May we blow your full-lip-loving and simultaneously highlighter-obsessed minds? Get this: When makeup artist Carmindy gives living legend Isabella Rossellini her signature red lip, she doesn't use a lip liner, like we've all been told to do when wearing a bold shade. She uses a *highlighter pencil.* Why, you ask? Because it makes her pout look fuller but not in an obviously-overdrawn kind of way.
"It captures light and gives the lips a natural, fuller look that enhances them without having to draw on a false shape," Carmindy tells us.
In addition to being a more ✨lit✨, natural-looking, and harder-to-mess-up alternative, there's another benefit: It also ensures your lip color stays in the lines.
"The waxy texture of a pencil works well to stop bleeding," explains Carmindy, whose go-to is Benefit's High Brow Glow Luminous Highlight Lift pencil.
If you're opposed to pencil usage for any reason (or just don't have one—in which case see our recs below), you can also use a highlighting powder or cream around the lips.
And then of course there's the trick you probably already know: Trace just the "v" with a highlighting product to make your cupid's bow pop.
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