The right way to prep your lips for matte lipstick isn’t an easy task but can look amazing when done correctly. Matte lipstick can highlight dry lips and make them look even drier and flakier, completely destroying the idea of a perfected lipsticks.
Bold lips in particular, are usually harder to wear when they’re matte. A glossy finish can easily make your lips luscious, plump and hydrated, whilst matte lips do the opposite.
Here are our top tips to prep your lips for matte lipstick:
Exfoliate
There’s nothing worse than trying to pull of a red lipstick but having flakiness all over the show. Red lipsticks like Russian Red especially have the tendency to highlight dry areas on your lips as well as show every small crack line; making your lips look less than perfect.
Grab something like a Lush lip scrub (the bubblegum one tastes amazing!) or the Clinique sugar pots – a sugar-based mixture that is designed to remove all of the dead skin from your lips. It also gives your lips much more nourishment thanks to them being infused with a number of different oils.
Related: How to Find the Perfect Red Lipstick for Your Skintone
Hydrate
Just like a usual skincare routine for your face, it’s essential that you apply a hydrating liquid to your lips after they’ve been exfoliated.
The best tip I can give when applying lip balm is to just add enough to form a light layer on your lips; adding too much will not ‘sink in’ in time and make it tricky to apply the lipstick later.
Vaseline lip balms have been a staple product for makeup artists all over the world, with them being some of the best formulations around to keep your lips looking and feeling the best they can be.
Lip liner
I only recently discovered lip liner and the massive effects it can have on the wear-time and finish of a matte lipstick.
Choose a liner that is of a similar shade to your lipstick – MAC’s Red is a great one for their Ruby Woo lipstick – and line the outside of your lips to make sure that when the lipstick is applied, it acts as a stencil for a neat application.
Another great trick is to fill in the entire lip with this lip liner. Although it rarely affects the luscious-ness of your lipstick, it can help with longevity.
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