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Just say no to clown lips: When lip liner goes bad
By Meg | July 28, 2007
Let’s face it, makeup can be dangerous. Most women use it (at least in the U.S.), many misuse it, and the results can really be disastrous at times. I can look past bad shoes, and even a bad outfit, but bad makeup is hard to ignore because we are drawn to look at faces, especially when talking to someone. I’ve seen plenty of facial train wrecks, from caked on foundation to Mimi-style blue eye-shadow, to blush that resembles an allergic reaction. My biggest makeup pet peeve? Lips that look outlined due to the misuse of lip liner. Don’t worry, though. I’ll tell you below how to avoid this problem.
Twice in the past month I’ve seen lip liner that made me cringe. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the heart to say anything. I feel a bit guilty for not saying anything to them, and then writing about it here, but I hope writing this will save a few lips out there.
The first case didn’t look too awful. The lady’s lipstick had worn off leaving the lip liner visible around the lips. It was a similar shade to the lipstick that she had worn, but the clean lines showed up against her natural lip color. What made it really bad, though, was that she was selling makeup and showing a group of people how to apply lip liner!
The second case, looked absolutely ridiculous and I just don’t know what she was thinking. She was wearing nude lipstick and then outlined her lips in a clean, broad line of dark purple. I’m not making this up. And no, this was not at a venue where you’d expect creative makeup. This was her everyday look.
So what went wrong in both of these cases? You might think that in the second case that the lady’s choice in color was the problem. While it was a questionable choice, it really wasn’t the main problem. Remember, the first lady chose matching lip liner and it still didn’t work out (though it didn’t look as bad). Makeup companies would love everyone to buy a matching lip liner for every lipstick, but the truth is your lip liner and lipstick do not have to match. You can mix very different colors lipsticks and liners. In fact, experimenting with different combinations is a great way to add more colors to your palette and use lipstick colors that didn’t quite work by themselves.
Now before you think that I’m actually advocating clown lips, let me explain what went wrong in the cases I mentioned above. The problem was their technique. Don’t just line your lips with lip liner. I know it is called lip liner, but if you outline your lips in clean lines, that’s what you’re going to be left with - and it looks unnatural. You have to blend it in. After you’ve you’ve applied lip liner on your natural lip line, blend it into the rest of your lips (there are lip liner brushes
The other side to this issue is that lipstick wears off.. If your lip liner is going to be an issue, make sure to wear long-lasting lipstick and check it often to see if you need to reapply. If you’re going to be doing activities that are lipstick killers, go with more natural colors. (I play the saxophone and have found nothing worse for lipstick. The proof is on the reed.) Another technique is to use lip liner after you’ve applied your lipstick, so that it wears off with your lipstick. It’s not always the perfect solution, but it’s worth experimenting with. And of course, you don’t always have to wear lip liner with lipstick.
So there you have it and hopefully I’ve left you with no excuse for clown lips. Please let me know what techniques work for you. Also, do you have any pet peeves when it comes to makeup?
Tags: Beauty, Makeup
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August 5th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
[…] I’ve seen both the worst and best in-person eyeshadow use of my life. Recently, I posted Just Say No to Clown Lips - When Lip Liner Goes Bad, in which I said: I can look past bad shoes, and even a bad outfit, but bad makeup is hard to […]