This Is How to Over-line Your Lips Without Looking Obvious

Over-lined lips can be considered the beauty equivalent of a clear bra strap you're not fooling anyone into believing the visible lines aren't there, though slight alterations can help both appear less apparent. Perhaps due to the Kylie Jenner effect, overdrawn lips have been a constant beauty trend both on and offline, and believe it or not, there's a way to do it that won't scream obvious.

First things first, you'll want to pick up a matte lip pencil, as any shine on the outer borders of your natural lip line is a dead giveaway. "With matte colours, there's no reflection, so you can't tell as clearly where your lip stops and starts, so it's more forgiving and you can play with reshaping your lips a little bit," says makeup artist Allan Avendaño, who works with Gigi Hadid, Chrissy Teigen, and Zendaya, among many others. That's not to say you should overdraw your lips to the point that you can tell.

One of the biggest mistakes most people make when over-lining their lips is to increase the size in every single area. Instead, stick to the "less is more" mantra and work section by section. "You have to pick and choose the areas you want to plump up; it can't be the whole thing," Avendaño advises. "Subtle differences like reshaping just the sides, or making the cupid's bow slightly more rounded make much more of an impact and look more natural than over-lining the entire thing." The cupid's bow trick in particular is one of his favourites, and the pro notes that just by rounding out that area, the lips immediately look more full, and you can leave all the other areas untouched.

We recommend prepping your lips with a scrub and balm combo, then, with a liner close to the shade of your lip colour, trace your natural perimeter. From there, you can work little by little to build on the few areas you want to plump up.