Makeup Articles - Lips care

If women were allowed to use only one item of make-up, most of us would choose lipstick. As a result, it is slightly surprising that when it comes to taking care of our kissers, most of us are guilty of neglect. Remember that the lips do not have a strong lipid barrier, so they dry out quickly, and the habit of constant licking makes this dehydration worse. The lips have no sebaceous glands either, which makes them almost totally reliant on external moisturizer to keep them in peak condition. The best thing you can do to achieve a perfect pair of pouters is treat them to a daily ritual: first exfoliate (brush them very gently with a toothbrush if you do not want to splash out on a special cream), then hydrate with a protective balm. Remember that smoking and exposure to harmful ultraviolet rays cause ugly vertical lines to appear around the mouth, so invest in a product with UV protection and never leave home without it and, ideally, try to stop smoking.

After you have applied your foundation, your contour (if you choose to useit) and/or your highlighter, and after you have done your eyes, it's time to work on your lips.

Lips Care Tips and Advice

How much you do with your lips is completely up to you. There is no wrong or right answer as to whether to wear lipstick-only wrong and right ways to apply it. It's up to you how you want to treat your lips. But whatever you decide, here are some tricks of the trade to show your lips to their best advantage.

An important thing to think about concerning your lips is that thereare two extremes, neither one of which, as is often the case, is terrific First of all, everyone needs something that moisturizes the lips. Secondly, the extra shine that lipstick (or gloss, or petroleum jelly, which, by the way, is a terrific moisturizer-it gives your lips a wonderful glow) provides is a touch thatyour face should not be without.

A face without something on the lips really looks undone, unfinished- as if you forgot something. This is particularly so for women whose makeup routine is the simplest one-a little mascara and blush on good clean skin-because naked lips will make the whole face seem wan, while a little gloss can pick up the entire look.

The other extreme is a lip that is overdone, that screams for attention and gets it, at the expense of your face. You really don't want your lips to precede you into a room, do you? Yet many women sooverline and overcolor their lips that their mouth is the first (and sometimesthe only) thing you notice about their whole appearance.

Another mistake some women make is to choose lipstick without any consideration for their foundation and their blush. This is not a good idea because the lipstick can then clash with the rest of your makeup. And even if the difference is subtle, believe me, it will still be noticeable. So if you use a tawny blush, choose a lipstick from tawny to bronze to beige to compliment your makeup. If you usea a rose foundation and a rose blush, you need to use a lipstick within the range of rose to pink that corresponds with your foundation.

Yet another misconception about lipstick is that it should match the clothes you wear. This is simply not true, and can in fact make you look rather silly. First of all, the days of matching everything are gone. Fashion has for many years advised that the natural, more casual look (rather than the detailed, precise, everything-dyed-thesame- color look) is the right one for everyone. You can choose to wear what you want to wear-you need not have to make sure that everything you own, whether it be clothes or makeup, be the same color. Shades and textures that compliment one another-yes. But gone are the days when your shoes, gloves, hat, purse,dress, lipstick and nail polish all had to match.

You don't have to-and shouldn't, really-change your lip color every time you change your clothes. You don't do it with your hair or with your foundation, so why with your lipstick? Unless it is a special occasion (usually an evening gala where unusual shades of color might be appropriate), stick to the lipstick that compliments your face. The lesson here is also this: If you find a foundation and blush color that go with your complexion and hair, and you find a lipstick that compliments these colors, chances are that all these colors will go with almost everything you wear.