Why you might want to try a little ombre on your lips

First, if you're not sure what ombre means, it's simply a gradation in color. So one colors fades into another and possible more.  It's used in art, textiles, hair color, nail art and make-up.  Ombre hair color has been popular for the past few years, but ombre lipstick hasn't been quite as popular. The best reason to use ombre on your lips is because it makes them look fuller. Light areas look larger while darker areas appear smaller.  So putting a slightly lighter color in the center of your lips creates dimension that might not be there otherwise. Generally the people who use the technique are make-up artists or very into make-up and pretty good at the technique.  Some of you might like natural looking make-up or just put some on quickly for work, etc. and don't try out trends that often.  But a subtle ombre technique with your lip color doesn't require a half hour of practice and it doesn't have to look obvious.  If you have some lip pencils in a color a few shades darker than a lipstick it's pretty easy. And if you have gloss in the same color family and a little highlighter, even better.

I did the lip below one night just to play around.  I outlined my lips and filled in the outer parts of them with a MAC lip pencil in the color Beet.  Then I filled in the center part of my lips with a MAC liner named Hip n Happy, but any lighter pink lipstick or pencil will work.

Next I put some light purple gloss over the light pink pencil.  This gloss is Narcissus by MAC.

Then I blended the gloss out a little, which is as easy as pressing your lips together.

Last I took a little bit of white highlighting cream (Luna Cream Color by MAC) and pressed it in the bow above my upper lip. I really liked the result, so I think I'll be doing this a little more often.  Give it a try sometime.