You NEED these Lip Liner techniques! Pro Tricks that work!

Hi everyone, today I thought I would do a lip liner 101. I've made up so many lips over my decades of working as a makeup artist, thousands and thousands, probably made up all of the most famous lips in the world. I have worked on every lip shape in every trend or era for every situation and I feel very confident that I know quite a lot about lip liner by this stage. Also, I have made quite a lot of videos in the past, but they tended to be like how to make your lips look fuller or how to change your lips or how to do a lip lift, which is obviously that viral video that I did about six years ago. But since then, I probably often do like lip liner tips, but I've never put them all into one video. So that's what I want to do today. So the first thing I want to say, and somebody has to say this, is that you don't have to overline your lips and you don't have to change the shape of your lips if you don't want to, if it's not your personal taste. There are plenty of ways to use lip liner just to enhance and emphasise your natural lip shape. And for me, individuality is everything in makeup and in beauty. Very often now on social media, we're bombarded with, you have to do this, you have to do that. So you feel like, oh, my lips have to be extremely full or they have to be this size to look beautiful. One style of lip liner does not fit everyone, and it doesn't suit everyone either. And also personal taste comes into it. So really everything that I'm going to show you today, I'm going to try and emphasise the fact that individuality is key, in my opinion, for lip beauty. I'm really about kind of looking at what you feel comfortable with and creating a shape and using lip liner in a way that really helps you to achieve what you particularly want. When it comes to lip liner, there are two different styles. There's the softer, more sculpted, softer edge kind of lip liner. And then there's the more graphic. So this is the one where you really kind of almost see a statement lip, which often works really well with those very, very bold matte lipsticks, but not so well with softer colours. So we're going to look at both of those styles and also talk about lip prep. So the best way to prep your lips before you do your lip lining and your lipstick is to obviously do as much exfoliation as you can. So if you do have some loose, dry skin, the best way to remove that is for me personally, using a flannel. So you put on some oil on your lips or your cleanser, massage them and then take it off with warm water using more of a slightly rougher flannel or a something like that, because I think it works really gently and obviously it plumps up your lips as well. Can also just use something as simple as a q-tip with lip balm and just use that to exfoliate and to massage. Or you could use a very soft old toothbrush if you've got one, just to massage again. When it comes to having a lot of lip balm on or treatment on, this is something that you should avoid doing before you apply your lip liner because it will simply interact too much with the formula. So most really nourishing lip products have natural oils in them and they're going to start to break down your lip liner. It's also not going to go on in a nice smooth way because some areas are going to have a little bit more product on, others not, and it's going to end up sliding off and not looking even. So if you do want to do a nice thick layer of lip balm, do it either at the beginning of the makeup and remove it before the lipstick, or I like even just using a bit of moisturiser rather than a lip balm. So this is just Embryolisse. So obviously this one does have some natural oils in, but it will kind of sink into the lips. So by the time I'm doing my makeup, my lip makeup, there'll be moisturise but there won't be anything sitting on top. So just think about what you're putting on your lips beforehand. So there are basically mainly, obviously there's more formats now with felt tips and all kinds of stuff, but generally there are two different types of formats of lip liner. One comes in a plastic barrel and is airtight with more of an airtight cap, and the other one is more of a classic wooden pencil that you sharpen like a classic wooden pencil. The difference between these two is that the plastic barrel or the gelified, the gel textured ones, they are a lot more waterproof because having something that is in a plastic pencil means that it can hold more volatile silicones, and what that means simply is that the volatile silicones are the thing that makes the pencil waterproof, smudge proof, uber long wearing, and they're the ones that they feel very soft when they go on, but then they kind of suddenly set, and once they set you can't blend them, they're just set, set, set. Using my own pencils as a demo, I mean it's the same across all brands, but it would be my Enhance and Define, that is my high volatile pencil, so this would be the one that would be waterproof and it would set down and not move, or my Soft, my Sculpt and Shade pencil. This is the wooden pencil. Most wooden pencils are not as long wearing as the ones that come in the plastic, the more gel textured ones, so they're more softer, they're easier to smudge a little bit, you get more play time with them, you're able to create more of a soft dimension. Very often they do contain still silicone, but less of the volatile silicones, they're not going to set down to the point where they are 100% waterproof. Now there's merit in both of these, obviously if you want to do more of a really strong stain on your lips and waterproof long wear is your main concern with lip liner, or you wear strong lip colours that you need to get that solid definition and solid border, then something like a plastic pencil is probably better for you, a gel texture, but if you are going more for a sculpting, natural kind of lip liner, then look for wooden pencils. So for a softly sculpted lip, that's something that again I would use more of a pencil for, and for that I would start by using a pencil which is either close to the lip colour that you're going to be wearing, this is if you're going more for a natural look, or for a pencil which is maybe just a little bit deeper or similar lip tone to your natural lip colour. So I suggest looking at your lips in a really good light to start, and look at the natural patina on there, by that I mean the colouration of your lips, because everyone is completely different, it's almost like a fingerprint, and you'll notice that maybe there are different tones in there, there are different blues, I'm always biting my lips particularly at the moment when it's wintry, and I always have this kind of red bit in the middle there, but also looking at the edge, some people have a very defined lip edge, other people don't. Many people like myself have the bit where the actual colouration finishes, and then the bit where this swelling just on the outside of it is, that usually shows as just a little bit of raised lighter skin, because it's almost coming forward, especially you'll notice it under here, and pretty much everyone has this edge, this light edge to the lip, which kind of gives you, you see the lip finishes here, but then you have this sort of completely non-coloured bit, that's the bit where we're going to be overdrawing if we want to. So I also have at the edges, and this is something to look for, I have a lot of kind of broken capillaries that just come in at these outer edges, this is something that would encourage me to almost line over them, but actually that would drag my lips down. Now me personally, before I do any kind of lip liner, doesn't matter what effect I'm going for, whether it's really bold or naturally softly sculpted, I will do my lip lifting technique. I do have a very long video about this, which I'll link to, but in essence this is a great tip for anyone whose lips naturally go down, whether it's just gravity, or whether you do have that kind of overspill of colour around the edges of your lips. So I use a slightly lighter concealer, just to almost cut off those corners, and this actually, A, stops me from overdrawing. I'm going to blend it in now as well. It stops me from overdrawing and gives me a guideline, but also really gives a lifted effect. You can use your regular concealer. I'm using my Pinpoint because it's waterproof and it will also help to keep things where they should be. So obviously that looks a bit of a weird shape at the moment, but it's going to be fine. Then I would use a lip liner that is deeper than my natural lip colour. So this is the one that's going to be the colour that really defines the lips and does the sculpting, but I'm actually also going to use a shadowy pencil. I'm going to use my 0N for this. The reason I use this second, and I'm going to show you, is to really soften and create the shadowy effect. So using 2C first, just look straight ahead in the mirror and really just decide really what you want to, if you do want to change anything about your lips. So for me, I want fuller lips, but I still want to look like my lips aren't dragged down. How you hold the pencil is really important. With all of my clients, I'm hardly holding the pencil. It's extremely gently held. There's no kind of pressure anywhere. My wrist is really limp and really fluid and I hold it quite low down and I hold it on the side, like I'm almost drawing, shading with a If you're doing a pencil drawing, how you would hold your pencil, it should be very soft and very sort of on the side. And I do like little, tiny, almost circles. I think that is the best way to do a very natural lip line. So I can't talk when I'm doing this, but you can see that I'm just going to go, this is really soft, hardly touching, no pressure. And that gives me my kind of basic kind of soft shape. When it comes to the other side, again, I'm lower this side anyway, so I need to do a little bit of trickery on the Cupid's bow. This is what I call my pointy side. Some people have a pointy side and a rounded side. If you're one of those, you just have to slightly soften on this side as opposed to the other. Now, when it comes to inside, I'm going to open my lips. I'm going to trace on the inside. This is because my lips naturally go like that. They literally drop off and then there's nothing there. If you're not like that, then you can do a fuller edge there, particularly if you're not suffering from that droopy lip. And if you have lovely full lips, the outer edge, then I would say, just go with that. I tend to do this because it just suits my face shape as well. When it comes to the lower lips, close your lips and just smile ever so slightly. This will show you where the natural colour of your lips finishes and that sort of almost, it's a little ridge. So your lips kind of go on longer, but they don't have any colour. And then you just see skin. But this is where you have that natural shadow underneath. So it's almost a gift. It just helps you to get a really natural but overdrawn lip. So just smile slightly and just dust your colour in. For me, I'm going on the inside there. Make sure that's not droopy. Then I'm going to join those two up. This is the stage where I would add my sculpting pencil. This is a bit lighter than the lip liner that I've used, as in it's more neutral. It's got more grey in it and it's more the colour of shadow. I would use this to almost take the edge off. So you have a transition between what is more of a deep pink to a grey shadow colour. And again, this has to suit your skin tone. Everyone is different. And then start to really just soften those edges really and create that natural shadow. This technique works particularly well underneath your lower lip. So if you're using a colour like this, which is the colour of shadow, you can basically go right down here to where your natural shadow is, which for me is quite far away from my lips, but I can get away with it. Then I'll go back in with the lip colour and just make sure that everything is slightly brought onto the lips. A little bit of definition there. Then a final really good tip is often when you do your Cupid's bow, you can end up with a slightly shiny look and this gives the game away because you suddenly see where the lip ends and where your lip liner starts. Take some loose powder, just translucent, and just mattify that. It's incredible what you can get away with when it's matte. If you can see that, that just helps to really blend it in. You can do it as well underneath. And if you feel that you've overdrawn, very often I do when I'm doing this on the outside, I'll just go back in with my concealer and I'll just re-emphasise that. Then as a final touch, add your lipstick or your lip gloss and that is my softly sculpted and lifted lip. So this is more of an even coloured lip, so I chose a lipstick which was similar to the colour of my deepest lip liner, but if you wanted to go for higher dimensions, so to give the illusion of much fuller lips again, once you've sculpted in the inner corners with your deeper pencil, use a lip gloss or a lipstick which is lighter so you end up with that centre which is light. I mean it's just classic kind of drawing theory that you have that dimension from deep to light and that creates the illusion of volume. So now I'm going to do more of a graphic lip line because I'm also going to do more of a bold lip colour. Now obviously with a bold lip colour you can still do a soft lip line, very much like the wooden one that I just did, or if you want to go for more of a precise lip line. I mean these things come in and out of fashion all the time. Me personally, I like a mixture of everything. I don't just say this week this is in fashion so that's all I'm doing. It depends on the mood, it depends on personal taste, it depends on what you're doing your makeup for. So I very often like quite a graphic lip line as well. My personal tip for doing this, and this is what I do on celebrities, particularly if I don't know their face or their lips really, really well. So if it's a client that I haven't worked with for years I will do the lipstick first and this is my tip. So I'll start using, this is actually my Velvet Ribbon lipstick and I will apply it. Oh forgot to do my little lip lift first. As I say this is just great if you are a downward lip girl. So we're just cutting off. I will link as I said to the longer version of this lipstick. If this is your main bugbear you might want to have the feature length version. Okay so I'm going to apply a thin layer of my red, my velvet lipstick but I'm only going to put it on a really thinly and secondly following my natural lip line. So where my lips end in terms of the colour is actually there. I know we talked about this shadow around the outside but we're not we're going to ignore that. So you're following just the natural shape of your coloured lips. If you want to you can kind of do it like that and then use the brush just to kind of make it quicker. Then once you've covered the shape just really work in the texture. Almost like it's a stain. Next take a tissue, blot on the inside and blot on the outside. I mean very little actually comes off. Now that is my natural lip shape. The reason I like to do this first before I do the lip liner is that when you are applying a red lip line if you don't have any lipstick on already you're kind of doing this line around the outside of guessing what it's going to look like when it's all filled in with the colour. Whether it's a bold deep deep colour, a black currant, a red, a bright colour and really you don't see what you're going to end up with and very often you know if you're not maybe like doing this daily you can end up with a lip shape that you don't really like. So doing it this way you get to look at your lips and then you're like okay with red lipstick on me personally I need more volume. This side of my lip is round and this side of my lip is straight. That is my natural lip shape. So I quite like this shape so that shape will need to match. So again we're going to hold this pencil nice and loosely no kind of stressful clenching and I'm going to start on the side that is already a fairly good shape. I'm going to start on the inside so just keep looking ahead so I'm using the pencil just to create really the shape there along the top and as you are adding more compare with the other side. If you feel like at any point you've gone a little bit wrong you can always use a tiny q-tip with a little bit of oil-based eye makeup remover which will just clean it up. Once you get to the lower lip again you're going to do that really soft smile with your lips together and just start to work on that shadowy area that's underneath the lower lip and then bringing up the sides. Once you're more or less happy with your shape then you can use the pencil to really just blend across the entire lip. The reason I like to do this with lip liner as a second layer of lipstick is because it means that if the top layer of your lipstick or if your lipstick basically wears off at any point maybe during the evening if you're going out on a really long night even if it does wear off you're left with this very even completely beautiful lip underneath rather than having lipstick all wear off and being left with a perfect waterproof red line all around your lips. So just keep looking ahead and making those little tweaks because this is a gel pencil it will set and once it's set it will be stuck. So if you do want a softer effect then you have to literally do it as you're applying it so you would use a little buffer. I'm going for a graphic lip so I'm happy but if you wanted to do this and then somehow smudge the edge a little bit you'd have to do it during that first minute that it's on just to get the effect that you wanted but absolutely this now is completely stuck and because I've also buffed it over my lips this layer is invincible. And then to finish off I will go back in obviously not changing the shape of the lipstick so staying on the inside and again you could do a more graphic version of this as well so you could go in with a more orangey lip in the centre you could do a darker lip line and then obviously create that effect where you've got really the dark lip line in the edges and then maybe a red lip and then a pop of something maybe bright orange on the centre but that is the more graphic way to use a gel pencil liner. Whether you just want to use lip liner to help your lipstick to last longer or whether you want to change the shape of your lip or whether you're going for something softly sculpted or more graphic like this. Hopefully everything you need to know about lip liner the different formats the different formulas and the different ways to apply will be covered by this video. If there's any more questions you have I've probably forgotten something just drop me a message below in the comments and I will answer your question. So hope that was helpful and I'll see you soon.