The Trick To Fuller Lips? Makeup You Already Have

The other day, I was tapping through Tinx's Instagram Story and paused when she bold captioned a closeup of her lips. I thought she was going to divulge about lip filler, but instead she shared a good hack: Her makeup artist Taylor Fitzgerald used a cream blush to draw a subtle shadow around her lips that gave a natural-looking illusion of fullness. "Everyone thought I got lip injections," she said.

Intrigued, and personally interested in insider tricks to getting subtly-enhanced lips using makeup — maybe things that I wouldn't normally think to put on or around my lips — I chatted Fitzgerald and a few other makeup artists who gave me their best 'hacks' for making the lips look bigger. Ahead, the best advice I've gleaned.

This may sound intuitive, but before you start anything, add a base-layer lip balm to make sure you're prepped and not dealing with chapping. "I recommend starting with a great base — the Well People Lip Nurture Hydrating Balm is my favorite for hydrating and soothing the lips," offers makeup artist Kirin Bhatty.

According to Fitzgerald, using your blush around your lips is a foolproof hack to make them look a little larger. She uses the Armani Neo Nude Color Melting Cream Blush. "On Tinx, I used shade 21 a small brush to contour mainly above the Cupid’s Bow and under her bottom lip," she explains. "It's really blend-able and looks like an actual shadow, so it gives the illusion of a juicier pout with softer definition then strictly over-lining with lip liner."

If you're using the contour technique and want the illusion to last all day or all night, set the blush contour with a brush of setting powder. "I set it with a touch of translucent powder for longevity before applying liner, lipstick, and gloss," Fitzgerald adds.

Whether you want to over line your lips or follow their natural contour, Bhatty's advice is to use a dark-brown pencil liner — even if it's out of your comfort zone and you normally gravitate towards lighter pinks. "I would line the lips with a darker [lip] pencil," she says. "I recommend Charlotte Tilbury’s Lip Cheat Lip Pencil in Foxy Brown or Spice from MAC."

If you don't have a dark lip pencil, there's an hack: Use your brow pencil. You've probably seen this 'perfect lip shade' trend on TikTok, with creators hacking their brow pencil as a lip liner, and makeup artist Lilly Keys explains that the shade of your brow pencil is usually pretty close to your perfect lip-liner tone. "You want to use a brown or dark reddish shade," Key explains. Try it. You'll may be surprised at how well it works.

Once your lips are lined, you can fill them in with your liner or your favorite lipstick. Then, to make the center of the lips appear a bit more pronounced, Keys uses a bit of concealer on top. "I like to take a small flat brush and tap concealer in the center of the lips," Keys explains. This makes the center of the lips appear a shade lighter, which gives the subtle illusion of fullness.

Lastly, and all makeup artists agree on this one: Top your lips with a gloss. Bhatty recommends Well People’s Hydrolip Gloss for its sheer color and non-sticky finish. But you could also use the Fenty Gloss Bomb, which Tinx loves, or really, whatever tube you have on hand. The point is high shine.