Everyone should love a nude lip. I live in nude lips, I have a drawer brimming over with nude lipsticks, and I constantly find newer, better nude lipsticks to covet.

But over my years of trying new lipsticks and rediscovering old ones, there are a few products in my lip product arsenal that I've discovered really works for me. Here are my favourite products, listed in order of application, for your reading/viewing pleasure.

And trust me, this really works.

The first thing you need to do is prep that canvas. You need to hydrate and moisturise those lips, and make sure that you remove all lip flakes.

My go-to everyday lip care product (this is something I discovered about a month ago and have been using non-stop since) is the Kanebo Sensai Cellular Performance Total Lip Treatment*. I am convinced that this lip treatment was sent straight down from heaven, because it worked miracles on my dry, chapped lips (I always have dry, chapped lips). Now, I know a lot of lip care products that can restore my chapped lips, but this is the only product that also made them look plump, moist and, for lack of a better term, juicy. My lips started looking better than they ever had, and I became hooked. I usually apply this before bed as a sort of lip mask. It works a right treat, and I think everyone should own this!
Side note: You are also meant to apply this product on the skin around your lips (and I'm guessing this is why my lips looked so plump and juicy) because it actually helps to restore the skin in that area and reduce and prevent the formation of pout lines.


Then comes the 'chuck-in-your-purse' lip care product that has been my fail safe for about a year now - the Simplicité Angelica Lip Care Balm. This lip balm is light and non-greasy, and lightens the colour of the lips just a little bit - perfect when applying nude lipstick. It is moisturising and convenient to carry around, and I love the light texture that makes it so easy to apply and wear.

Now it is extremely important to remove all flakes and chaps in your lips when you apply any sort of lipstick, and there is an easy way to do this. Before you start applying any makeup to your lips, slather on a thick layer of this lip balm onto your lips. Then, move on to the rest of your face. When you finally come back to the lips, take a cotton bud and rub it onto your lips in small rolling motions - this will catch any chaps in your lips, and the lip balm will have softened these flakes enough so that they will be easy enough to remove.

Moving on to the actual makeup application, here's what I do achieve the perfect, full nude lip.


Lip liner is not essential, but is perfect when you want fuller lips, or want to correct uneven lips. It provides a nice base for your lipstick to stick to, and makes it easier to apply your lipstick because you know exactly where it needs to be applied (I don't use lip brushes and apply straight from the bullet with nude lipsticks, as they are more forgiving than darker lipsticks). My favourite nude lip liner is one from No 7 - their Perfect Lip Liner in Nude. It is the perfect colour for most lip and skin tones, and is affordable enough that you can use it everyday to colour in the entire lip without feeling guilty about it.
In the picture tutorial below, I applied the nude lip liner to only one side of my lips, to show you the difference between the lips before lip liner, and after.


Next, apply your nude lipstick. As I mentioned before, nude lipstick can be applied straight from the bullet because you don't need perfect lines. Another thing I like to do is rub the lipstick in a little at the edges, because this gives you the illusion of a fuller lip by 'erasing' the lip line and allowing the overall lip shape to 'extend' a little bit. My absolute favourite nude lipstick is the Tom Ford Private Blend Lip Color in Blush Nude*. This is a gorgeous beige colour with a hint of pink, and isn't too light, so it won't wash you out. I recommend this for anyone with skin tones from the very lightest to about medium, and if you have dark skin and are a fan of light-light lips, this still won't wash you out as long as you have a lip liner well-suited to your skin tone applied underneath. Tom Ford is available on counter at David Jones both in Melbourne and Sydney.


Finally, if I really want to highlight my lips, I apply a lip gloss. My current favourite is from Candy Doll, because these sticky lip glosses are really long-lasting and hardly require any touch ups at all. The colours are moderately pigmented and add just the right amount of colour to nude lipsticks, if that was what you were looking for. I personally like layering the darker pink lip gloss on top of my beige lipstick, because then it gives you that 'milky pink' look that I adore. The only people I wouldn't recommend these to are people who live in windy areas, and who like to wear their hair down. Your hair will stick to it like it was super glue.
The amazing Candy Doll range is available at Sasa and Watsons outlets, as well as online on Tokyoniki.com.

Below, I've attached a little picture of my overall lip routine, I hope you enjoy it!


So that is more or less my full, nude lip routine! I hope you guys found a useful tip or two from reading this post, and if you have any questions at all, let me know :) Thanks for reading!

* These products are available for purchase online with worldwide shipping at www.harrods.com.