This isn’t the classic way of using powder to get creamy lip colour to last through sipping coffee, cocoa and/or cocktails, and it may alarm you at first. But stay with me…

How to make lipstick stay on longer is a persistent makeup concern, although there are lots of long-wear options, including lip primer, these days. Despite advances in formulation that makes matte lipstick more comfortable (hello, Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution) and long-wear colour a bit easier to wear, some of us just want to wear lipstick that IS creamy, moisturizing and comforting — and ain’t no matte or long-wear is gonna substitute.

There’s a classic makeup artist trick for making lipstick stay on longer that involves applying a layer of lipstick, blotting, then powdering lightly through a layer of Kleenex. But there’s another version of that trick in town, and when I first spotted it online, I did a double-take: makeup artist Michel Coulombe, Artistry & Education Director at Laura Mercier, applied powder directly on the first layer of lipstick. Whaaa??

Coming up in this post, makeup artist Courtney Bennett, sales and education exec at Laura Mercier Canada, demonstrates a couple of variations of that “new” powder + lipstick technique. They work, too, without messing up the texture of the lipstick and without making lips feel dry.

how to make lipstick stay on longer: the OG

Before we get to the , let me first outline the classic makeup-artist approach to improving lipstick wear and colour depth:

• （1) apply lipstick
• （2) separate a two-ply tissue into individual… plies?? sheets!
• （3) press a single ply against the lips (to absorb some of the emollients in the lipstick)
• （4) with the single ply still in place over the lipstick, lightly dust a little powder over lips
• （5) remove the powdered tissue, then re-apply another layer of lipstick

It works, but if you could skip the tissue bit, why wouldn’t you? So here’s how to boost lipstick colour wear without all that ply-stuff…

how to make lipstick stay on: the sequel

As I mentioned earlier, here Courtney shows us variations on the technique I saw Michel demo (the one in which powder goes directly onto the first layer of lipstick).

Note: yep, Courtney’s wearing a matte lip colour, not a creamy shade. That’s because I sprang the video idea on her without warning and the Laura Mercier Velour Extreme Matte Lipstick in Femme (from the Fall 2019 Parisian Nudes collection) was handy. So she used it for demo purposes.

Below is a breakdown of each technique Courtney demonstrated.

make lipstick stay put trick 1

This move is an alternative to using a lip primer (also applies to face primer like this); it preps lips by mattifying natural oils and emollients in your foundation, and gives the lipstick something to stick to:

• （1) use a flat brush to pick up a bit of loose powder (Michel Columbe says Laura Mercier loose powder won’t change the colour of whatever you put it over)
• （2) work that bit of powder into the brush by working it onto the back of your hand
• （3) lightly dab the faintly powdered brush over the lip line, including skin around lips
• （4) apply lip colour

Key tip: work that powder into the brush so you don’t over-apply it

make lipstick stay put trick 2

This trick is for those of us who are compelled to apply lip balm before lip colour:

• （1) apply lip balm as usual
• （2) blot lip balm – regular two-ply tissue is fine for this
• （3) use a flat brush to pick up a bit of loose powder
• （4) work that bit of powder into the brush by working it onto the back of your hand
• （5) carefully, lightly dab powdered brush over lip line, including skin around lips
• （6) apply lip colour

Key tip: if you must wear lip balm under lip colour (I often do), apply the balm first and blot before prepping with that tiny bit of powder

make lipstick stay put trick 3

This application is the one that really surprised me; I need to try it with other brands of loose powder just to see if it works as well:

• （1) apply lipstick
• （2) blot lip colour with a tissue (no need to separate into single ply)
• （3) use a flat brush to pick up a bit of loose powder
• （4) work that bit of powder into the brush by working it onto the back of your hand
• （5) lightly dab the faintly powdered brush over the lip colour
• （6) apply a second layer of lipstick

Key tips: if you’ve used lip liner to fence your lipstick in, tapping a tiny bit of Laura Mercier powder over your first application and re-applying colour might be all you need to do. However, you could also try using trick 1 and trick 3 to see what works best for you.

And here’s yet another variation from one of Canada’s top makeup artists, Diana Carreiro – she suggests using blot paper instead of tissue because it’s even better at absorbing emollients without disturbing the pigment.

over to you

• Do you wear matte or long-wear lipstick to avoid dealing with wearing-off issues?
• Or do you avoid matte and long-wear formulas because so many are at least somewhat drying?
• Have you ever tried the classic tissue-ply trick? Would you try it with blot paper instead?
• Do you think you might try anything from the video?
• Do you have a different tip that works well for you?
• Have I asked too many questions?