If you’ve been watching reality TV, or frequenting what’s hot on social media, you’re probably no stranger to the sight of a plump pout. Big lips have maintained their place in makeup popularity ever since cosmetic tycoon Kylie Jenner put her lip-kits on the map, but the truth is this: not everybody wants big lips!
While those with a naturally large pout may find the right occasions to emphasize their lips, there are some times when the makeup look calls for a more modest mouth. If you’ve ever found yourself in that situation, you know how difficult it might be to lessen the look of your lips.
So how do you make your lips look smaller? Using expertly chosen lipstick colors and mastering concealer application techniques can take your lips down to a more subtle shape. Maintaining the health of your lips and the skin around it can also help keep the size of your lips looking smaller, too.
If you’re looking for a permanent solution, you can also choose to get lip reduction surgery. But you won’t need to dive into your own research just yet, because we’ve put together the ultimate guide on how to make your lips look smaller. Spoiler alert: It’s easier than you think!
Make-Up Techniques
The easiest, and truly most effective way to get you lips looking smaller is through the power of makeup.
What you’ll need:
- Chapstick
- Foundation
- A lip pencil and
- Corresponding lipstick color
What to do:
Moisturize your lips
- Since the goal of making your lips look smaller is so that they draw less attention on your face, you want to make sure that your lips are as moisturized as possible. You don’t want your pout to be the subject of shifty eyes because of how chapped they are!
- You can achieve a supple surface simply by applying your favorite chapstick, but we recommend using your favorite lip mask beforehand for at least 10 minutes to ensure that your lips have the maximum amount of moisture possible.
- If you’re using chapstick, apply a thicker amount than you usually would. You’ll be wiping off the excess in a bit.
Conceal
- Using a concealer or foundation that is the closest possible match to your skin tone (we don’t recommend using a brightening or overly matte formula for this), apply a thin layer to your lips using a sponge. When done correctly, this will make essentially make your lips “disappear” into your skin.
- If you have naturally pigmented lips, you may want to consider using a concealer over a foundation as it will have stronger coverage. For those with lighter lips, you can get away with using a BB cream (like our favorite from Jane Iredale).
- The important thing to note when it comes to this step is to use the lightest hand possible. You don’t want too much product on your lips since you’ll be layering more product on top of the base shade.
- If you’ve moisturized your lips using a thick layer of chapstick, blot your mouth with a tissue to remove the excess product before applying your base shade.
Line Lips
- Make sure that your lip liner (we love this one from Haus Laboratories by Lady Gaga) is as fine as possible – this will ensure that you’re drawing a precise line.
- This step involves a little patience so that your lips look as natural as possible. Instead of lining your natural lip line, you’re going to go a bit underneath. It may seem difficult at first, but with practice you’ll be able to redraw your natural lip shape, albeit a bit thinner.
- Fill in this shape with your lip pencil. This is an important step, as it will ensure that your color won’t budge throughout the day, and it will also lock in the flesh colored shade underneath.
- If you’re going for an understated look, try going for a muted lip color or one closer to your natural lip shade.
Lipstick
- Fill in your new lip shape with your matching lipstick (we love this line from Perricone MD) and you’re done!
If you don’t get it right the first time around, don’t be frustrated! After lining the natural shape of your lips for so long, it’ll be hard to adjust at first.
If you find that you’ve accidentally lined your lips a bit too much, you can always go in with a small concealer brush and more of whatever you used as your base to clean up any mistakes, and to give you a crisp edge to your new lip line.
Another thing to note is that you don’t want to use a glossy finish lipstick, or a liner that easily transfers. You don’t want your lip color migrating to your natural lip shape. If you’d like, you could even use a matte finish liquid lipstick, but you may find that it’s difficult to remedy any mistakes or smudges that might occur.
As for the color, you could choose whatever you like best. However, there are some things to keep in mind when it comes to drawing attention to your lips.
Bright colors like reds and oranges will obviously bring attention to your mouth, making your lips look larger, while muted or more natural hues like pinks and light browns will make your lips look smaller.
Lip Health 101
You may think that keeping your lips moisturized and healthy will make them look bigger, and while that may be true, you shouldn’t skimp out on your lip care routine just because you want a smaller pout.
The truth is, neglecting lip health and allowing them to become dehydrated can indeed make your lips look smaller. For a short period of time, that is. After that, your lips will become irritated, chapped, and dry. After that, they will swell, larger than your natural lip shape.
Unhealthy lips also tend to darken since they’re not being cleaned, this color change can draw more attention to the lips and give an enlarging effect. To avoid this, introduce a lip scrub (our favorite is this one) into your weekly care routine. You don’t need to buy anything fancy, either! You can simply mix equal parts honey and sugar to exfoliate your mouth of any dead skin.
Keep your lips moisturized! While using a chapstick on a regular basis can help, you shouldn’t forget to drink water throughout the day. When it comes to choosing a chapstick or lip moisturizer, try and focus on finding an oil-based, non-tinted formula.
Go as simple as possible; you don’t want to accidentally find out that you have a sensitivity – lips are extremely sensitive and will swell at the first sign of an allergen. Choosing something soothing with shea butter or jojoba oils is best. Stray away from cinnamon, lemon, or anything minty.
Sleeping with a humidifier in your room at night can also help your lips from losing any moisture. This is also great for your skin in general, so you’ll be seeing improvements on more than just your lips!
While you should be taking care of your lips all throughout the year, really honing in on moisture during the colder winter months, when skin has a tendency to get more chapped, will truly make a difference.
Do you notice that your lips tend to sell or get irritated throughout the day, even when you aren’t doing anything to anger them? If so, you may be suffering from hypersensitive skin or allergies.
If that’s the case, don’t be afraid to reach out to a doctor or medical professional and see what their professional opinion is. Taking allergy medication will protect your lips from constant swelling, and will make it easier to make them look thinner to begin with!
Shaving, Waxing, or Tweezing
This technique doesn’t involve changing anything about your natural lip shape, but instead focusing on what’s happening around the mouth.
We all have hair on our face, and this hair tends to thicken on the edges of the lips, and even underneath the bottom lip. With hair comes shadow, and having shadow anywhere around the lips will actually make your pout look bigger- as the hair is giving the illusion of a protruding mouth.
So, use any hair removal method you feel is best to get rid of this hair. If you’re not familiar with using a razor on your face, you may want to opt for an eyebrow blade instead. You could even wax the area! If you tend to have a hairier face, we would recommend waxing, as the hairs will eventually grow in thinner over time.
If you’re serious about your hair removal, you can even inquire about laser hair removal. While a bit painful, this method is a fantastic way of ensuring that you won’t be bothered by any shadows around your lips after a certain amount of sessions.
You may have heard the myth that shaving hair makes ny new growth come in darker, thicker, and faster. Well, we’re here to tell you that that’s just not true.
Shaved hair looks to come in thicker since the hair shaft is sliced so bluntly, and it appears darker because it hasn’t yet been lightened by the sun. So if you prefer shaving, do it with confidence.
You could even pluck the hairs if you have a couple, but be forewarned that this method will most definitely end in redness and irritation around the mouth – so be extra careful.
Lip Exercises
Yes, you read that correctly. Did you know that facial yoga and face exercise in general is on the rise? When done early enough, and with mindful techniques, you could prevent fine lines and wrinkles – totally eliminating the need for botox or cosmetic surgery in the future.
Some facial exercises you may consider doing are:
- Pursing your lips tight, and holding this position for 15 seconds. Do this 5 times in concession.
- Smile, with your teeth showing, and contract your lips into your mouth. Hold for 15 seconds. Repeat 5 times.
- Smile, with your mouth closed, but lifting the corners of your mouth as high as they can go. Hold for 15 seconds. Repeat 5 times.
- Make a bubble of air in your cheek on the left side of your mouth. Hold for 10 seconds. Move the bubble to the right cheek. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat 5 times.
- Read out loud, or speak out loud with exaggerated mouth movements for at least 1 minute. This will stretch and loosen the lips, making them look thinner over time.
This isn’t going to be an overnight fix, but rather a bit of a lifestyle change. These exercises can be repeated as many times as you’d like throughout the day, and are truly most effective when you do them while doing mundane tasks: watching tv, working on homework, or even sitting at your computer while at work.
Maintaining a consistent routine will show you quicker results, so don’t get frustrated if you don’t see a thinner smile within the first week. It’s just like if you were working out your body at the gym – results take time.
Lip Reduction Surgery
If your oversized lips have been cause for concern for a bulk of your life, and you think your confidence would benefit from cosmetic surgery, you always have the option of asking a licensed plastic surgeon about a lip reduction.
A lip reduction will make your lips look more balanced on your face, or, it can correct an oversized upper or lower lip. When you come in for a consultation, you and your doctor will be able to figure out which shape works best on your face.
How do they achieve this? By removing the excess tissue in the lips that cause that pouty look. Traditionally, a strip of excess lip tissue will be removed from the lips, but as methods progress, there are more options available for you to choose from. Talk to your surgeon to see which choice would be best for your concerns.
Any surgery is serious, but a lip reduction is a lot less intrusive of a procedure than you may think it is. It typically only requires a local anesthetic, and the entire surgery takes less than an hour to complete.
It isn’t going to be a surgery that involves multiple visits to get the desired results, and the healing time is very quick. Another great plus about this surgery is that you’re very unlikely to scar during healing, so the healed result looks extremely natural.
There are certain candidates that are the best fit when it comes to this option though. Doctors say that having a stable body weight, being a non-smoker, and being in general good health will make the process go by easier as well.
Also, it’s important that the patient is in good mental health. Undergoing a cosmetic procedure should be a decision made out of love for oneself, it should never be borne out of pressure from society or others.
Related Questions
What lip colors should I avoid when it comes to making my lips look thinner?
- Too bright or too dark lip colors can emphasize the shape of your mouth, so always go for something a little more understated.
- As for the finish, make sure you don’t choose a lip product that reflects light. That means, avoid satin finishes, glosses, or anything that will shine underneath lighting. Keep things very flat- that means a matte or velvet finish lipstick. Drawing an overly sharp or pronounced cupid’s bow is a no-no as well, instead, draw a more rounded line. This will keep your lips looking softer.
Can ice make my lips thinner?
- Ice can make lips thinner by temporarily constricting the blood vessels in our mouth. But, the results are only temporary. By the time you get your lipstick on, your pout will have returned to its original shape and size. Not worth the cold, in our opinion!
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