4 Steps to Better Looking Lips in Spring

Spring can wreak havoc on your lips so consider me your tour guide to beautiful, soft, pillowy lips during the bipolar weather we call Spring! Here in Houston, Texas, the weather is so mercurial. Hot to cold, humid to dry - we can get two vast swings of extreme weather with the same week! I've on several occasions been standing outside as a cold front blows in - and needed to change out my shorts and into long pants, and jacket! Crazy!

Scrub

You can buy a fancy lip scrub, or you can whip one up yourself that's all-natural and super easy and cheap. All you need is sugar and oil (I recommend olive oil or coconut oil). Start with sugar in a small bowl or ramekin, then slowly add a little bit of oil at a time until you've formed a paste. Apply with your fingers or a cotton bud and rub vigorously over your lips for 30 seconds. Then, either lick clean or wipe clean with a damp soft cloth or paper towel!

Moisturize 

You can't do step #1 without step #2! After scrubbing your lips free of all flakes, coat and protect the lips with a healing balm like one from the Vaseline Lip Therapy Tins. If you're going makeup-free, I suggest the Rosy Lips for a hint of color that's super natural. Otherwise, choose your favorite formula (mine is the Cocoa Butter because it smells divine). Tip: throw it in your bag because it can be used on cuticles or any other dry patch you have on the body!

Prime

Use a transparent lip liner or a primer made for locking in your lip color before applying any color. Here are a few of my favorite lip primers:

Line

The secret to fuller-looking lips, and longer-lasting lip color is to line the lips before applying lipstick or lip gloss. You can slightly overline the lips, but only in the center, and only just a little bit (tip: for the most natural overlined look, only do the center of the bottom lip). Pick a color that's most similar to your lips. Rimmel makes a great one called Eastend Snob, and although the price tag is higher, I totally recommend the Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat pencils in Pillow Talk or Iconic Nude.

Now you're ready for mega-matte lips, even in hectic weather!

This was a paid-for advertorial in partnership with the lovely Vaseline ® USA.