I never did lip liner. Too scarred by the ’80s incarnation of it. Those of a similar vintage will recall the browns and russets with which women were exhorted to orbit their lips. I think it was meant to prevent ‘bleeding’ but frankly, a lipstick haemorrhage would have been preferable to those awful clashing lines.
Or maybe it was just one of those ‘fun’ ’80s touches, like Nancy Reagan and puffball skirts. Once you’d eaten or drunk anything, the lipstick normally slid off, leaving The Lines, which made lips look like squashed leaves.
The new lip line is not brown, or russet. Or any colour. It is nude, or transparent. Or a rose pink that looks like an enhanced shade of your natural lip. It doesn’t have a fake job – ie ‘being fun’ – but a real one. It plumps, moisturises and makes lips genuinely look bigger, because it’s a pale colour, and pale colours draw the eye outwards. Unlike russets and browns.
And it stops your lipstick bleeding, or feathering into any fine lines that may have formed around your mouth. Many are so soft and glide-y, you can use them on your entire mouth (L’Oréal’s Color Riche Lip Liner even has a transparent ‘magique’ end for rubbing out any smudges, as well as a coloured one). You can also use them under lipstick to add longevity. L’Oréal offers matching lipsticks to avoid that ’80s contrast effect.
Perhaps the chief point of crayons is, literally, the pointy bit, which makes them more amenable to precision work. My favourite comes from Studio 10, a simple-to-use range targeting mature skin and minds (it’s not gimmicky). It’s double-ended and soft, a lovely rose at one end, with a neutral beige the other that creates a subtle highlighting effect that really makes lips looks subtly fuller. It’s also incredibly easy to use, takes up next to no space and conditions lips into the bargain. There, 10-years-younger lips.
