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A Bravo Makeup Artist Reveals How to Instantly Plump Lips — Without Injections
Watch What Happens Live makeup artist Caroline Blanchard shares the lip plumping hacks she uses to play up Bravolebs' pillowy lips.
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With all the buzz about cosmetic procedures, you might assume that skillfully placed filler is the only way to achieve pillowy lips like your favorite reality stars — turns out there are a ton of makeup-only tricks that will leave you with the appearance of fuller lips if you're not into needles.
“Fuller lips are all the rage, but you don’t have to go under the knife or needle to attain the same effect,” said makeup artist Caroline Blanchard — and she should know, having touched up the lips of almost every Bravoleb you could name on the Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen set. Blanchard’s secret? A few choice products and three super-simple pro application tips:
Tip 1: Choose a nude lip liner that matches your natural lip color as closely as possible.
Tip 2: Overdraw your lip line very slightly with the pencil, making sure not to ignore your cupid’s bow... but be careful to not overdo it. “Going too far off the lip mark will make you look unhinged, and nobody wants to walk around looking like that!” she said.
Tip 3: Now plump up lips’ volume by sweeping on opaque lip gloss like Too Faced Melted Latex then topping it with shimmer gloss, such as MAC Lipglass in Mirage Noir. “A good gloss fills in any kind of lines you have on your lips and will always make a lip appear fuller,” Blanchard explained.
Below, check out the exact products Blanchard used on Bravolebs.
Below Deck's Kate Chastain
“So for this look, Kate sent me a picture of this very fun, whimsical dress she chose. I wanted to give her glam, but without taking her too over the top since the dress was very much the focus of attention. It was important to give her a light but visible lip. She already has a great set of full lips so the job of plumping was already done — but that doesn’t mean I don’t add on to it! I lined her lip with Urban Decay 24/7 in Unicorn, then applied Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Palette using #1 Peachy Pink mixed with a dash of #4 Rich Oak Brown. I then topped that off with Chanel Glossimer in Physical. The Glossimer adds definition and makes the lip pop!”
RHOC’s Gina Kirschenheiter
“This look was for a Bravo/Disney shoot we worked on. The note was to have all the women look like ‘princesses.' Gina has the most beautiful green eyes I’ve ever seen, so it was a joy to make the greens of her eyes stand out. Full, glossy lips were also important here because I wanted to keep her look soft, and luckily for me she happens to have very full lips! I lined them with Chanel Le Crayon Lèvre in 93 Beige Innocent and added Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Palette #7 Vibrant Coral and #11 Soft Oak Brown color, and topped it off with a Too Faced Clear Gloss.”
Shahs of Sunset’s Mercedes "MJ" Javid
“The look for Mercedes on this night at Watch What Happens Live was a sexy, smoky theme. I wanted to give dramatic emphasis to her gorgeous eyes and have the rest of her face glow, along with peachy full lips to complement the look. I never like to take away from the drama of the eyes with a bold lip but I still wanted the lips to be present and noticed, so emphasizing her full lips with the soft peachy tone of Tom Ford Lumière in Pêche Perfect and a shimmer gloss by Tom Ford Lip Lacquer Extrême in Cameo to top them off allows the lips to be noticed without being too distracting as the eyes are so dramatic.”
RHONY’s Sonja Morgan
“Sonja came to WWHL and had one of her beautiful Sonja by Sonja Morgan dresses — pink with a flowery ornament at the front and center of her chest. The dress was on display, so I wanted to give her a soft makeup look with some definition on her eyes but not too much, and I wanted her lips to complement the dress. I decided on a pretty nude pink lip. I applied my fuller-lip technique here, slightly overdrawing her lip line using MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in Nice & Spice and finished with Mally Intense Color Lip Gloss in Get It Girl, a high-pigmented gloss that fills up a lip.”
Southern Charm's Naomie Olindo
“Naomie is just simply stunning — a natural beauty. I really enjoyed accentuating her pretty features. I kept her eyeshadow on the lighter side with peach tones and browns to add depth, then took her eyes to the next level with faux lashes. For her lips I used an Elf Lip liner in Dark Brown and Dior Rouge Dior Liquid in 162 Miss Satin. I then topped her lips off with a light gloss —Dior Addict Lip Maximizer in 002 Sheer Apricot Shine — to add some high shine.”