Stop! You Are Totally Blotting Your Lips Wrong!
There are so many different kinds of lip wear: lipsticks, glosses, stains, cremes, matte finishes, super glossy finishes, glittery finishes (I mean, this list can go on and on). Even though the choices are many, there is one thing that you should be doing with all of them, and that is lip blotting. When you blot your lips after applying your lip color, you are helping to set the pigment into your lips on a deeper level than a quick pucker could do, which helps it last longer and stay in place. Many of us have it embedded in our head that the proper way to do this is to grab a tissue, right? NO! Wrong answer.
Here is the lowdown on why you should *not* be using tissue paper to blot your lips.
When you use a tissue to blot your lips after you apply lipstick — I’m wearing Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Color in Fifth Ave Fuchsia ($8), you’ll notice it leaves an annoying white residue on your lips that compromises the color. Just take a look at how washed out the color of my not-so-hot magenta lipstick is after that tissue chomp down. Along with the small particles of cotton from the tissue dulling the hue of the lipstick, you just end up taking off more of your lipstick than you intended to trying to pick those particles away, often resulting in a need to reapply and then the need to blot again. Ugh!
Ditch the Tissue
Really, the answer is actually this easy: switch out your tissue for paper. The paper just absorbs the oils in the lip product better without compromising your application. Instead of blotting by placing the paper in your mouth, give the paper a smooch so that any extra lipstick can be blotted off more evenly. Sometimes I do this a couple times to really help set the color into my lips. Pro tip: If I want a long-lasting finish, then I will reapply and blot one more time to really make sure the pigment is as blended into my lips as possible.
Grab Paper Instead!
I have a bad habit of grabbing notebooks, receipts, business cards… really any piece of paper that I can find on hand to blot my lips. These are my work journals, and as you can see, I have designated whole pages to blot my lips as I prepare for different tutorials (ohh the life of beauty!). You should keep a little tiny notebook in your makeup bag for this. It is actually kind of fun to see all the kissy marks in all the pretty lip colors!
Confession, but Also Advice:
Even though this might seem like a totally minor thing, it’s one of those makeup hacks that once you try it, you’ll never do it any other way again. At the end of the day, it’s an easy solution that will stop you second guessing all-things lip wear (Did I not apply enough? Did I buy the wrong brand?) and allow you to concentrate your efforts on other things that make you feel beautiful inside and out :)