The Lip Dictionary: A Guide to Lip Make Up (And Everything Else For Your Lips)

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Did you know how many different things you can put on your lips? Oh my gosh, there are so many! And they all do different things. I figured that I couldn’t be the only one feeling clueless, so I thought I would do a Guide to Lip Make Up for all of us. This way you have something you can refer back to and also figure out what you actually need!

Lip Dictionary: A Guide to Lip Make Up

Lip Balm

A wax like substance that you apply to your lips. It then creates a barrier to help seal the moisture in and help you to avoid chapped lips. Make sure to avoid lip balms with ingredients like phenol, menthol and salicylic acid. Also, your lip balm SHOULD have SPF in it. For reference, “Chapstick” is a type of lip balm, not it’s own category. I love Vaseline’s Lip Therapy.

Lip Conditioner

Conditioner is similar to lip balm, but it’s not wax based. Like balm, it can help to lock in moisture and heal chapped lips. It’s also great to use as a base for lipstick to help lipstick easily glide on. I also like to use the Beautycounter version to exfoliate my lips!

Lip Gloss

Lip gloss does basically what it sounds like. It adds a glossy shine to your lips. It can also add a bit of color that isn’t too intense or solid.

Lip Liner

Liner has a few different uses. The first use is to stop lipstick from bleeding from your lips to your skin, which can happen with aging. Additionally, it can be used to help line your lips and know what to fill in with lipstick. Next, a great use for lip liner is correcting thin or uneven lips. Finally, it will prolong the wear of any lip color (and who doesn’t love that?!).

Lip Plumper

Okay, in this case, we’re talking the non-surgery route and talking the gloss/balm treatment. Lip plumbers are glosses or balms balms that when applied to your lips make them look bigger and fuller. In the past, lip plumpers would rely on some combination to actually temporarily swell your lips and make them bigger. Now they use different combination of extracts to help increase blood circulation and plump the lips. This article has a list of great lip plumper options (I’ve never used it, so I can’t speak to it).

Lip Stain

This is a liquid or gel based product that is used to literally stain your lips with a certain color. Typically once they’ve dried, they’ll stay on your lips for 10 to 12 hours (way longer than lipstick). Lip stains are drying though, so they should be paired with a lip balm or not used at all if you have dry lips.

Lipstick

The most colorful option of them all! Lipstick is what you should do if you want the most intense color. Most people typically think of it as the wax and oil stick that comes to you in the circular tube (and they aren’t really wrong). But it can also come to you in matte, gloss, glaze, luster and satin finishes, as well as a wide variety of shades. Personally, my favorite is the Color Intense Lipstick from Beautycounter.

Liquid Lipstick

Liquid Lipstick is like getting all of the perks lipstick with the ease of putting on a gloss. It still has pigment of a lipstick, so the color is still as intense, but it can glide on and give you the sheen of lip gloss. But you can also blot it to make it a little less glossy. The downside? It can also dry out your lips, so apply a balm or conditioner first!

Hopefully this Guide to Lip Make Up was helpful for you! I have a feeling that I’m going to be referencing it in the future.

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