Blurred Lips – A Makeup Technique for Lush and Irresistible Lips

If you want to be noticed and to stand out from the crowd, putting on some nice lipstick is simply not enough anymore. After Ombre technique for emphasizing your lips, trendsetters are now presenting us with a hot new trend – blurred lips.

(I say new trend because, even though it first appeared years ago, it took a while for it to get the mass attention.)

Thanks to the simplicity and effectiveness of the idea, blurred lips are skyrocketing fast and they seem to be on their way to take over the world. With this makeup technique, you can make your lips look incredibly gentle, yet expressive at the same time.

Blurred lips have some resemblance with Ombre lips, meaning there is a certain gradient color transition between the center of the lips and the edges. But in case of blurred lips, the edges are fading, looking like they are melting into the surrounding face skin.

Unless you are walking a runway, don’t go to the extreme and make this effect super obvious. Instead, try a more subtle version where, instead of looking like an accidental stain, your lips look slightly smeared and plump, like you have just been kissed.

Here’s how to get blurred lips:

First, exfoliate your lips using a toothbrush or a lip scrub. This is important, because the scrub will remove any dry skin and boost blood circulation. It will make your lips smooth, vibrant and sensual. Coat your lips with a thin layer of a lip balm, and you are ready to start applying makeup.

There are two main ways to get blurred lips. They give significantly different results. Try out both and see which one is more to your liking.

Blurred lips no. 1

Though this technique seems very simple, a small mistake can turn into a makeup disaster. You will need some time to really get a grasp on how much blurry is too much.

So, start practicing right now. Apply lipstick to your whole lips. Then, using your finger, blur the edges, taking the color just barely outside of your lip line.

In this video, violette _fr shows you how you can do it and suggests complete makeup to go with it, French style.

This blurred lips look can be really subtle, depending on how much you have smeared the edges. If you want something more dramatic, you can go with a lighter lipstick color, then add a bit of a darker lipstick to the very center of your lips.

For really bold girls, you can apply a clear lip gloss over the lipstick to get more of a ‘lollipop lips’ effect.

Blurred lips no. 2

Apply a concealer (or a nude lipstick or foundation) following the rim of your lips and going just a teeny tiny bit over your lip line. You have to be careful with this part – you want to slightly blur the lip outline without making too much mess. Then apply your lipstick to the center of your lips.

Blend well the lipstick and the concealer to get as subtle fading transition between them as possible.

You can check in this video how Samantha Agostino, a makeup artist for ECRU New York makes this bold trend very subtle looking and everyday appropriate.

Want your blurred lips to be even dreamier and to really stand out? Metallic lip liner in some gentle shade (champagne or nude) can make a huge difference. Use it instead of the concealer to give your lips quite a new dimension.

Too shiny? If you use a highlighter or a shimmering powder instead of the metallic liner, it will give you a more toned down effect.