Beauty Trends: The Lip Edition

Big lips are all the rage lately - I'm sure you guys have seen the "Kylie Jenner Challenge".  Some people have been taking it a bit too far, but the trend's still real.  If you want to make sure your lips look on point this summer, here are the top trends you should know about:

1. Overdrawn Lips

Women have been using lip liner to overdraw their lips for decades because it creates the illusion of bigger lips.  Lately, this technique has really taken off. The idea is simple: you use a lip liner and draw directly onto your skin as opposed to tracing your lips.

The best way to do this is to use a well-sharpened pencil and start the lining at your cupid's bow. Draw the little semicircle a tiny bit above your natural cupid's bow, then follow those lines down the sides of your lips. Make sure the line you draw meets the natural end of your lip. If you overdraw the corners of your mouth it will look completely unnatural! 

2. Contoured Lips

Contouring has been huge lately -- another technique popularized by the Kardashians. However,  a lot of people overlook the contouring of one's lips. Just like the rest of the face, the lips have shadows and highlights that can be intensified with makeup.  To do this, you want to take a darker shade and outline where the shadows are on your lips and take a lighter shade and highlight where the light naturally hits your lips. 

Contouring is different for everyone because highlights and shadows vary on each individual person. The main place you want to contour is underneath your lips -- applying a darker shade right under your bottom lip will make it appear much bigger. For highlighting you should do the opposite.  Apply a lighter shade in your cupid's bow. 

There are other tricks you can do as well, like putting a dark shade down the center of your bottom lip to make it appear thicker - that depends on the shape of your lips though. I recommend taking a bright light and shining it on your lips to help you locate and define where your contours are!

3. Matte Lips

Glossy lips used to be all the rage -- in the 2000's no handbag was complete without at least 3 lip glosses. Now it's all about matte lips!

Every brand, from high end to low end, has about a million different matte lipsticks -- my personal favorite being NYX Cosmetic's awesome collection. Unfortunately, we all probably still have that favorite glossy lip color. Luckily, turning any glossy shade into a matte color is easy! All you need to do is take a loose setting powder and lightly pack it onto your lips. You have to make sure the powder is really finely milled or else you'll get chunks. Also, make sure you don't put too much powder on or it'll make the lipstick/gloss way too thick!

4. Liquid Lipstick

The lipstick bullet has been the classic way to apply for centuries, but tons of brands are starting to develop liquid lipstick.  It looks and applies like lip gloss, but dries like lipstick. 

This product is really awesome because it has the benefit of lipgloss application: super easy to apply and work with. Most liquid lipstick is also matte, following the previous lipstick trend discussed above. The only issue I've had is that it tends to settle into your lips' creases pretty easily. If you're planning on wearing a liquid lipstick out, make sure you bring it to reapply!

What do you guys think of these lip trends? Are you going to try any of them? If you do make sure to snap a pic to post on Instagram and tag #sensiblestylista so we can check them out.  And make sure you check back soon to see the hottest trends for your brows!

Written by Zoe Luiz