Your lip care guide for beautiful lips
Lip care and Lip enhancement.
We’ve listened to all of your lip care and lip enhancement questions and put together the answers in this lip care guide.
Your lips have a lot of work to do - talking, eating, smiling, laughing and kissing at the very least. All that hard work, plus environmental factors like the weather and pollution, can take its toll. This is why it’s so important to prioritise your lip care.
And let’s not forget that feeling good about your lips is an incredible confidence booster.
Lip care FAQs
Why are my lips so dry?
Your lips are prone to dryness for two reasons. One, the skin on your lips is much thinner than anywhere else on your body, which makes it vulnerable to environmental damage. Two, your lips don’t have pores, which means there are no sweat or oil glands to keep the skin hydrated.
If you’re someone who generally has quite dry skin, you’re more likely to suffer from dry lips.
What causes chapped lips?
When we talk about chapped lips, we mean lips that are so dry that they’re cracked or peeling due to irritation and inflammation. Most of us will experience chapped lips at some point in our lives but some people are more prone than others.
Chapped lips are usually caused by environmental factors such as heat and sun damage or very cold, dry and windy weather.
You may also find that your lips become chapped after eating spicy food or after taking certain medications. Some health conditions cause chapped lips too – for example, thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel disease or certain vitamin deficiencies.
If you’re someone who licks their lips a lot, you may find that you suffer from chapped lips.
It’s worth speaking to your GP if you’ve been experiencing chapped lips for several weeks without improvement or your lips feel very dry and uncomfortable. Occasionally, chapped lips can be a sign of an allergic reaction, yeast infection or a more serious health condition.
How to cure chapped lips?
A combination of the following tips should help you cure your chapped lips:
Drink plenty of water – dehydration contributes to dry lips. The more hydrated your body is, the better for your lips.
Use a non-irritating lip balm or moisturiser on your lips several times a day and before you go to bed – soothing ingredients that can help to heal chapped lips include castor seed oil, ceramides, hemp seed oil, mineral oil, shea butter, and sun-protective ingredients such as titanium oxide or zinc oxide.
If a product makes your lips burn or tingle, stop using it immediately as these are signs of irritation – avoid ingredients such as menthol, eucalyptus and salicylic acid while your lips are chapped.
Use a lip balm with SPF 30 or higher – this will help to protect your lips from the weather, particularly sun damage (yes, even in the winter!)
Avoid picking at or licking your lips – when your lips feel dry, it’s natural to want to lick them or even to pick away bits of peeling skin. This can make your chapped lips worse. As hard as it is, try to leave your lips alone apart from applying a suitable lip balm or ointment.
Remove any lip piercings – metal lip piercings can aggravate chapped lips, so consider removing them until your lips have a chance to heal.
Try applying natural remedies to your lips – coconut oil, honey, cucumber and green tea bags can all be soothing.
Stop smoking – if you’re a smoker, it could be making your chapped lips worse by irritating the sensitive skin.
How to exfoliate your lips?
If your lips feel chapped or even just dry, exfoliation can help to remove dull, damaged cells and leave your lips looking healthier, smoother and brighter. In fact, regular, gentle exfoliation is a great way of preventing dry lips.
‘Gentle’ is the all-important word here! Remember, the skin on your lips is thin and vulnerable to damage.
Our advice is to make sure that your lips are clean and free from products, then wet them with a drop of water to help the exfoliating ingredients glide easily over them. Next, dip a soft-bristled, clean toothbrush into your chosen lip scrub and gently brush your lips in a small circular motion.
Some people prefer to apply the scrub five to ten minutes before using the toothbrush to allow the ingredients to soothe and moisturise the lips.
You could try the following homemade recipes:
Sugar & Honey Lip Scrub: Mix a ¼ teaspoon of brown sugar with a ¼ teaspoon of honey and a ¼ teaspoon of coconut oil.
Lime, Coconut & Sugar Lip Scrub: Mix a ¼ teaspoon of brown sugar with a ¼ teaspoon of coconut oil and a squeeze of lime juice.
Chocolate & Shea Butter Lip Scrub: Mix a ¼ teaspoon of brown sugar with a ¼ teaspoon of cocoa powder, 1/10 teaspoon of shea butter and 1/10 teaspoon of walnut oil.
Honey & Lavender Lip Scrub: Mix a tablespoon of brown sugar with a tablespoon of raw honey, a tablespoon of coconut oil and 1-2 drops of lavender essential oil.
At most, you will want to exfoliate your lips once or twice a week. Over-exfoliation can be incredibly damaging to the fragile skin.
How to moisturise lips?
Keeping your lips moisturised all year round is best done using a combination of the tips above. Good hydration is key, so remember to drink plenty of water!
Always look for lip products with nourishing ingredients such as jojoba oil, shea butter, beeswax or petroleum jelly; that includes a hydrating, creamy lipstick.
At the same time, you should avoid flavoured lip balms that contain ingredients like mint, cinnamon or menthol.
Many people find it helpful to sleep with a humidifier in their room – central heating can be a nightmare for drying out the air and your skin.
You could also try mixing equal parts of honey and olive oil and applying a light coating to your lips before you go to bed. This can help to soften and smooth your skin.
How to make your lips look bigger with makeup?
If you would like to make your lips look bigger, makeup can be a great way to achieve this. Try these tips:
Exfoliate and moisturise your lips – the smoother and healthier your lips are, the easier it is to apply makeup products that will help you to create the illusion of fuller lips.
Prime your lips with concealer or foundation – this helps to create a base layer for your lipstick.
Use contouring – this is a fantastic way to enhance the dimensions of any area of your face, including your lips. A dusting of ashy-coloured contour under your bottom lip, for example, can create the illusion of shadow, suggesting your lips are bigger and more defined than they actually are. Just remember to blend well!
Highlight your cupid’s bow – a pronounced cupid’s bow on the upper lip has long been associated with a beautiful smile. You can give your cupid’s bow more definition by adding a touch of shimmer to highlight the area. Some shimmer in the middle of your bottom lip will also make it look fuller.
Overline your lips – use a lip pen in a colour close to your natural lip colour and outline your lips slightly over the natural line. Apply a lipstick in a matching shade or one shade lighter than your lip pen. Be careful doing this as overlining can look obvious and unnatural if you move too far outside of your natural lip line.
Use a nude shade or gloss – nude shades tend to look fuller than dark lipsticks. Lip gloss is great for making your lips look plumper too.
Use a plumping lip balm or gloss – you may want to use a lip balm or gloss that contains plumping products such as peptides, spearmint or collagen. The effects of these products usually last for an hour or so.
Lip enhancement FAQs
How to get fuller lips?
So far, we’ve looked at ways of making your lips appear healthier and fuller using off-the-shelf products, make-up and home remedies.
You might also want to try face yoga for 10 minutes a day as there are exercises designed to build up the muscles of your lips to give them a fuller appearance.
Of course, another non-surgical option to give you fuller lips is treatment with dermal lip fillers. This is something we offer here at Medikaur.
What are lip fillers?
Your skin, including your lips, contains a natural plumping and hydrating agent known as hyaluronic acid. This is found in connective tissues, along with collagen, elastin and subcutaneous fat cells and helps to give a smooth, youthful appearance.
Lip fillers – AKA dermal fillers – comprise a synthetic gel that closely resembles natural hyaluronic acid. By injecting small amounts of these fillers into your lips, we can create more volume.
What’s it really like to have lip fillers?
You might be worried that having injections in your lips will be painful. However, dermal filler treatments use fine micro-needles and most include lidocaine, which is a local anaesthetic for pain-free delivery.
Dermal fillers should only be administered by a suitably qualified medical professional such as an aesthetic nurse practitioner or GP. This will ensure that the result looks natural, balanced and that your lips are not overfilled.
Your lips should still feel soft and natural after your treatment. Your aesthetician will gently massage the fillers into your lips to ensure that they distribute properly and you’re not left with any lumps.
It’s normal to notice a little bit of swelling or bruising, especially near the injection sites, but this should self-resolve within two to three days. Most people are amazed at how comfortable the treatment is and have ‘normal’ their lips feel afterwards.
How long do lip fillers last?
Dermal filler treatments typically last for up to six months, after which the product naturally breaks down. To maintain the results, you will typically need lips fillers twice a year.
How do you feel about your lips? Do you make time for lip care? Would you like to learn more about lip enhancement? We’d love to hear what’s on your mind when it comes to feeling good about your lips.