Ombre Lips: Sweet and Chic by Alethea Middleton

Flirty, pouty and chic seems to be a common theme just about every spring. So, it’s not really surprising that the ombre lip trend is making a huge impact in the fashion world for this season.

If you aren’t familiar with the ombre style, it has been a popular way to color hair since 2007. The style has been worn by everyone from Victoria Beckham to Beyonce. The ombre hair may gradually or drastically change from a dark root color to a lighter tint at the ends.

This ombre trend has now made its way to the application of lip color. We saw this ombre lip hit the fall runway on Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs and Erin Fetherston’s models at New York Fashion Week, and this trend is continuing on for the spring season. Here is one of Marchesa’s models on the New York Runway for Spring 2016.

But, I’m not just seeing this trend from top designer collections and on the celebrities. It has been well adapted on the street with those who are in-the-know about this season’s trends. On Instagram, #ombrelip currently has over 30k posts and #ombrelips has over 119k posts. Here are some of the most recent posts from #ombrelips:

Getting the Ombre Lip for Your Own Spring Look

So, just how do you get this hot look for yourself? It’s not too difficult and it is very similar to blending your eyeshadow into a gradient of shades to create a more dimensional look. First, you will need:

Light lip color
A darker lipstick (usually in the same color family)
A dark lip liner (close to or darker than the dark lip color)

There are two ways you can apply your ombre; you can start by applying your dark liner or start with the lightest lipstick. Work your way from one end of your color spectrum to the opposite end. I typically start with the darker color and work towards the highlight in the center of the lip.

Apply your dark liner to the outer lip line and into the corners of the mouth. Make sure it is a thick enough line to blend in the next step (this can be as thick as half of your lip). Depending on the look you want, you may or may not allow the outer lines to completely meet coming from each corner (some looks allow those outlines to blend to the highlight before reaching the outer peak of the lips.
Use the darker lip color to blend the liner towards the center of the lip, allow it to feather dramatically.
Apply the lightest lip color to the middle as the highlight for the lips.

The spring ombre lip can be done in a very natural lip color that simply pronounces the pout, or a very dramatic pink, purple or blue. Now that you know the ombre technique, look at how the gradient lip colors above were applied and see what you can come up with on your own!