Are your lips looking a little pale? Or perhaps they’re just lacking a little vibrancy? Worry not – you can make them naturally red by taking good care of them and implementing a few easy tricks.
Most people experience chapped lips in the winter. Chapped lips tend to look colorless because there is a lot of dry skin on them, which doesn’t have any color to it.
Other people struggle with the opposite issue – their lips look too discolored and not red enough. Either way, the key to making your lips naturally red is treating them well.
This is why the first step in bringing that scarlet glow back to them requires you to take good care of them by moisturizing and exfoliating. Without those two steps you won’t have naturally red and healthy-looking lips.
And while exfoliating and moisturizing can give your lips a lovely pink hue, it’s not enough to make them genuinely red.
So how do you get naturally red lips? By increasing blood flow to your lips or putting a scarlet pigment on them you can make them look red in a natural way, without having to rely on lipstick.
In this post, we’ll go over all the different ways you can treat them to make them naturally red and healthy.
Natural Red Lips Without Lipstick
If lipstick isn’t your jam, you can get raspberry-red lips in other ways. But first, you have to start with healthy and plush lips, so make sure you’re following these steps:
Exfoliate
Exfoliation is one of the best ways to naturally bring more color to your lips. When you exfoliate your lips, you are removing layers of dead skin cells that can cover your lips’ natural blush.
There are many different ways to exfoliate your lips. You can buy a lip exfoliating scrub, or make one yourself.
Sugar lip scrubs are easy to make, taste good, and do a great job of exfoliating your lips. You can make a lip scrub using just two ingredients: sugar and honey – combine them in equal parts and rub the scrub all over your lips for a few minutes.
Once you wipe the lip scrub off, your pout will be much softer, smoother, and pinker. There are many other lip scrub recipes out there, some of which have ingredients that help moisturize and plump your lips.
If you want to step it up a notch, use a fresh toothbrush and buff your lip scrub all over your lips, allowing the bristles to aid in the exfoliation process. While you’re at it, you can even create a toothpaste mask to amp up the natural pink flush.
If you include lip scrubbing in your daily routine, you’d be surprised at how much more vibrant the color of your lips becomes with time.
Moisturize
Keeping your lips hydrated and moisturized is the second most important thing you can do to make them appear red naturally.
This means you should be drinking a lot of water throughout the day in addition to wearing chapstick and applying a moisturizer or lip mask at night.
Certain lip balm ingredients can help bring more blood to your lips, making them darker and redder.
These ingredients include peppermint, cinnamon, and even cayenne pepper. You can purchase lip balms with those ingredients, or make your own plumping lip balm.
If you head the DIY road, mix a teaspoon of cinnamon or cayenne pepper with a healthy dollop of olive oil. Apply the mixture to your lips and allow it to soak in for a few minutes. Rinse it off to reveal moisturized red lips.
When blood rushes to your lips, you’ll feel a slight tingling sensation and your lips will become slightly larger and redder. This is a great way to get a very natural-looking red lip without using any pigmented products.
Natural Stain
If you want to enhance the ruby tones in your lips even further, consider dabbing a natural stain on your lips. Stain is different from lipstick, because it sinks into your skin, instead of sitting on top of your lips.
Lip stains can be purchased or made from simple ingredients at home. There are many foods that can stain your lips naturally. For example, if you slice open a beet and rub the cut side on your lips, your lips will take on a gorgeous mauve staining that lasts all day.
No beets? No problem. Check your pantry for red Kool-Aid powder – dissolving that in a little bit of water and dabbing it on your lips will give your lips a stunning red stain.
Other common foods that can stain your lips in shades from scarlet to maroon are: mulberries, pomegranate (mashed), raspberries, blueberries, and red wine.
Juice
If you don’t have access to any of the fruits and foods above, consider using fruit juice. Many fruit juices can stain your lips with a beautiful shade of red.
The best juices for this are strawberry, cranberry, cherry, and fruit punch. Simply use a cotton swab to dip into the juice and rub the cotton over your lips for a few minutes. Your lips will slowly take on the color of the juice.
You can make the color as deep as you want – the more juice you put on your lips the deeper the color will get, so you really have a lot of control over the results here.
Like other natural stains, these juice stains can last several hours. Just make sure to use a lip balm over the stain to keep your lips from getting dry!
Tinted Balm
Consider using a tinted lip balm in place of your regular chapstick. Tinted lip balm moisturizes and softens your lips while providing you with a light and natural-looking flush of pigments. It’s not as fussy as lipstick – you don’t need to line your lips or worry about it smearing.
Most tinted lip balms are transparent with just a hint of color. So, if you’ve been keeping your lips exfoliated and hydrated, this subtle tinted balm might be all you need to achieve stunningly red lips.
Lip Plumping Tool
Lip-plumping tools, like this one, are small suction devices that can make your lips look plumper and redder.
These tools work on the same principle as cinnamon or peppermint lip balms – they increase the blood flow to your lips by using physical suctioning. As a result, you have a plump and red pout for a few hours.
The effects fade after an hour or two and your lips go back to normal. However, some people claim that they’ve noticed a long-term improvement to the size and redness of their lips with long-term daily use.
A word of caution: don’t overdo it! If you suction for too long, your lips can swell and bruise. Trust us, you don’t want to deal with the pain of bruised lips in the name of beauty.
How To Make Red Lipstick Look Natural
Don’t think red lipstick could look natural? We beg to differ! Red lipstick doesn’t have to be bold and glamorous. If you’re craving a more natural look, we have a few tips for you so you can use red lipstick in a new way.
First, pick red lipstick with a more subdued hue. Less firetruck and more peachy mauve, the color your lips get after you drink wine and kiss all night.
Then, start by putting lip balm on your lips. This will help keep your lips soft and moisturized under the lipstick to avoid that cracked and cakey look. The lip balm will also dilute your lipstick a little bit so that it looks more natural.
Once you’ve applied lip balm to your lips, use your finger to pick up some of the lipstick pigment and gently begin dabbing it on your lips starting in the center of your top and bottom lips.
You can work your way out for a subtle fading effect. This will give you a super natural-looking red lip that doesn’t look intentional or overdone.
If you’re using liquid lipstick or red lip gloss, you can make it look natural, too. Just apply a little bit of the red liquid on your lips, focusing on the middle of your pout.
Then use tissue paper to dab any excess liquid off your lips. This will result in you having a subtle red tint on your lips and you won’t have to worry about it smearing.
How To Make Your Lips Red Naturally Permanently
The only truly permanent way to make your lips red is through cosmetic micro pigmentation, also known as tattoo makeup.
But if you’re not willing to do that yet, here are some things you can do on the daily basis to keep your lips as naturally red as possible:
Daily Exfoliation
We talked about this before, but making a habit of exfoliating your lips daily can go a long way in making them look healthy and vibrant.
Exfoliation can be done with physical exfoliants (like a scrub or a brush) and chemical exfoliants, which include products containing citric acid, lactic acid, or glycolic acid.
This will keep all dry and dead skin cells off the surface of your lips, which means your lips will be soft and vibrant.
Daily Moisturizing
Keeping your lips moisturized will improve their appearance and give them more color. This applies to external moisture (like lip balm) and internal hydration like drinking a lot of water.
Quitting Smoking
If you’re serious about making your lips naturally red, you’ll kick the habit. Smoking is obviously bad for your health, but did you know it’s bad for your lips? It can cause discolored spots and dark areas on your lips. It can also make your teeth yellow, which doesn’t look good no matter what color your lips are.
Daily Massage
Massaging the lips may sound weird, but it’s a great way to bring some extra blood flow to your lips. If you do it daily, your lips will be healthy and will have plenty of healthy blood vessels under the surface, which will keep them looking scarlet.
Sunscreen
You probably know that your skin can become discolored from sun damage, but did you know the same thing happens to your lips? How often do you remember to put sunscreen on your lips when you leave the house?
Invest in a lip balm with SPF and keep your lips protected from damage. Not only will it keep your lips rosy, but it will also help keep them looking smooth and plump for longer.
The tips above can make your lips redder over time, as long as you stay consistent. Of course, if you want to change the color of your lips permanently, the only way to do that is through permanent makeup.
Home remedies can help add a little bit of color to your lips, but don’t expect to get lipstick-level results from them.
Permanent Red Lips
If you choose to go the permanent makeup route, you should know that even that doesn’t last forever. Most tattooed makeup lasts about 3-5 years and requires touch-ups to keep it there forever. But it’s still a great choice for those who feel like they need the extra pigmentation without the hassle of applying makeup.
These days, a procedure called lip blushing is a great way to give yourself natural-looking flushed lips.
It’s a semi-permanent tattoo that fills your lips and defines them softly (without the dreaded lip-liner vibe that old lip tattoos gave off). It basically makes your lips look like you’re always wearing a soft lip tint.
You can choose the shade to match your complexion so that it doesn’t look too wild. And you can always wear makeup over it if you feel like spicing things up.
This process is done using a cosmetic tattoo gun with tiny needles that deposit pigments under the surface of your lips. It can be a painful process with irritation for a few days after the procedure.
If that’s the route you choose, just keep in mind that all tattoos come with certain risks. And once you have it, you’ll have to live with it for three or more years. So choose your color wisely.
Why Do Some People Have Naturally Red Lips?
You may have noticed that some people naturally have very red lips and it doesn’t seem like they’re putting a lot of effort into maintaining that color.
It comes down to genetics. Everyone has slightly different colored lips naturally. People with very pale skin often have “translucent” skin, meaning you can see blood vessels through it more prominently. This translates as redder and more vibrant lips.
If you weren’t blessed with naturally red lips, you can still make the best of what nature gave you. If you take really good care of your lips by keeping them hydrated and exfoliated, and protecting them from damage, your lips will have an even color that looks harmonious with the rest of your complexion.
What Color Are Healthy Lips Supposed To Be?
Normal lip color varies from person to person. Anything from light pink to reddish to brown is normal for lips.
The best way to find out what the “normal” color is for you personally is to look at your lips after you exfoliate them – this should give you a good idea of what your lips should look like.
Your lips can naturally change color depending on what you’re eating, what the weather is like, and if you’re sick.
One red flag to look for is blue lips. If your lips develop a bluish hue it could indicate a lack of oxygen in the blood, which can be caused by different health conditions and needs to be addressed by a doctor.
Final Thoughts
Enhancing the natural redness of your lips is easy to do with a few home remedies and simple products, like exfoliants, lip balms, and fruit juices.
You can also get a very natural red lip look using makeup products like lipstick or lip gloss as long as you use a subtle application technique.
If you really want to make your lips red permanently, you might want to consider tattooing your lips, however, most people find that daily maintenance keeps their lips look nice and rosy on its own!
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