Gothic Kiss

9 Step Guide to Awesome Lips Approximate application duration: 5 minutes

What you will need

1. Lip Moisturiser - New Balm by Maybelline is used here.
2. Lipstick - 148 305 by Barry M is used here.
3. Blotter (toilet paper)
4. Loose Powder - 001 Transparent Silky Loose Face Powder by Rimmel London is used here.
5. Lip Brush - Retractable Lip Brush by La Cross is used here.
6. Kohl Pencil - Soft Kohl Kajal  Eye Liner Pencil by Rimmel London is used here.
7. Pencil Sharpener
8. Lip Gloss - Paris by Avon (not sure which brand) is used here.

 

Step by Step

1. Wash Your Face Your skin naturally produces oils. They are rarely distributed evenly across the skin, and they can cause cosmetic problems to have difficulty adhering to our skin. As such we need to wash them away. Pin your hair back so that it doesn't get in the way.
2. Moisturise If lips are left un-moisturised they will develop dry patches. When you apply lipstick across these it looks patchy. Moisturising lips regularly means that you get an even dispersion of colour when you apply lipstick. Ideally you'll moisturise your lips as part of your skin care regime, but if you do not have such a regime simply moisturise at the beginning of the lip decoration process.
3. Base Coat Apply the first coat of lipstick straight from the tube, just as you normally would. We're using Barry M's blue lipstick. Gently close your lips over the piece of toilet paper to blot off any excess; don't press hard.
4. Powder Gently pad the sponge from the powder pot over your lips. Again blot gently with the paper. The powder is to create a lock on your lips, to help make the colour last longer. (I find it so frustrating when my lipstick seems to have disappeared after an hour or less). It's best to use 'nude' or 'translucent' powder, but it tends to be more expensive. So you can pick a colour nearer the colour of lipstick you're likely to wear instead.
5. Second Coat Use your lip brush to apply a coat of the main lip colour, in this case blue, over your powdered lips. Work it in to all the creases really well, building up the colour slowly. You'll get a lovely vibrant finish. If you simply want one lip tone that stays put, skip to step 9. Always clean your lip brush after use. Because lipstick is oil based it takes a drop of washing up liquid to clean brushes properly. I usually brush the brush on a piece of toilet paper or a cotton wool pad instead, until it no longer has any colour in it to brush off.
6. Line Your Lips Sharpen the lip pencil to the thickness you would like the line around your lips to be. Very carefully draw around the edges of your lips. If you wish for your lips to look a little bigger, take the line just outside them. Go over the line a couple of times, making sure you've a generous portion of product there. I've personally found the kohl eye pencils are the best for lining my lips. If your hands are unsteady like mine, have a cotton bud handy to tidy up if you accidentally bodge the line.
7. Blend Using the brush again, gently tease the line you've drawn around your lips into the full lip colour.
8. Side Fill Use the Kohl Pencil to colour in the sides of your bottom lip, leaving between a third and a half of the main lip colour visible in the centre of your lips. Gently press your lips together to create a slightly smudged effect on the top lip. If you use the side of the kohl then you don't blunt the point for the next time you wish to use it.
9. Gloss! Lip gloss supposedly makes your colour last longer. Personally I have never found it to work, but it does make your lips look lovely and luscious. Put a couple of splodges of gloss on your lips - don't wipe it all over them, as you'll ruin the effect you've just created - and gently press your lips together a few times to cover them in gloss.

Finished Product!

Further Exploration

You can use the same technique with other coloured lipsticks.

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These are the lipsticks used above:

1. Violet Friday by Avon Color Trend
2. Intimate by Avon Color Trend
3. LG08 from the Body Shop (this is quite an old lipstick, so I'm uncertain whether they still sell this).
4. Violet by Janet. (This lipstick is advertised as being fluorescent; it does not glow).
5. Ice Blue by Star Gazer (This lipstick however, does glow under UV lighting).
6. 148 305 by Barry M