We love a dark lipstick as much as the next girl, but deeper shades (like berry and oxblood) tend to make your lips look smaller. On the other hand, nudes and soft pinks emphasize their size and shape.
Look for one that's within one to two shades of your natural lip color and stick to creamy or satin formulas. (A bit of sheen adds the illusion of more volume, whereas a matte finish tends to fall flat).
To bring the fullness factor up another notch, get a lip liner in a similar shade and trace just slightly outside your natural lip line using a light circular motion, almost like you're buffing it on. No hard lines here, just well-blended color. Next, fill in the rest of your lips completely with the pencil (this will ensure more staying power) and finish with a slick of lipstick. Ah, the magic of optical illusion.
Some of our go-to liners: MAC Lip Pencil in "Whirl" ($18); Lipstick Queen Exact Match Liner in "Natural" ($18); Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner in "Pillow Talk" ($24)
