How to Apply Lip Liner Like a Pro
May 2026
Looking for lip definition and shape? Then lip liner is what you’re looking for!
Lip liners are a subtle way of adding shape, volume, and definition to your lips, as well as boosting the longevity of your lipstick. With NYX, you can find lip liners in pencil, pen, and stain form, to suit your colour and texture needs.
If you’re new to lip liner and don’t know where to start, we’re here to help! In this article, we’ll look at how to use lip liner, we’ll cover all the best lip liner techniques to know, and, importantly, we’ll guide you so you can pick the best lip liner for you!
Applying lip liner: Key takeaways
- Lip liners are used to outline your lip shape and provide texture and volume.
- You should apply lip liner before lipstick or lip gloss.
- NYX offers 3 types of lip liner: pencils, pens, and stains.
- When applying lip liner, use a primer first to ensure seamless and long-lasting results.
- For smaller and thinner lips, try to overline lips: a technique where you use lip liner outside of your lips’ natural curves to accentuate their fullness.
- Browse NYX’s full range of lip liners to find your perfect match.
What Does Lip Liner Do?
Before perfecting our pouts with lip liner, let’s first take a look at what lip liner actually does.
Lip liner is a nifty makeup product that’s used to outline your lips and provide shape, texture, and volume. Lip liners are used before lipstick or lip gloss is applied, and should have a firmer texture than other lip products to ensure you can have a precise finish.
Applying lip liner also helps to lock in colour, acting as a barrier to keep your lipstick or lip gloss in place. This barrier can also prevent your lipstick or lip gloss from smudging or bleeding.
Choose the Right Lip Liner for Your Lip Look
With NYX, there are several styles of lip liner that you can choose from. Undecided which to pick? Here’s the main differences:
Lip Liner Pencils
Lip liner pencils, like Slim Lip Pencil, are the most common and classic form of lip liner. Designed for precision-based lip liner techniques, like shaping lips and overlining, lip pencils are ideal for thin, targeted application.
As with most lip liners, lip pencils will also help to reduce the amount of transfer and bleeding that comes from your lipstick or lip gloss.
Lip Liner Pens
For bolder looks and ultra-defined graphics, lip liner pens are the choice for you. Less common than pencils, lip liner pens, like NYX’s Duck Plump Plumping Lip Liner, are perfect for sharp, clean lines and accentuating your lips' natural volume.
Our Duck Plump Plumping Lip Liner is designed with a dual-edged precision tip for easy application every time! Line with the precise tip for sharp, clean lines and use the flat edge to shape & accentuate inner corners for perfect plump lips.
Lip Liner Stains
Long-lasting and natural-looking, lip liner stains are the perfect choice if you want to spend less time applying lip liner and more time enjoying it.
Lip liner stains, like NYX’s Lip Lingerie Lip Liner Stain, are designed to melt into your lips, hugging and accentuating their natural curves and shape. Our Lingerie Lip Liner Stain is long-lasting, transfer-proof, smudge-proof, and waterproof to allow you to enjoy its subtle lifting effects all day.
How to Apply Lip Liner Step by Step
So, you’ve chosen your lip liner, picked your shade, now all’s left is to apply it. Here’s our simple lip liner step-by-step guide that lets you know how to use lip liner like a pro.
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1. STEP 1: Prep your lips:
Before you start applying lip liner, it’s best to prepare your lips using a lip primer. Lip primers act as the perfect base for lip liner application, helping colours to stay put and gently plumping your lips to add subtle volume.
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2. STEP 2: Outline your natural lip shape:
Next, outline your lips’ shape to ensure precise and targeted application:
- For the top lip: Draw an ‘X’ on your cupid’s bow, then use that to outline the top lip from its centre to the corners.
- For the bottom lip: start applying lip liner from the middle of your bottom lip outwards to the corners.
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3. STEP 3: Define and shape the lips:
Next, you’ll need to know how to shape lips with lip liner.
We recommend using short strokes for a textured, voluminous look that gives the impression of fuller lips. If your goal is less texture-based and more colour-focused, you can try using one continuous line for the lips instead.
For seamless blending, use NYX’s Pro Lip Brush to give a natural and blurred effect to your lip liner. This lip liner technique works best on neutral or natural shades.
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4. STEP 4: Fill in lips with lip liner (Optional):
Finally, if you’re looking for longer-lasting colour or a more blended effect, you can fill in the rest of your lips with lip liner. Liners like our Line Loud Lip Pencil are long-lasting and waterproof, meaning they can give a full and textured look to your whole lips if you choose to use them this way.
How to Apply Lip Liner for Fuller‑Looking Lips
Want to go big? No prob – one of the secrets to a fuller-looking pout is overlining and we’ll teach you just how to do it.
How to Overline Lips the Right Way
To overline lips, extend your lip liner beyond your lips’ natural lines by about 1-2mm. Focus on your cupid’s bow and the centre part of your lips only, and then carefully connect the new overlined strokes with the natural corners of your mouth. This ensures you don’t end up overlining the corners, which would give you a clownish look.
Makeup artist tip: for fuller-looking but natural lips, use nude, beige, mauve pinks, or cool-toned browns that are one shade darker than your natural lip colour. This helps create a subtle shadow, giving the illusion of naturally fuller lips!
Want even more volume? Finish off with a plumping gloss like our Duck Plump Lip Gloss.
Lip Liner Techniques for Different Lip Shapes
Lip Liner for Small Lips
If the main reason you’re using lip liner is for volume, then there’s a few tips you should know. When using lip liner for small lips, we recommend:
- Using a natural-looking shade to subtly boost your lips volume.
- Micro-overlining your lips to create the illusion of larger, fuller ones.
- For experienced lip liners, why not try using a bold, contrasting colour to create contrast, texture, and the illusion of larger lips.
Lip Liner for Asymmetrical Lips
Many people’s lips aren’t perfectly symmetrical, but this is exactly where a good lip liner can come to the rescue! Using your chosen lip liner, focus on balancing the thinner side by overlining to match the other side. We recommend a high-pigment lip pencil like our Slim Lip Pencil for the best results.
Common Lip Liner Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
Even lip liner pros make mistakes sometimes. Here’s our advice on how to fix the most common lip liner technique mistakes:
- Overlining too far: If you’ve overlined too far, then your best bet is to remove the excess lip liner with a cotton bud, or wipe off completely and start again. Learning to overline lips takes time (and a mirror), so taking a few attempts at first is totally normal.
- Picking the wrong colour: Darker shades can be a great way of giving volume to your lips, but if you go too dark, the effect will look unnatural! Gone too dark? Try blending your lip liner into your lips for a more subtle look.
- Missing lip prep: For best results when applying lip liner, we always recommend using a lip primer. Missing this step out isn’t the end of the world, but will probably mean your application and final look aren’t as clean as you’d like.
- Heavy, harsh lines: If you get to the end of your lip liner routine and feel your lines are heavy and unnatural looking, there’s no need to reach for that makeup remover (just yet!) Try blending with a lip brush first, using downward strokes to blend the heavy liner into your lips for a more natural-looking effect.
Browse NYX lip liners now!
Now that you know how to apply lip liner like a pro, find your perfect lip liner in our range! Don’t forget to combine it with a lipstick or lip gloss and see the long-lasting and glamorous results for yourself!
Discover our best NYX lip liners
