December 9th, 2011 by Jenn

This tutorial is designed to help you achieve a full-out, take-no-prisoners, fire-engine-red mouth for a holiday party. There are a few secrets to rocking a seriously intense mouth:

• Keep your other makeup relatively simple and classic.
• Make sure your lips are hydrated and exfoliated before you begin. To make a simple lip scrub, combine 1 Tbl. oil (olive, jojoba, etc.) with 2 tsp. raw sugar. Scrub away!
• Put concealer around the lipline; it makes the lipline more precise-looking.
• Cotton swabs are an essential for this project. Not only are they way more precise than applying lipstick that straight from a tube, they are great for cleaning up mistakes; just soak the tip of one in makeup remover and erase the goof.
• If you are worried about marring your foundation, use eyeshadow primer instead of makeup remover to get rid of mistakes. Trust me, it works.
• Blotting after every step, except for the last one, helps the color soak into your lips and keeps it from straying.
• Apply all lip products from the center out; I start with the top lip (Quadrant 1, then Quadrant 2 on the diagram), then I fill in Quadrant 3 before finishing with Quadrant 4. It makes things a lot simpler…trust me.

(image credit: http://annika.mu.nu/archives/083606.html)

Materials

• cotton swabs
• concealer
• makeup remover
• facial tissue or blotting papers
• MAC Lip Erase or cream concealer
• red lip liner (I used Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip Pencil in 9C)
• light red lip stain (I used Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in Gothic)
• dark red lip stain (I used Stila Lip and Cheek Stain in Acai Crush)
• red cream lipstick (I used Clinique Lipstick in Red Red Red)
• red lip gloss pencil (I used Urban Decay Super-Saturated Lip Gloss Pencil in F-Bomb)
• high-shine red lip gloss (I used MAC Pro Longwear Lipglass in Driven by Love)

Directions

1. Dot concealer around edges of mouth and pat to blend well.

2. Use Lip Erase or cream concealer to cover lips. This step eliminates any clashing that comes from your natural lip undertone and provides a smooth canvas for applying product. Apply the product liberally, then blot with a tissue.

3. Use the red liner to define the Cupid’s bow and center bottom lip only. This step is to prevent color wearing off the center of the lips, as well as the dreaded “clown mouth”:

(MAC Lip Erase, Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip Pencil in 9C)

4. Use the light red lip stain to outline top and bottom lips, then color in the rest. Remember to use the quadrant system:

Then finish the top lip on the other side:

Same with the bottom lip, starting from the center:

…and finish with the last quadrant:

Finally, make any necessary touch-ups to the sides of the lips:

5. Make sure to blot your inner lips with a tissue to remove moisture before applying color in each of the next steps.

(MAC Lip Erase, Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip Pencil in 9C, Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in Gothic)

5. Repeat step 4 with the darker lip stain:

(MAC Lip Erase, Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip Pencil in 9C, Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in Gothic, Stila Lip and Cheek Stain in Acai Crush)

6. Take a cotton swab and rub it against the cream lipstick. Use the cotton swab to apply the lipstick via the quadrant method:

(MAC Lip Erase, Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip Pencil in 9C, Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in Gothic, Stila Lip and Cheek Stain in Acai Crush, Clinique Lipstick in Red Red Red)

7. Slick a gloss pencil over the top of the cream lipstick for moisture:

(MAC Lip Erase, Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip Pencil in 9C, Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in Gothic, Stila Lip and Cheek Stain in Acai Crush, Clinique Lipstick in Red Red Red, Urban Decay Super-Saturated Lip Gloss Pencil in F-Bomb)

Finally, use a cotton swab to apply a hyper-shine lipgloss.

(MAC Lip Erase, Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip Pencil in 9C, Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in Gothic, Stila Lip and Cheek Stain in Acai Crush, Clinique Lipstick in Red Red Red, Urban Decay Super-Saturated Lip Gloss Pencil in F-Bomb, MAC Pro Longwear Lipglass in Driven by Love)

The final product with no other makeup: