How to Make Your Lips Look Bigger

Brows aren’t the only coveted facial feature these days. Nope, it turns out that lips are having a serious moment, too! Whether you’ve seen an over-lined, pillow-y pout on your social media feeds, a movie screen, or walking down the street, this look officially ranks off-the-charts in popularity—and it’s clear why. If you’re after a poutier, plumper-looking pucker, keep reading. Below, we share a few must-try makeup tips and tricks that can help you learn how to make your lips look bigger. Grab your lip liner and lipstick, then follow along!

HOW TO MAKE YOUR LIPS LOOK BIGGER with Makeup

When it comes to your pout, go big or go home. Try these tips for pretty, voluminous-looking lips.

1. Prep your pout. Your lips aren’t ready for makeup right off the bat: First you have to prep. This is an especially important step during the winter, when the dry air can leave your lips looking flaky. But even if your lips aren’t dry, creating a smooth base before you apply lip liner and lipstick is always a good idea. One easy way to achieve this is by exfoliating—sloughing away dead skin cells that can build up up on skin’s surface—your lips with a lip scrub.

2. Work that cupid’s bow. Don’t worry if you’re scratching your head wondering what, exactly, your cupid’s bow is. It’s just a fancy name for the top dip in your lips, where each side meets in the middle forming an ‘M’ shape that resembles a cupid’s bow. Makes sense, right? If you don’t have a super-defined cupid’s bow, that’s not an issue—you can totally fake a selfie-worthy pout. All you have to do is grab a lip liner to draw an ‘X’ on your top lip. The top segments of the ‘X’ should sit perfectly within the peaks of the ‘M’ of your cupid’s bow.

3. Over-line and fill in your lips. Using a lip liner, like the L’Oréal Paris Colour Riche Matte Lip Liner, line your lips slightly outside of the outermost edges. Now, you don’t want to go too big—you still want your lips to look natural. No one should be left to wonder what has happened to your mouth. Once you line your lips, fill them in with your favorite lipstick for an opaque look. Typically, the darker your lips, the fuller they look. Try matching your lip liner to a shade of the L’Oréal Paris Colour Riche Matte Lipstick, which is available in 16 gorgeous colors. For something on the darker side, try Doesn’t Matte-R. To use, fill in your lips using the pointed tip.

4. Clean those edges. To really make your lips pop, grab your favorite concealer or mix the perfect shade with the L’Oréal Paris Infallible Total Cover Concealing and Contour Kit, to outline your lips. The same way concealer is the perfect finishing step for your eyebrows, it can also top off your lip look. With a simple outline, not only will your lips stand out more, but they’ll appear to have cleaner edges, too. If you prefer to skip foundation and concealer altogether, try using a cotton swab dipped in micellar water for a similar clean-up effect.

5. Add some lip gloss. As a finishing touch, grab the L’Oréal Paris Colour Riche Le Gloss in a deep shade like Mystic Mauve or Chocolate Obsession to really pump up the shine of your pout. Be sure to dab the lip gloss in the center of your lips to help accentuate the fullest part.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR LIPS LOOK BIGGER IN ONE STEP

Look, we get it. Sometimes, you just don’t have time to follow multiple steps—especially if you’ve got somewhere to be, like, 10 minutes ago. Luckily, it is possible to get plumper-looking lips without dealing with multiple, precision-requiring steps. In fact, when you’re under a time crunch, just one step will do. To play up your pout in virtually no time at all, simply swipe on a lip-plumping gloss. Ta-da!

Now that you know how to make your lips look bigger, here’s How to Do Unicorn Lips.