by Keziah Leena Peters
Ever wished of having lips as luscious as of a model?
Well, now you can! Lip care is often overlooked even though it’s very important. Beautiful lips require constant care. We all crave for soft, smooth and beautiful lips, but all the cosmetics and the change in weather can cause your lips to turn rough, dry and pigmented, thus damaging the natural beauty of your lips.
In Pakistan, the temperature reach great heights in summer and hot winds called Loo to blow across the plains during the day, which can damage your lips severely, as can the chilly weather in the winter. So make sure you take care of your lips straight 365 days of the year.
Damaged lips are usually dry, dark, and flakey. Sometimes lips tend to dry because of the habit of licking. You should not under any circumstances lick your lips because when the saliva evaporates, it leaves lips dry and rough, and we don’t like that, do we?
Lip care is often overlooked because damaged lips can be easily hidden through makeup, but this doesn’t work if you want to keep natural sheer glossy lips. The lips do need your attention and with a little loving care, your lips can be perfect in no time (if they have been damaged).
One of the most common lip problems is discoloration. Now, why exactly does this happen? It happens mostly due to a lack of proper care as well as an unhealthy lifestyle. Few of the reasons that can cause discoloration of lips, making them appear dark maybe,
- Smoking (nicotine causes darkening and discoloration of lips)
- Coffee/tea (limit your caffeine intake as it can damage not only you’re your lips but teeth as well)
- Sun (make sure your lips products have SPF protection as there is an increased amount of melanin pigment in lips)
- Lips cosmetics (prolonged use of any lip cosmetics, especially lower quality lip cosmetics can also cause discoloration)
How to deal with lip discoloration
Exfoliation is very important; you would need to exfoliate your lips at least once a week. You can mix 5-6 drops olive oil with 1teaspoon of sugar as an exfoliating scrub, once you’ve rinsed, apply Vaseline or petroleum jelly or any other lip moisturizer.
You can also take some Vaseline on a baby toothbrush to exfoliate your lips and it can be done daily. But be careful not to rub too hard.try rubbing in a circular motion. Apply Vaseline again afterward.
Keep your lips hydrated and moisturized as much as possible. Drink plenty of water. It will not only help bring back the natural color of lips but will also make your skin look prettier.
Maintain a healthy diet as vitamin deficiency can cause lips discoloration. Try to eat healthily.
Applying almond oil before going to bed can also help regain the natural color of your lips.
The regular use of a mixture of lime juice, glycerin, and honey can also be helpful. Apply the mixture before going to bed and leave it overnight.
Remove the lipstick/gloss when not needed. Especially matte because matte lipsticks are extremely drying and you need to keep your lips hydrated! If you have to use matte lipsticks for long hours, try using hydrating lipsticks (lipsticks which have vitamin E or glycerin) you should also add a layer of moisturizing lip balm underneath.
If you are planning a night out, then you should be very careful while choosing the outfit and the makeup you want to wear. They say the correct selection of makeup and cloth according to the occasion is an art, so make sure you don’t fail at it.
While preparing for a night look, choose either your eyes or lips as the focus. If you decide to keep it heavy and shimmery on the eyes, then you should tone down your lips by doing a neutral shade or keep them sheer glossy. If you decide to play with the sassy red or deep plum, then you should leave your eyes a neutral sweep of shadow and eyeliner and yes fake lashes of course. But make sure you exfoliate your lips so that the lip color doesn’t look too flaky on dry lipstick.
The day time look is mostly softer and neutral, so you should really keep it low on the shimmer/frost and the dark shadows. But a little bit of shimmer on lips won’t hurt. You should defiantly stay away from shimmery highlighters and blushes. Go with a black line or any eyeliner style you want except thick smokey wrap around. You can apply a beige or white-colored liner on the lower inner rim, also known as the waterline. Keep the lips simple and neutral; do not go with deep dark lip shades. You should stay away from dark lip shades and shimmery cosmetics because if you don’t, your face will look like a disco ball in the daylight, and you won’t like that!
Keep on exfoliating and moisturizing and you will have the lips to die for! Keep up the lip care regimen and you will feel confident. Enjoy blowing kisses ladies!