Lipstick Wear Application Tips Tricks

As a collective - bloggers, blog commentators and readers form a community; a tight knit, little group that normally shares similar interests and in some cases taste. With that in mind I started the "Asking for a Friend" series. A collective of blog posts (you can find them all under the same label within the menu bar), in which I wax lyrical about a topic and ask for your take and often product recommendations. Well for the next few weeks I have decided that we should all divulge our best beauty tips and help one and other out, heck if it goes well I may even post all the tips in one large post but more on that later...

After months of dabbling with matte liquid lipsticks and lip liners, I have dusted off my lipstick collection to give my dried out lips a break and of course enjoy lighter, more nourishing textures. My main gripe with lipstick (matte formulations aside) is the stunted wear time and of course, the smudging/transferring issue. As someone who talks, eats and drinks (by that I mean water et al, I'm not bar hopping on a Tuesday morning) a lot, matte textures were the safe bet - long wearing, pigmented, more often than not smudge proof but I have a heaving lip stash begging to be appreciated.

Lipstick Wear Application Tips Tricks

With that at the forefront of my mind,  here are a few of my favourite lipstick tips and tricks:

- To turn any lipstick matte and in turn prolong the wear you can set with a facial powder or eyeshadow pigment. MAC Neon Orange pigment over any red lipstick creates the most amazingly bright, matte red come orange lipstick. If you do decide to use such method, ensure that the powder/pigment is safe to use on the lips.

- If you like bold and more unusual lip shades, neon orange, grey, black and so forth; eye khol pencils are your best bet for colour pay off, simply use as you would a normal lip liner. If you decide this is something you'd like to try, I urge you to ensure it is lip safe.

- An age old tip but a good one none the less; a layer of lip liner all over the lips, grips onto lipstick and both prolongs wear and prevents smudging, bleeding and feathering.

- Forget fancy lip scrubs and buff the lips with an old (clean) toothbrush, this will ensure even application and can prevent the lipstick from feathering throughout the day.

- Not technically a means of prolonging or improving lipstick wear but if like myself you have been known to loose lipsticks on a night out - load up a travel and capped lip brush with your favourite shade and use in place of the physical lipstick.

- Admittedly less than glamorous but the old sucking on your index finger, straight after application does catch any excess lipstick, preventing it from finding a new home on your front teeth.

- I've mentioned this before but for sake of hygiene do not apply in store lipstick testers anywhere near your lips. Rather dab onto the the fingertips as it is a closer colour match to the natural lip colour than the back of your hand.

- If applying lipstick in layers, always blot on a tissue in between coast to prevent the colour bleeding.

And that is all the lipstick wearing tips I have and where I invite you to wade in.

What is the best lipstick tip you have? Be it a lipstick application hack, how to prolong lipstick or a tid bit on general lip care, do let me know - I'm all ears.