Ladybird Johnson once said, “”Flowers in the city are like lipstick on a woman.” What’s not always pretty is finding the right lipstick shade and application techniques. Many lipstick wearers suffer from blurred or harsh lines and lipstick bleeding beyond the lips after a long day of coffee drinking. Plus, there are so many different types of lipstick to choose from. Including matte lipstick to lip gloss, lip stains, metallic shades, and colored lip balms in almost every flavor imaginable.

Fortunately, once in a while beauty experts share some lipstick hacks for professional color application:

1. Exfoliate your lips
Yes, much like the skin on other parts of your body, lips also need to stay moisturized and nourished. Our lips have poor barrier protection which means that environmental factors like: wind and the sun can dry them out. Also drinking hot fluids or even smoking can keep your lips dry and cracked. The basic key to maintaining moisture is to first slough off any dead skin that might be blocking the moisture and shine you try to get with lipstick. This is where exfoliation comes in. There are a variety of products on the market that will exfoliate the skin on your lips. Here’s a quick DIY lip scrub recipe that you can make to exfoliate your own lips:

• Choose a scrubbing ingredient such as: sugar, cinnamon or even a toothbrush
• A skin softener or emollient such as: shea butter, oil or honey
• Mix these ingredients into a paste and apply the paste in small circles around your lips using your finger.
• Wipe or wash off the mixture off of your lips and apply a lip balm afterward.
• Exfoliate your lips no more than 2x weekly as too much exfoliation could cause irritation.

2. Moisturize first
Moisturized lips are the starting point for longer wear of your lipstick but there are also a couple of hacks that will not only enhance the look and wear of your shade but will help your lipstick to stay on all day!

3. Use a translucent powder
Translucent powder can be used to achieve longer wear of your lipstick and will give your glossy lip color a matte effect. You’ll also need a few other tools and materials that you probably have lying around. These are:

• A tissue or square piece of toilet paper
• Loose translucent powder
• A fluffy powder brush
• Favorite shade of lipstick

To use translucent powder for longer lip wear, follow these instructions:

• Apply a single coat of your favorite lipstick.
• Hold (don’t press) a piece of the tissue against your lips. The key here is to get the powder to sift through the tissue and stick to the lip.
• Next, dip a fluffy makeup brush into the loose powder.
• Using a left to right motion, gently brush the powder against the tissue. Fully coat the lips in order to achieve a matte effect.
• Carefully remove the tissue.

The goal is to remove the gloss of your favorite shade, but leave the color behind, leaving your lips with a gorgeous matte effect.