How to DIY Pastel Watercolor Lips For Every Spring Occasion
Pastel colors are huge in the beauty world right now. Girls are coloring their manes a wild range of unicorn-inspired hues and ever since spring sprung, we’ve been coming up with ways to sneak the soft, buttery shades into our everyday routines — first on our nails, and now on our lips. The only difference is that pulling off pastel lips isn’t as easy as painting on a polish.
<i>on their own </i>
make the look is, to put it lightly, a challenge. That’s why we’re so stoked to have gotten an advanced copy of Bite Beauty’s Watercolor Lip Gloss Library (available tomorrow for $49). It’s a one-stop-shop for all your pastel lip needs, and we’re showing you how to use the beautiful glosses to create four looks that you can totally DIY in four steps or less.
First, a little about this limited edition palette: this gloss is created with all-natural food-grade ingredients that are certified gluten-free. But they’re not just good on paper. The 12 shades — ranging from date night pinks to pastel yellow and mint green (what!) — all create gorgeous, silky washes of color that add shine and moisture to your lips. I can personally attest to the fact that these glosses are full of mouth-watering flavor, hydrating texture and best of all, packed with pigment! You can wear them on their own, mix them together or layer with other products to create so many different looks for all types of events. And that’s exactly what we’re showing you below! Scroll through to learn how to wear pastel lips to every major moment this spring (+ even through summer!).
Create the perfect base for washed-out fuchsia lips by adding a bronzy contour and pop of pink blush into your base makeup routine and finish your face with golden eyeshadow on your lids, light eyeliner and a few coats of mascara. Throw on a little black dress and breezy kimono and you’re almost ready for date night.
Date Night Watercolor
Use a deep magenta lip liner like Revlon Colorstay Liner in Pink ($7) to line the the outside of your lips. Fill them in partially to help give the illusion of extra depth (= extra kissable look!).
Step 1: Line Your Lips
After your lips are lined, grab a bright pink gloss like Eleven from the Watercolor Lip Gloss Library and fully cover your lips with a light layer of gloss.
Step 2: Apply A Bright Pink Gloss
Finally, add a light pink gloss like Six from the palette directly over the layer of bright pink to give your lips an alluring, multi-dimensional finish.
Step 3: Apply A Lighter Pink Gloss
Office Watercolor
The office probably isn’t the first destination that comes to mind when you think of places to wear watercolor lips. But trust me, with the right subtle (yet totally surprising) color choice, you definitely can.
Enhance your natural lip color with a lipstick that has the same undertones as the pigments in your pout. For me, I needed something that is a cross between a deep peach and light mauve like NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien ($26).
Step 1: Apply A Neutral Base
Mint green gloss on its own is a look, so we went ahead and turned this offbeat hue — Five in the Watercolor Lip Gloss Library — into something totally wearable (like, 9-to-5 wearable) by using it to bump up our neutral base color. This way, you end up with a subtle pastel undertone on your pout that helps to brighten your face.
Step 2: Apply A Mint Green Gloss
Music Festival Watercolor
my week with crazy lips train
over white lip liner to create this perfect-for-Coachella ombre effect. Here’s what happened!
Line your lips with a white liner. You can grab one from your local drugstore like Wet ‘n’ Wild Kajal Eyeliner in White ($5). Yes! I know! This looks CRAZY… crazy cool. On the real though, this alone could be a fun festival look for a true wild child at heart, but for most it will need to morph into something a little less intense. Don’t worry, just keep reading!
Step 1: Line With White
Randomly apply a light lavender gloss like Four from the Watercolor Lip Gloss Library — as if you were doing an abstract watercolor painting.
Step 2: Apply A Light Lavender Gloss
Keep up the same random application technique with a deep orchid gloss like Nine from the palette as you fill in parts of your lips that don’t have the lighter lavender gloss and swipe slightly over the edges of the light lavender.
Step 3: Apply A Deep Orchid Gloss
This is the part where this look fully comes together! Use a light pastel yellow gloss like One from the palette to highlight the final lip areas that don’t have any of the purple. Then, add a dab to the center of both your lower and upper lip. This will help reflect light and make your lips look fuller.
Step 4: Apply a Light Yellow Gloss
Spring Wedding Watercolor
A spring wedding is probably the one destination where it makes PERFECT sense to rock a pastel lip. Pro tip: wear a similar pastel gloss as the hue of your dress to tie the look together!
For the base of this look, apply a very exaggerated version of your natural lip color. I went with a magenta lip liner like MAC Lip Pencil in Half Red ($16).
Step 1: Apply A Bold Base
By adding a very light pastel pink gloss like Two from the Watercolor Lip Gloss Library over the deep berry hue, the color will immediately transform into a pretty rose-colored finish.
Step 2: Apply A Light Pastel Pink Gloss
What’s your favorite pastel makeup shade to wear? Tell us how you rock pastel makeup all spring + summer long in the comments below.
