How to overline lips so that nobody can tell

Overlining has a bad reputation because most people can spot it. The tell is not the extra millimetre. It is a dark line drawn all the way to the corners, a hard edge that stops where the real lip begins, and a shade darker than everything on top. Remove those three things and the technique disappears into the face.

Make-up artists overline in a narrow band and let light do the rest. The extra width goes only where the lip is naturally fullest, the line is buffed into the lip so there is no border, and a drop of gloss at the centre adds more apparent volume than any pencil can.

What is overlining, and how far outside the lip can you go?

Overlining is the technique of drawing lip liner slightly outside the natural edge of the lips so that the lips look larger. The extra width is small. Dutch retailer Douglas advises 1 to 2 mm above and below the natural edge, blended inward. At 3 mm the line reaches skin with a different texture and colour from the lip, and the lipstick on top starts to look painted on.

The natural edge is the vermilion border, the faint ridge where the lip's colour meets the skin. Liner drawn on that ridge defines. Liner drawn a hair outside it, on the pale ring of skin just beyond, enlarges. The pale ring is the only place overlining works, because it is smooth and takes pigment like the lip does.

Where should you overline, and where should you stop?

The lips are fullest at the centre and thinnest at the corners, so an overline that follows nature widens the centre and leaves the corners alone. Make-up artists quoted by Marie Claire concentrate the exaggeration on the cupid's bow, drawing each peak with vertical strokes, then connect the new peaks to the natural fullest points at the sides. On the bottom lip they overline only the centre, because a line that is extended into the corners creates a downturned mouth.

How do you overline lips step by step?

The method takes three minutes and a sharp pencil. Everything depends on a dry lip, short strokes and blending, so the line is built up in stages and never drawn in one sweep.

You will need

• A lip liner that matches your natural lip colour, or one shade deeper, freshly sharpened
• A lip balm and a tissue
• A small lip brush or a clean fingertip
• Concealer and a flat brush (optional)
• A clear or sheer gloss

The steps

1. Apply balm, wait two minutes, then blot it off. Liner slides on balm and will not grip the skin outside the lip.
2. Draw the two peaks of the cupid's bow with short vertical strokes, 1 mm above the natural peaks.
3. Connect each new peak to the natural edge at the fullest point of the top lip, about a third of the way to the corner, with short feathered strokes.
4. Draw the centre of the bottom lip 1 mm below the natural edge, no wider than the width of the cupid's bow.
5. Trace the rest of the bottom lip on the natural edge and stop 2 to 3 mm before each corner.
6. Fill the outer third of both lips with the side of the pencil, then buff the fill inward with the brush until no line is visible.
7. Blot once, apply lipstick or gloss, and press a drop of clear gloss on the centre of both lips.
8. If an edge looks uneven, clean it with a touch of concealer on the flat brush, feathered outward.

Which liner shade keeps overlining invisible?

The shade decides whether the extra millimetre reads as lip or as pencil. A liner that matches the natural lip colour extends the lip's own colour onto the skin, so the eye accepts it. A liner one shade deeper adds a soft shadow at the edge and still passes. A liner darker than the lipstick or gloss on top outlines the enlargement, and the eye reads the outline first.

Finish matters as much as colour. A matte or satin liner looks like lip skin under gloss. A shimmer or metallic liner catches light along the new edge and shows the line. On fair skin the safest choice is a rose nude; on olive skin a peach-brown or warm nude; on deep skin a cocoa, mahogany or berry, according to the skin-tone guides from Charlotte Tilbury. A rose nude such as Bare Line from India Anaïs is an example of the invisible type; it is sold out, and the next edition is planned for spring 2027.

How does gloss finish the illusion?

Volume is read from light. A lip that is shiny at the centre and matte at the edges looks rounder, because the highlight tells the eye where the surface comes forward. Gloss concentrated in the centre gives that three-dimensional effect, which is why the Korean overlip technique finishes with gloss pressed onto the middle of the lips only, as described by Jung Saem Mool.

The gloss also hides the join. A sheer gloss softens the transition between liner and skin, and its shine draws attention to the centre and away from the edge. Keep the gloss off the outer corners, where it would slide onto the overlined skin and show the line. A plumping gloss can add a little more, but the effect of the tingling type is short-lived and can irritate with repeated use.

What gives overlining away?

Four things reveal the technique, and each has a fix. A visible border between liner and lip shows in daylight and in photographs; buffing the line inward removes it. Overlining that reaches the corners changes the shape of the mouth and reads as drawn on; stopping 2 to 3 mm before each corner keeps the shape natural. A liner darker than the colour on top outlines the enlargement; matching the liner to the lip or to the lipstick hides it.

The fourth tell appears later in the day. When lipstick fades from the centre and the liner stays on the skin, a ring is left around the mouth. Filling the whole lip with liner before lipstick keeps the colour even as it wears, and a blot after lipstick slows the fade. Flash photography shows every one of these faults more than the mirror does, so a photo on the phone in daylight is the most useful check before going out.