How to Use Lip Liner: A Beginner’s Guide

If you forgo lip liner in favor of applying lipstick directly onto your bare lips, you’re doing yourself and your makeup routine a disservice. Lip liner can define the shape of your lips and also act as a base for your lipstick, leading to longer-lasting color and preventing bleeding lipstick, smudging, and feathering. It can also give the appearance of fuller lips. Whether you’re looking to contour your pout or simply or simply prepare it for lipstick application, let this serve as your guide for how to use lip liner the right way.

What Is Lip Liner?

Lip liner is a lip product that comes in pencil form and usually has a matte finish, though you can find it in satin finishes too. Unlike lipstick, lip pencils have a sharp tip that allows you to get a more precise application. This comes in handy when outlining the edges of your lips, especially when overlining them, so you can get the contouring just right. Lip pencils can be used both to define and shape, and also as an allover base before adding lipstick. There is no difference between a lip pencil and a lip liner.

What Does Lip Liner Do?

Including a lip liner in your makeup routine can have several benefits. While the main purpose of lip liner is to define your lip shape, it can also make lips look fuller by drawing outside your natural lip lines. It can even extend your lipstick wear by acting as a base and preventing bleeding and smudging onto skin. And, in a pinch, a lip pencil can replace your lipstick or gloss when you fully fill in your pout. Some people prefer using a lip pencil on its own to get a look that’s less shiny.

How to Apply Lip Liner

1. Determine your lip shape

Once you identify your lip shape, your lip lining skills are going to go up a few notches. If you’re not sure what your lip shape is, grab a mirror and look. Do you have a defined cupid’s bow? If so, you’ll want to focus on highlighting that V shape in the middle of your upper lip and keeping your application extra precise.

For those with a bottom lip fuller than the top lip, you’ll want to be generous when lining your upper lip and slightly add volume at the corners with your lip liner. Ultimately, once you know the shape of your lips, then you can line them accordingly and your lipstick application is going to look instantaneously better.

2. Pick a shade of lip liner

Ideally, you want to pick a lip liner two shades darker than your lipstick. This adds subtle contouring and shading to your lips without taking away from the color of your lipstick. A matte lip liner pairs well with matte lipstick, whereas a satin lip liner, like the L’Oréal Paris Colour Riche Lip Liner, will pair well with a satin lipstick or a gloss.

3. Prep your lips

To get the best results from your liner and lipstick, you’ll want to prep your lips well ahead of using any products. Exfoliating and moisturizing regularly can ensure a smooth texture that makes it easy for lip color to glide across. We suggest exfoliating with a lip scrub a few times a week to remove any dead skin cells and create a soft base. Another option is to gently scrub the area with a damp washcloth. (Just be careful—this area is delicate!)

The next step is to hydrate lips with a moisturizing lip oil or balm. We recommend hydrating day and night to keep lips in good health and keep them in their best shape for adding a lip liner on top.

4. Line your lips

Anyone with a defined cupid’s bow should start by applying an X in the center of the top lip and dragging the liner outwards, following your natural lip line until you reach the corners.

Those who don’t have a defined cupid’s bow can start in the corner. Simply follow the shape of your natural lip line as you drag the liner across your upper lip. If using a brush is your preferred method, apply the liner to your lips and use the brush to drag it along your natural lip line.

Then, repeat these steps on the bottom lip. If you have a thin upper or bottom lip, add volume near the corners of your mouth by applying the lip liner slightly outside your natural lip line.

Editor’s tip: When rocking vampy lipstick or a sultry shade of deep red, you may want an ultra-precise line. We recommend grabbing a pointed brush and concealer. Take a dot of concealer and use your brush to carve the shape of your lips, blurring any wayward lip liner and perfecting the shape. You’ll get the best results with a full-coverage concealer like the L’Oréal Paris Infallible Full Wear Concealer Up To 24H Full Coverage.

5. Fill your lips

Once you’ve lined the shape of your lips, fill in the empty space with your lip liner and top that off with a lipstick of your choice. We recommend something intense and smudge-proof like L’Oréal Paris Colour Riche Les Nus by Colour Riche Intense Nude Lipstick, which glides onto the lips with a pillowy, smooth finish and luxurious color. We also recommend the L’Oréal Paris Colour Riche Satin Lipstick for its creamy finish and inclusion of moisturizing argan oil.

If you want to add an element of high shine, layer on a lip gloss like the L’Oréal Paris Colour Riche Satin Lipstick on top.

Next Up: How to Fake the Appearance of Fuller, Plumper Lips

Photo Courtesy of L’Oréal Paris