How To Lip Contour

Creating a defined line around your lips and adding a lighter pop of colour to the centre creates colour play that helps to bring your lips forward and makes them appear more prominent. This contrast between light and shade makes lips look bigger in the same way that highlighter on the tops of your cheeks helps create the illusion of pulling your cheekbones forward and makes them appear larger.

Discover more tips on how to make lips look bigger

The darker shade of lip liner that you are creating your lip contour with can be used to overdraw your lips. Whether you decide to softly overline your natural lip shape for a natural-looking finish, reshape the look of your Cupid’s bow to make it pop, or overdraw to create the illusion of a fuller and wider -looking lip shape, you can create your desired effect with lip contour.

Discover how to identify your lip shape

Contouring your lips adds depth and dimension to your makeup look, making lips look lifted, sculpted, and snatched! Lip contouring belongs as a part of every sculpted makeup look; chisel the look of your bone structure with contour, accentuate your eyes with eye contour, then contour your lips for a flawless, 3-part sculpt effect! If you want to channel 90s contoured supermodel glam, lip contour is an easy way to dial up your look while keeping it simple, sultry, and sophisticated.

[Discover my 90s makeup tutorial](/secrets/history-of-makeup/90s

Whichever lipstick look you choose, it’s important to prepare your lips with hydrating lip products like a lip mask, lip oil or lip balm before going in with lip liner to contour and define. Applying a skincare-infused lip oil like Charlotte’s Magic Lip Oil Crystal Elixir will help to hydrate lips and create a plush, pillowy surface for lip products to glide onto.

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Take a darker shade of lip liner and softly skim just outside the line of your lips to create a fuller, wider looking lip shape. To create a convincing, natural-looking lip contour, don’t stray too far from your natural lip shape and create a clean line to establish a well-defined, contoured shape. The SCULPT shade from my Lip Cheat Contour Duos is designed to create an easy lip contour; it’s a powdery formula that’s longwearing, super precise and perfect for contouring.

The principle of contouring is to use light shades in the areas that you want to pop, and in the case of your lips, that includes the centre of your top and bottom lip. As we know, darlings, you can’t have light without shade… Shading the outer corners of your lips with a darker lip liner will create contrast, helping lighter shades to pop even more and giving lips a fuller, more sculpted look. Apply the SCULPT shade from your Lip Cheat Contour Duo in the corners of your top and bottom lip, going from the outermost corner until the midpoint between your outer corner and your Cupid’s bow.

Once you have used a darker shade of lip liner to map out your lip contour, reach for a complementary shade that’s a few tones lighter to fill in your lips. I created my Lip Cheat Contour Duos with two expertly colour-matched shades; they take the guess work out of lip contour and create a flawless, colour-coordinated look. Use the FILL colour to shade in your top and bottom lip; this shade is lighter in tone and has a creamier consistency that feels moisturising and super comfortable to wear all over your lips.

The secret to a seamless-looking lip contour is in the blending, darlings. Two expertly colour-matched shades can still appear stark on your lips if they aren’t blended properly; to create a successful lip contour, you want your sculpt and fill shades to blend into one another to form a beautiful gradient that diffuses effortlessly from dark to light. Once you have applied your light and dark lip liner shades, use your ring finger or a lip brush to blur the edges where your SCULPT and FILL shades meet; this will help to get rid of any harsh lines and make your lip contour appear more natural.

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You can create a perfectly contoured pout with lip liner alone, darlings, but adding lipstick will build even more dimension. Once you have laid the groundwork for your lip contour with lip liner, apply lipstick into the centre of your lips to give your look a fuller, poutier finish. I suggest reaching for a lighter shade of lipstick like my Nude Kate K.I.S.S.I.N.G Lipstick and blotting it onto your lips to enhance the contour effect you have created.

To reinforce the lip contour you have created, take a small amount of concealer on a lip brush and carefully carve around the outer edge of your lip liner. I like to apply Charlotte’s Beautiful Skin Radiant Concealer to the back of my hand then tap in with my Lip Brush – this way, you don’t pick up too much product and can be super precise with your application. To blend, I recommend tapping out concealer with your finger to marry it with the rest of your complexion while avoiding overlapping with your lip contour. Take care with this step, darlings… Blending concealer into your lip contour can disrupt the illusion!

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To make your lips appear even poutier, apply bronzer underneath your bottom lip to create a shadow effect. Bronzing just above your chin will create the illusion of a fuller-looking lower lip, casting a shadow that looks as if it’s caused by the fullness of your lip shape. With The AIR Brush, tap into a powder bronzer like AIRbrush Bronzer and lightly buff below your lips to create a light, flattering shadow that enhances the lip contour you have created with lip liner.

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Lip gloss is the secret to fuller, plumper looking lips and it’s the perfect finishing touch for your lip contour look. Glazing lip gloss over your lip liner and lipstick gives lips a glossy glow, making them appear bigger, fuller, poutier and plumper. I created my Big Lip Plumpgasm in Nudegasm Diamonds as the perfect accompaniment to any of my Lip Cheat Contour Duos! It’s a super-flattering champagne-nude plumping lip gloss with diamond shimmer that glazes over lips, supersizing their appearance and enhancing lip contours with dazzling diamond lip glow.