Look Younger #1 - Luscious Lips

Want fuller, smoother, better looking lips this year? Do you want to look years younger? Then its time to make your lips luscious!

Dry, dull or cracked lips quickly add years on our faces. Who wants that? Not me! So here are some tricks:

1) Drink more water! Dehydration is the number one cause of dry, rough lips.
2) Exfoliate! Scuff off old skin cells and encourage new ones. Be gentle! Lips are delicate! My favorite trick is to exfoliate with toothpaste while I'm brushing my teeth. (White -not gel- toothpaste works best). While brushing dab your lips with some of the toothpaste 'foam' and let the toothpaste sit on your lips while you finish brushing. Rinse off and immediately moisturize. (it easy to over exfoliate lips, so I only do this a couple times a week)
3) Moisturize! Use good lip balm. ChapStick brand lip balm is one of the worst! Why? Because it is mostly wax and alcohol. When applied it fills the cracks with wax, making your lips feel super smooth, but as the wax wears off you are left with dryer lips from the alcohol and lack of real moisturizer. Good lip balm does not have to be expensive. My favorite is; Trader Joe's VIRTUOSO lip balm with SPF 15 ($3.00 for 3 tubes!). Other good lip balms are: Aveeno's (at Target), Aveda's, and Burt's Bee's. Or if your at home just rub on a little olive oil!
4) Enhance! Dull lips look smaller. Colorful lips look bigger. I'm not suggesting hot red lips. But I do like to enhance my natural color with lip pencil. This can be done with a lip pencil that is close or just slightly different than your natural color. Especially fill in any cracks on the line of your top lip.
5) Pump and shine! Final step. Add a gloss or lipstick. If you like lipstick, bright 'berry' colors do wonders (Aveda has some great colors). As for glosses, the thicker the gloss, the larger your lips will look. Apply generously! I like to go a little past my upper lip line for that 'swollen' lip look. (don't go past you bottom lip line tho or you'll just look messy.) Current favorites: M.A.C clear LIPGLASS ($14.00), and N.Y.C. Lippin' Large Lip Plumper ($4.00 -at Target).

I would prefer using a natural lip gloss, since unnatural lip products have been linked with breast cancer, but i haven't found one that stays in place very well yet. Let me know if you come across any great natural thick lip glosses that stay put!

We subconsciously connect shiny and smooth with youth. Take a few years off by taking care of those lips! ~Liza