Stop lipstick bleed and plump up your smile with our ageing lip tips

Lips are often the first place people look after our eyes, as they frame our face and our teeth. As we get older, our lips can start to purse and become thin, wrinkled and with fine lines around the edges.

Although you can resort to surgery to smooth and plump, there are some much more practical and affordable ways to keep your lips looking great and stopping that dreaded lipstick bleed.

Here’s how to achieve that natural, youthful look in your 60s.

Get the right shade

Darker lipsticks only truly flatter a darker skin tone, so stay away if you have fair skin. Apricots, pinks, nudes and corals look great on a lighter skin tone and older woman.

The best natural lip shade will just be a shade or 2 darker than your natural lip colour, according to makeup artist Bobbi Brown.

You can test different colours at a store by asking for assistance and having them apply colour to just one lip so you can see the difference.

Exfoliate

A photo posted by Tiffany Rose (@missmehbeh) on Apr 1, 2016 at 6:23pm PDT

As we age, our lips lose oils and their plumpness. To keep lips looking smooth, make sure to keep lips exfoliated all year round – try this lip exfoliator by E.L.F.

Otherwise, all it takes is an old toothbrush and some sugar or salt.

Lip prime

A photo posted by MOMENT & MAKE UP ORI / BANDUNG (@lovelyrini_studio) on Apr 12, 2016 at 5:22pm PDT

You might not have realised lip primer existed but it does! Just a little dab of this stuff is enough to make your lipstick last all day.

This lip primer includes a plumping agent as well.

Line that lip

One of the two most common mistakes that women make when applying lip liner is using a different shade to their lipstick, and not lining the whole lip. Yes, you read that right: you need to fill in all of your lips, not just around your lips! Choose a colour that is identical to your lipstick, as this will create a barrier for the colour so it won’t bleed.

Stop the bleed

To keep lipstick from bleeding into fine lines and wrinkles around your mouth, dip a cotton swab in a translucent powder and roll outside the lip line before you apply your lipstick. Don’t apply powder to the top of lipstick – it will ruin the colour.

Shiny vs matte

Matte finishes can be drying, so it’s best to opt for a sheer, shiny, or satiny finish if you’re a lady in your 60s. With that said, if you’re still worried about lipstick bleed, a matte finish will make sure it doesn’t slip around. These tips of glosses or lipsticks have become very popular in recent years and give a more natural look.

Fake fullness

Not everyone was born with full lips but there’s a way around that, without resorting to cosmetic procedures. First, use the pencil to draw a line just outside your top lip, but only at the bow. Then use your pencil to make the middle of the bottom lip a bit rounder by drawing a line just outside the fullest part.

Never redraw the lips completely from corner to corner. Fill in the space between the new lines and your lips with the same pencil. Apply lipstick over the entire area.

Here is a video to help you get amazing lips!