Fashion

How To Make Thin Lips Look Like Kylie's

by Emily McClure

With all these #KylieJennerChallenge videos floating around the Internet, I have to say I'm feeling a little left out. For us girls with thin lips, finding a Kylie Jenner lip tutorial that actually works kinda seems totally out of the question. Do we really all have to resort to sucking on a shot glass to give our lips a little oomph? I've seen young women with already-pretty-full lips pull off Jenner's over-lining technique, but can that method really work for everyone? Yes, dear reader. It can.

Creating a fuller pout can seem so confusing. Almost everyone on the Internet has an opinion how to create voluptuous lips. YouTube beauty community alone has almost 1,000 videos detailing how to "overdraw lips." After living a lifetime of full lips, I've narrowed all those tutorials down to a few key steps that always work for me. All together, these steps take about five minutes.

Now, remember, practice makes perfect. You didn't create the perfect winged eyeliner on your first try did you? Right.

Things you will need to create fuller looking lips:

  • Toothbrush or a cotton swab
  • Lip balm
  • White Eyeshadow
  • Lipliner
  • Lipstick
  • Lipgloss

1. Exfoliate and Moisturize

Using a toothbrush or a cotton swab, gently exfoliate your lips using circular motions. Besides removing any dead skin cells, exfoliating your lips allows the blood to rush to the surface creating a fuller looking pout. Exfoliate for fifteen seconds, and then apply a thin layer of lip balm over the lips to lock in the moisture.

2. Highlight

Just like the rest of your face, highlighting and contouring is the best way to create dimension. In order to create fuller lips, draw on a small line of highlighting powder (or a white eyeshadow) above your top lip line. Focus more powder above your cupid's bow and feather out towards the edges of your lips.

Step Three: Contour

This is an integral step. Using a lipliner two shades darker than your lips, line slightly above and below your natural lip line. In order to avoid clown lips, make sure to shade in your lips with the lipliner in the outer corners and slightly towards the center of the lip.

4. Color

Choose your favorite lipstick/lipgloss combination and coat your lips. Focus the gloss on the center of the lips to add the most dimension.

5. Finishing Touches

Remember that highlighting powder that was used earlier? Take the same shade and dab a small about to the center of your lips. This may seem like an unnecessary step, but it adds a huge impact.

In case you forgot where we started, here's my before and after.

It's not crazy drastic, but I still think Kylie Jenner would highly approve.

Images: Getty Images (1); Emily McClure (8)