss to the center of your bottom lip.

Also add a little shimmer to your cupid’s bow to accentuate the upper lip. A glittery eye shadow also works well for this effect.

Now’s the season for statement colour so grab a playful hue of lipstick and add some colour to your look. Dark shades are also trendy for the colder months so you can’t go wrong with berry-coloured lips. Match your statement shade with your party-ready dress or bold fun heels – go for it and feel confident about mastering this basic, but tricky beauty tip.