The Magic of Lip Liner

I was in high school and college in the '90s when lip liner was a must. Lip liner around the outisde and a lighter gloss to fill it in. (Why I thought that looked good I will never know!) Once I grew out of that phase, I banished lip liner from my makeup bag. Years later, now that I'm a little older wiser, I realize that lip liner is a pretty magical tool.

Lip liner is the best way I have found to maximize the color of my lipstick. Filling in your lips with liner that matches a lipstick is typical, but using a liner that DOESN'T match can give you a whole new color of lipstick.

Here are three different colors of lip liner on my hand. I chose these three, all from MAC Cosmetics, to go under MAC Red lipstick.

1. Half-Red
2. Brick
3. Cherry

Each of these liners will create a different look with just one lipstick. Most colors tend to turn pink on my lips, especially if I use a lipstick without liner. So in order to get a true red, I HAVE to use a lip liner.

Check out the pinkness of the lipstick alone on my hand.

Here are the three liners with MAC Red on top. (The bottom is the lipstick by itself.)

Half-Red creates a mauve red, Brick makes the deepest red of the three, and Cherry produces the truest red. Since I wanted to stay true to the red of the lipstick, I chose the Cherry lipliner for my lips.

I didn't intend to be looking at my logo, it just worked out that way.Pretty authentic red, right? Don't be afraid of a little liner. Instead, use it to your advantage! Does this change your mind about lip liner or is it still on your naughty list?

What's Hot – MAC Fashion Sets

It's not a big surprise that I have soft spot for MAC Cosmetics. The majority of my makeup is MAC so I use it in all my tutorials.

The downfall of MAC? They tend to come out with a lot of temporary collections. So if you fall in love with something, there's a chance you'll never see it again. Case in point.

MAC Fashion Sets

MAC just came out with 3-piece mini collections (lipstick, lipglass, and nail lacquer) based on the must-have lipsticks from around the globe. Since some of them are temporary, I thought I'd show what lipsticks from the collections were available in my neck of the woods just days before the sets were released.

MAC Lipsticks 

1. MYTH—light neutral nude (satin)
2. RAVISHING—clean light peachy coral (cremesheen)
3. MORANGE—loudmouth orange (amplified)
4. RUSSIAN RED—intense bluish-red (matte)
5. PLEASE ME—muted-rosy-tinted pink (matte)
6. IMPASSIONED—amped-up fuschia (amplified)
7. SNOB—light neutral pink (satin)
8. PINK NOUVEAU—bright pink (satin)
9. GIRL ABOUT TOWN—bright blue fushia (amplified)
10. REBEL—midtonal cream plum (satin)

I went ahead and swatched them so you could see what they look like on my extremely pale skin.

FYI, never try a lip color on anyplace other than your lips. As you can see, none of these look horrific on my arm, but believe me, some of them look really bad on my lips.These are some of the most popular shades of lipstick around the world. And if you want them, you'll be able to find them! These are in MAC's permanent collection.

Comment with which shades you fancy and I'll tell you where they're bestsellers!

Katy Perry Grammy Lip Tutorial

Katy Perry Grammy Lip Tutorial from Jill Swensen on Vimeo.

I know the Grammy Awards were months ago, but Katy Perry's lips have been on my mind ever since then.

She performed with these amazingly metallic lips that ended up being foil. Since I wasn't about to buy a roll of foil just for my lips (I'm not really a party girl), I found a way to get the same effect using makeup!

Super fun for a night out with friends or a hot date with my hubby. ;)