How to maintain your lips, & great lip products to try
The basics: You should own at least 1 chapstick.  Or some kind of lip balm, even better if it has some SPF in it.  I read in a news article once that the least protected part of your body is: your lips.  We remember to put on sublock; but not chapstick.  You don’t want suburnt lips, nor dry, chapped flaky ones.  If you do have dry, chapped lips: take a wet toothbrush & gently rub them on your lips.  This will remove the dry flakes.

My favorite?  Lip moisturizer By the Body Shop.  My absolute favorite scent is Lychee.  It is a little pricey for a lip balm ($6), but it’s rich, thick, creamy & love it every time I put it on. OMG you should definitely check them out, for they have all kinds of lip butters in different scents.  If you have really dry lips you can pick one up in argan oil!  If you would like, wait til The Body Shop has a sale (They have sales all the time, i.e. like buy 3 get 3 free), & then pick it up.

If you have cold sores: the best thing for cold sores: Carmex.  It makes a great lip balm too, but it is a bit smelly.  But it is GREAT for dealing with dry lips.

Makeup for your lips: 
I think one of our best features would be our lips.  People have been applying colors to their lips dating back to Ancient times.  They did it, & you should too!

Every woman should own: a red lipstick.  Whether you want to wear it to work, or only on your nights out, that’s up to you.  But people underestimate how seductive they can be.  There were times I didn’t wear lipstick & one day I did, & all of the sudden I’d get a comment, “Oh my gosh, you look so beautiful today.”  And I think that red lips are powerful in attracting a man.
Of course you can buy whatever brand you want I’m going to tell you which brands I have.  I’m not going to expect every woman to wear the same thing; for different shades of red go well with different skin tones.

The 2 colors that pop the most on a woman: red and magenta.  If you want to go more natural you can pink a more blush type of pink.

Lipstick: Women have been using lipstick for hundreds of years.

Budget: Above: One of my favorite shades of red, Rouge cream lipstick from Sephora, color Courtisane, $12.50

Splurge: NARS Audacious lipstick, $32

Important tip: It’s best not to eat your makeup.  Before & during while I eat, I will take a napkin to blot it off.

Lip liner: Some women love this; they like to trace their lips (usually with the same color of the lipstick) before actually putting the lipstick on.  A makeup artist once gave me advice that I could use lip liner as an actual lipstick.  And why not?  There are no rules for that.  I would just have to color my whole lips with the actual lip liner.  This is great if you love a color in a lip liner, but no matching lipstick available.  If you’re new to lip liner: trace the outside of your lips, & THEN fill them in.

Lip gloss: I don’t know why but I prefer lip gloss over lipstick.  There’s just something about the actual tube that I prefer.  I love that I can just see the color right away as opposed to digging through my bag & trying to find out what color my lipsticks are.  Also lips feel more moisturized with lip gloss vs. lipstick.  Another thing is that lipstick is known to contain lead; whereas lip gloss does not.

Above: Revlon colorburst lip gloss, $5

Lip stain: something relatively new on the market, it’s in a tube like a lip gloss, but it’s not.  It’s long lasting, not oily, & does not kiss off as easily as the others.  Some of them are a bit drying, so you may have to apply chapstick or a clear gloss before / afterward.  When you put it on, it looks just like lipstick.

Above: lips with lip stain

Above: Another one of my personal favorites, a lip stain from Kat Von D, $20 at Sephora

Lip tar: a new item on the market!  Made exclusively by a brand called ‘Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics’.  I don’t get the interest, but it seems quite popular.  However, it is a bit high maintenance: you will need a lip primer/balm, lip brush (they usually give you one), and a makeup palette.  (I think a small plate or the back of your hand will do.)

Basic application: you put on the lip primer/balm on your lips, put a DOT of the lip tar on the palette/back of your hand, & then use the brush to brush it on your lips.  I find this difficult to put on & it’s hard to tell what the color actually will be, as the products are very densely concentrated.  You’ll see the color in the tube, but it can show up as a completely different color on your mouth.  One advantage to them is that because you use a TINY dot of it each time, each tube will last you awhile.  Also the nice thing about them is that the colors last almost all day.  Also if you DO get them, best to buy in a set, because a set can cost you $25, whereas one tube can cost $19.  See the difference?  Check below for a link to a video on how to apply lip tars.

Above: Lip tar set by Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, $25, Sephora

Fashion no no: Please do not go with the dark DARK lipstick.  Example: Ever since teenage Lorde burst onto the music scene last year, people comment about how she looks A LOT older than she actually is.  People joked that she was 17 going on 35.  Very few women can pull off a shade that dark well.  I’ve seen her without it and she looks much younger.

Summing up: I love how multifunctional lip colors can be: you can wear them to work, out with your friends, family functions, or used to seduce a man.  Just stick to a lip balm & all the others are optional.  “Live it.  Learn it.  Love it.”

Links:
Buy Lip tar: http://www.sephora.com/search/search.jsp?keyword=lip%20tar