8 Makeup Hacks That Mimic Lip Injectables — Minus The Needles

If there's one thing we know for sure, it's that modern society is obsessed with fuller lips. While it can seem like a sick joke for those of us whose naturally big lips made them the subject of playground teasing growing up, there's no denying that modern beauty standards demand a fuller pout. Maybe we've finally started to challenge Eurocentric beauty standards, or just share Kylie Jenner's teenage insecurities about her lips. Or maybe it's not that deep at all, and we're finally realising that there's something a bit romantic about a plush set of lips.

Over the last decade, it's become evident that many people are willing to undergo a little bit of pain to meet the current aesthetic ideals popularised by a generation of young reality stars. Granted that we seem to have collectively agreed in the last twelve months that there is such a thing as 'too much' filler — and the artificially plumped pouts we've become so accustomed to seeing in media and online have shrunk considerably. Some are even seeking plastic surgery reversal procedures. Rumours of the potential risk of migrated filler and TikTok videos of people demonstrating their inability to use a straw after getting a lip flip have also served as helpful reminders that injectables can't always deliver the quick fixes they promise.

So if you're after a way to enhance what your mama gave you without coming face to face with a syringe, we have a handful of helpful makeup hacks to try. Ahead, find eight hacks that mimic lip injectables, without a needle in sight. (Number four on the list is our personal favourite, and the technique used to create the lip look above).

Aussie model Casey James is always sporting an impressively lush set of lips, and although she's definitely genetically blessed, it's not all natural. "This is how I get juicy ass lips," James revealed in a "non-permanent lip filler" makeup tutorial she uploaded to TikTok. In the video, she incorporates cream bronzer into her lip colour routine to create a sunkissed, sculpted effect.

After applying a sheer, matte cream bronzer to the perimeters of her face and her brow bone, she taps a fluffy eyeshadow brush onto the cream contour stick. She then gently blends in soft back-and-forth motions across her cupid's bow and under the centre of her bottom lip. Why does this work? The neutral undertones of the bronzer create depth, blur the natural lip line and add a subtle sun-kissed effect. However, to avoid looking too orange, we'd recommend steering clear of bronzers with warm undertones or with shimmer.

Got a lip liner in your makeup bag that's a few shades darker than your natural lip colour? Great, we've got a hack for you. New York-based makeup artist Ehlie Luna developed this exact technique to imitate the look of a lip flip. In Luna's tutorial, she recommends ignoring the natural shape of your cupid's bow.

Instead of accentuating the dip in the centre of her lips, she draws a line straight across her cupid's bow and builds it up. Then she uses her fingers to blend the edges of the line down the rest of her top lip towards the corners of her mouth, instead of lining the "sides" with a pencil. She also recommends lining under the bottom lip to balance it out, but once again, she avoids the sides of her mouth and applies the lip liner solely in the centre, using her fingers to blend the edges and pull the colour outwards to the corners of her mouth.

To finish up the lip look, Luna says she loves to apply something "balmy or even glossy" and focus it in the centre of her lips in the areas she's accentuated with lip liner. "The concept of a lip flip is to shorten the distance between the nose and the lip, all we have to do is create the illusion that the lip is a little bit higher," she explains.

TikTok creator Janelle Zharmenova shares that she hasn't been blessed with the fullest lips in the world, so she fakes it. Zharmenova takes "literally any contour stick", applies it all over her lips and blends it using an eyeshadow brush – she recommends getting messy with this and blending past the edges of your lip line. Then she takes her lip liner and applies it just outside the lip line on the "little white line that most people have" on the outskirts of their mouth.

After she's lined her entire mouth, she taps and blends the product towards the centre of her lip using her fingers, just "make sure to stay inside the line". Finally, she cleans up around her mouth using the excess foundation on her makeup sponge. If you like, you can add a sheen of lip gloss to your pout too, but Zharmenova says this is entirely optional if you prefer a matte finish.

If you're into low-maintenance lip looks, then you'll love this hack. TikToker Sierra Cannon put us onto her trick for fuller-looking lips, and all you'll need is a lip liner one shade darker than your natural lip colour. In Cannon's video, she firmly presses her lip liner onto her lips to form a thick line and rubs her finger around the perimeter of her mouth to diffuse any harsh edges.

The result? Super plump lips. Of course, if you're after a slightly more moisturising lip routine, you can always apply an emollient lip balm or lip gloss by tapping it into the centre of the lips with your finger. Based on the simplicity alone, this is actually our personal favourite lip liner hack.

This is definitely one of the most unusual hacks on this list. Georgia-May Davis says she likes to slightly overline her lips using a lip liner that's really similar to her natural lip colour, which seems pretty standard. But then she takes a bronzer or brown-coloured eyeshadow on the pad of her finger and dabs it onto her lips as a base "to set the colour". Then she goes over the powder base with a light nude lipstick, which she pats on with her fingers and she finishes with a hydrating lip balm or lip gloss.

Sometimes, the best way to build is to create a new foundation. TikToker Bethany Fosbery does this by completely removing any inkling of her natural lip colour with concealer. After applying an even layer of concealer to her lips, Fosbery creates a new lip shape; she overlines her lips and shades the corners of her mouth to create dimension. She follows up with a nude lip gloss in the same colour as her lip liner and dabs a lighter shade of lip gloss in the centre of her lips to create the illusion of a plumper pout. To finish, she cleans up the edges of her mouth with any leftover concealer that's on her makeup brush and et voila: fuller lips.

If you want to create a naturally fuller lip contour without looking like you've gone overboard with filler, Julia Monty's layered lip liner hack is for you. Monty takes a lip liner one shade darker than her natural lip colour and applies it all over her lips. Then she lines the perimeter of her lip shape with a lip liner in a much darker shade, slightly overlining the centre of her lips, and tops it off with a slick of lip oil to finish. She swears the technique is the reason people are constantly complimenting her lip shape.

Creator Giorgina Juanita created this genius lip hack, but we loved watching other creators try their hand at the shading technique too. In the video, Juanita uses neutral-toned brown eyeliner to draw lines down the edge of her mouth, about a millimetre from her natural lip line. Then she uses her finger to blend the line in until it's barely visible and it becomes a whisper of a shadow on the outskirts of her mouth. This technique helps to create depth and subsequently volume. Genius.