Lip plumping rant; posture & pout connection; my holistic-spirited lip care routine to keep the lips soft & beautifully contoured.

Where do I even start my rant?
Do I begin with the irritants and allergens used to cause a swelling considered so ‘sexy’?
With ridiculous lip plumping devices that are The Shit all over YouTube?
With duckface-causing injections?

So much stupidity, so little time.
I think I’ll just speed up and give you my opinionated headlines:

In the attempt of becoming our better self, we should pay attention to enhancing our own features, not grabbing somebody else’s.”

And:

Being in your best shape – body, face, health, mind and soul – and celebrating it is the best thing you can experience but it should never come at a toxic cost.”

Of course you could rub your lips with cinnamon, pepper, ginger, peppermint or cayenne pepper to make them swell. Hell, you can pick organic cinnamon, pepper, ginger, peppermint or cayenne pepper! But is an allergic reaction or skin irritation really such a sexy thing? Well, IMHO it isn’t.
But it’s a free society and you are entitled do rub whatever you like onto your face 🙂
Of course you can torture your lips with those plastic devices until the desired degree of swelling occurs, but again: yuk.
To me this is not the pursuit of a beauty ideal, it’s simply unworthy. Scorn it. Picture a beautiful, wise, kind, talented human being… with a vac in their face?! Come on! Riddikulous!

However, I have absolutely nothing against keeping the pout nicely contoured, full and smooth.

Particularly if this occurs nearly en passant with the following five tips. Since I’ve been following this routine, chapped lips in autumn or winter have become history!

Five Natural Ways to Healthy, Great-Looking Lips

#1 Tip For Softer, Fuller Lips: Oil pulling

Oil pulling is something I’ve discussed earlier, and will discuss further, and have come to love.
Most recent conclusion: it lets your lips – where, as you remember, the skin is so much thinner and way less protected than on the rest of the face – so, it lets your lips get in touch with a beneficial oil on a daily basis! For minutes!
As you swish, some of the oil always slips to and just slightly over your lips, and helps keep them soft and healthy. The movement that occurrs during swishing (the “fish mouth” grimace moving left and right? yeah, that thing) is great exercice, too – unless you squeeze your lips into a gazillion of wrinkles, obviously. So don’t do that; and you’ve got yourself two unexpected lip beauty perks, from simply taking care of your teeth.
Sweet!

#2 Tip For Healthy, Soft Lips: Good posture

Whaaaaaat? Yes. Hold on.
If your posture is good; if there are no weak or blocked muscles, then your system is most likely to evenly nurture and detoxify that beautiful head of yours with all the brains and aaaaaall the looks.
Does my advice make sense now? 🙂
Obviously, your entire face and not just your lips will benefit from your muscle tonus and your ability to fully relax.

For muscle tonus, nothing was yet invented that beats workout (and one that’s actually good for you personally, not some generic fitness routine).
For muscle relaxation, nothing is as powerful as Jakobson’s progressive muscle relaxation. Try it now – thank me later.”

# 3 Tip For Beautifully Shaped, Firm, Fuller Lips: Face Gym

Our lips are a muscle complex called musculus orbicularis oris. A muscle complex. Lightbulb on, anyone? 🙂
Unlike some other parts of the human body that some people would like to enlarge with exercise, these are actual muscles and can be trained.
Reality check first: you won’t be able to pump up the volume, you know, biceps-style.
Good news: you can have more definition = nicely contoured lips, a better blood flow = more intense lip colour, and you can even lift sad drooping mouth corners!

#4 Basic Tip For Soft Lips: Lip Balm

It’s vital to shield your lips from UV and weather.
Make sure to have a natural balm without any petrochemicals, silicones, glycerin, water, undefined fragrance, and alcohol. The simplest, nearly fail-free solution is a natural plant butter: cacao butter or shea butter are great for the pout, and cacao butter has that splendid fine scent… yum.
Plus, both fats are solid – which makes for an easier transportation.

#5 Final Tip For A Beautiful Pout: Smile

Sounds simplistic, but think about it for a second.
A smile is a natural moodlifter for yourself and for people around you, and science suggests that a smile is more likely to be returned. A smile can charm a tired, stubborn and defensive vis-à-vis and lighten somebody’s day.

xoxo

P.S.
For my favourite, ‘green’ & clean red lipsticks (all palm-oil free, most vegan) and glosses head over to this post.
If you’re more into mauve and glossy (+ lip balm), these picks call your name.