Want Angelina Jolie lips without having to hit up the plastic surgeon for painful collagen or Juvederm injections? It's possible, and you don't even have to shell out the $20 or more for a top-of-the-line lip gloss from the department store. Some don't even plump very well anyway. So why not take things into your own hands and give yourself a little lip service? There are a few ways to create the illusion of larger lips. Plumping lip glosses use a variety of agents to irritate the delicate and thin skin that covers your lips, much like a bee sting irritates the skin around it. There is a risk of that delicate skin peeling or sores developing, so manufacturers also add soothing ingredients. The irritant in lip plumpers vary - from capsaicin, the substance found in hot peppers, to cinnamon oil, wintergreen oil and ginger. Soothing ingredients also vary but often include waxes and oils, such as avocado, grapeseed, jojoba and almond, or glycerine. These oils are all usually available at health food stores or online, but be sure to invest in "food grade" oils - they will be on your lips and likely to be ingested, after all.
Many health food stores and online stores sell rollerball applicators - either empty or already filled with one of the soothing oils listed above. If you can't find them, then simply invest in a small plastic or glass bottle. You'll just need a clean applicator to use with it, such as a q-tip. Fill the bottle about 2/3 full of your choice of soothing oil with just one or two drops of the irritant of your choice. Apply to lips. You'll feel a tingling sensation and perhaps some heat. If the sensation is too much, then rinse your lips off. Add a bit more of your soothing oil to the concoction and try again until you have a comfortable lip gloss. You might try adding mineral makeup to give lips more shine and color. Another trick to get plump-looking lips is to apply lip liner around the natural outer line of lips, then fill in with a matching color. Line the interior area of lips - where they meet with a shimmery white eye shadow. You're trying to get the area just a bit lighter and more shimmery than the rest of the lips. This will create the illusion of larger lips. Follow with a high-shine gloss, and voila - movie star lips!