Step 1: Gather Your Products

 Make sure that you have everything you will need including a lipstick, a matching lip liner, a tissue for blotting, and a red lip gloss if desired. Beginning with a clean palette is the key to getting the perfect red lipstick application. Make sure your lips are clean and free of lip balms, moisturizers, or any other products. You can ensure that your lips are clean by wiping them with a cotton ball dabbed with your favorite non-oily eye makeup remover or facial astringent.

Step 2: Prep Your Lips

 After cleaning your lips, make sure that you have the rest of your makeup completed such as your foundation and powder. I like to take the puff for my pressed powder and dab my lips slightly to make sure there are no lines of demarcation around my lip line. This will also help your lip liner and lipstick to stay on your lips longer.

Step 3: Get Ready to Line

 Once you have prepped your lips with your pressed powder, you need to begin by lining your lips with a matching red lip liner. Do not go outside of your natural lip line since this can cause your lip liner and lipstick to "bleed out" later. You don't want to be caught with the Kool-Aid effect later in the day or evening because of a smudged and moving lip line.

Step 4: Fill in Your Lips

  After lining your lips you will want to go back with the same lip liner and fill them in completely. This will set a nice base for your lipstick and help it to stay on your lips longer. Also, if the lipstick wears away from drinking or eating then you will have the lip liner base underneath concealing your lips until you can touch up later.

Step 5:  Apply Your Lipstick

 Now is the time to apply your lipstick. Some people like to use a lip brush to apply the lip color, but with red lipstick I think that it works better straight from the tube. So apply the red lipstick to both the top and bottom lip and then very gently press your lips together without rubbing. Rubbing your lips can cause the lipstick to smudge and after lining your lips with precision, the last thing you want is lipstick to smudge outside of the lip line.

Step 6: Blot Only Once

  Some people don't agree with the "blot" technique, but I do. Grab a tissue, place it on your lips, and gently press them together once to blot the excess lipstick away. The last thing you want is goopy lipstick that will only end up on your teeth later. Another quick tip if you are worried about lipstick on your teeth is to take your pointer finger, make an open "O" shape with your lips, stick your pointer finger in you mouth, gently press your lips around your finger, and then slowly pull your finger back out. If you accidentally applied lipstick too far in on your lips this trick will get rid of it and save you from getting lipstick on your teeth.

Step 7: Finish with a Long-Lasting Lip Gloss

 The final step is lip gloss. You don’t have to use a lip gloss, but I think it finishes off the great red lip look, plus you can find some really great long-lasting lip glosses now that can help your lipstick stay in place for hours. One of my favorite red long-lasting lip glosses is L'Oreal Infallible in Rebel Red. Simple apply a single coat of gloss to the top and bottom lip and then gently press together. The great thing about this lip gloss is that you can toss it in your bag for a quick red lip touch-up later.