Beauty expert Chantel Simmons tells us how to show off great lips with fun lip shades and care

Beauty Expert – Chantel Simmons, www.thekit.ca

Make up artist Elise -  www.facebook.com/makeupbyelise 

1. Treatments for your lips

 Product: Lush Mint Julep Lip Scrub -- $8.95

This is a fantastic scrub for your lips. Like a facial exfoliator, you apply this sugar scrub to your lips to slough off dead skin and leaves lips super soft and smooth. The best part is that it’s edible – and smells and tastes great.

And

Product: Dermalogica Smart Mouth Lip Shine - $21.00

Often, moisturizing lip balms are boring and lip glosses that give you shine are often really drying – but this is the most hydrating product I’ve never used and it creates super-shiny lips.

And

Product: Lise Watier Lift & Firm Line Filler Lips and Contour - $42.00

As we age we get fine lines on the lips and around the mouth – and that can make us look even older than we are. This product contains marine collagen spheres that plump up the wrinkles to give you fuller and more contoured lips. Then, a corn extract and peptide complex repairs the skin, while hyaluronic acid and vitamins hydrate.

2. SPF for your lips

Product: Etival Ambient Lip Shield SPF 45 - $15.00

Dermatologists are always telling us to apply at least SPF 30 to our skin, so we should be doing the same for our lips! This product has SPF 45 and is also waterproof.

3. All-Natural/Organic

Product: C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Shine - $7.50

This lip preparation is the ultimate three-in-one moisturizer. Combines high gloss, incredible moisture and long-lasting breath freshening with a refreshing, minty, cooling sensation. Can be worn under or over lip color.

And

Product: The Body Shop Delipscious Sheer Lip Colour - $12.00

This product contains organic, virgin, cold-pressed Community Trade coconut oil, beeswax and cocoa butter, which add moisture, while natural blueberry and pomegranate seed oils add a delicious taste and scent.

4. Lip Stains

Product: Benefit Cha Cha Tint: Mango Tinted Lip and Cheek Stain - $36.00

This mango-tinted lip & cheek stain is the perfect 2-in-1 product for a natural hit of colour on your lips – it makes you look like you’re not wearing lipstick but just have naturally pretty coloured lips!

5. The Reverse Lip Liner

Cargo The Reverse Lip Liner – $14.00 - isThe ONLY lip liner for lip gloss! This product is skin-coloured so it eliminates the harsh look that lip liner can often give, but locks any colour you put on your lip from bleeding outside your border.

6. Lip Crayon + Gloss

Chantel’s answer:   Lise Watier Lip Kiss Crayon Gloss – $18.00

This product is the best of a lip pencil that gives you the definition of a pencil with the hydration and shine of a gloss.

7. Permanent Cosmetics Lip Colour

www.permanentcosmeticscentre.com

Permanent

How long does it take? 2-3 hours. Most clients say they can’t feel a thing.

How long does it last? 2-4 years. Over time, your lip tissue exfoliates, so the colour will begin to soften and fade.

Tip: Don’t go too dark—you’re not trying to replace your favourite fuchsia lipstick. Instead, you want to restore your original lip shade. The best shades are neutrals – pinks and browns. They’ll make your lips look youthful. During the day you  may find all you need is a bit of gloss. If in the evening you want to have a darker shade, you just apply lipstick overtop.

 8. GREAT NEW LIPSTICK SHADES

 Summer shades are bright! How to choose the best colour for your skin tone (not your outfit!):

The lipstick should be one or two shades darker than your natural lip colour to look best on you.  Here are a few hot colours this summer:

BeneFit Silky-finish lipstick – $23.00
L’Oreal Paris Colour Riche Lipstick -- $10.99
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick -- $5.99

 Tips for application:

When applying a bright shade, use a lip brush. This will allow you to apply the lipstick to your lips without going around your mouth.

    cosmetics is like getting a tattoo, $495 – 695 — but a really subtle one—on your lips. Why get it? As we age, we start to lose definition in the vermillion border of our lips. Our lips start to blend into our face, so there’s less contour and less colour.