Matte lip gloss & lipsticks are popular options for most women. For people who are on a budget, it may be the only type of lipstick they have. Luckily, there are ways to get the most out of your matte lipsticks if you want to go for a different look once in a while.

In this post, I will go over the ways that you can make your matte lipstick look glossier or creamier. I will also go over a trick to make your matte lipstick less sticky and a trick to make your matte lipstick last longer by preventing it from cracking.

How to Wear Matte Liquid Lipstick

Matte lipstick tends to drying. Therefore, the correct way to wear matte liquid lipstick is to seal your lips with a lip balm before applying the lipstick. The lip balm helps to retain moisture on your skin while acting as a protective layer between your lips and the matte lipstick.

Note that lip lining is optional and is not necessary if you are applying a liquid lipstick.

Here’s What You Need to Do:

Step 1 – Exfoliate your lips. Exfoliating your lips helps to remove dead skin and create a smooth surface for your lipstick. You don’t always need a lip scrub to exfoliate your lips. I’ve written a guide on the best ways to exfoliate your lips without scrub if you’re interested to find out more.  

Step 2 – Apply a layer of lip balm on your lips. Let the lip balm sit for about a minute to help it seal in the moisture.

Step 3 – Conceal your lips with a lip concealer (Optional). The concealer helps to hides uneven skin tone and other trouble areas on your lips. It also helps your lipstick stick to your lips better. If you’ve got dark pigmented lips and want to go for a lighter matte lipstick, use a light color concealer to lighten your lips then apply your lipstick on top (more on this below).

Step 4 – Shape your lips and fill it in. Matte liquid lipsticks usually come with an application wand. Use the application wand to shape and outline your lips. This allows you to see how your lips should look like before you fill them in. Once you are finished with the outline, simply fill in your lip with the liquid lipstick.

Step 5 – Highlight the tip of your cupids bow. This step is optional but it really helps to draw attention to your lips. Simply dab a bit of highlight to your cupids bow and blend it lightly into your upper lip.

How to Make Matte Lipstick Glossy

Adding gloss to your matte lipstick is very easy to do. Here are 2 ways to make your lipstick glossy:

Use Clear Lip Gloss – Apply your matte lipstick like you normally would and then apply a layer of clear lip gloss on top for an instant glossy look.

Use Vaseline –  If you don’t have a clear lip gloss, you can use Vaseline. Simply apply your matte lipstick the way you normally would and then apply some Vaseline on top. Vaseline isn’t as glossy as a lip gloss, but it does provide your matte lipstick with a bit of shine.   

How To Make Glossy Lipstick Matte

To make your ordinary glossy lipstick matte, you can do one of the following once you’ve applied your lipstick:

Step 1 – Using a piece of tissue or oil blotting paper and gently press it against your lips. Be careful not to rub the paper on your lips and damage your lipstick layering. The blotting action will absorb the gloss, shine on your lips, and make the lipstick appear more matte.

Step 2 – To get an extra touch of matte on your glossy lipstick, still using a piece of tissue paper or oil blotting paper, separate the layers of the paper and remain with only a single sheet. With a single layer of the two-ply tissue paper, gently press it against your lips and let it settle for a few seconds. Using a cosmetic brush, dust a small amount of translucent cosmetic powder on your lips through the tissue paper.

Another option to get your glossy lipstick matte is to use a commercial lipstick transformer. The lipstick transformer is usually in the form of a cream that you can apply on top of your ordinary glossy lipstick to instantly absorb the gloss and get you that fine matte finish.

How to Keep Matte Lipstick from Cracking

Matte lipsticks have a drying effect on your lips and if you’ve applied it on lips that are already cracked, chances are that the lipstick will crack as well after it dries. 

Here’s how to keep matte lipstick from cracking:

Step 1 – Exfoliate your lips – Exfoliating your lips helps to remove dead skin and provides a smooth surface to apply your lipstick. 

Step 2 – Use a Lip Primer – Applying lip primer on your lips helps to fill in small cracks. It also helps your lipstick stay in place

Step 3 – Apply Lip Liner – Apply lip liner to help smooth out the edges of your lips. 

Step 4 – Apply Matte Lipstick – Simply apply your lipstick on top of the lip primer and this will keep your lips looking perfect and crack-free all day.

If you find that your lipstick cracked during the day, don’t just apply another layer of lipstick on. This will make it even more cakey. Instead, wipe your lips clean with makeup remover and re-apply the lip primer, lip liner, and matte lipstick again. This takes more time but the results or worth the effort. 

How to Make Matte Lipstick Creamy

You can quickly give your matte lipstick a creamy appearance by applying a creamy lip balm on top of the matte lipstick. Creamy lip balms don’t always come in clear color. That’s because the ingredients used in these types of lip balms are not transparent in color to begin with.

Therefore, you will need to experiment a bit by trying out different types of creamy lip balms by mixing different types of lip balm with your matte lipstick (or vice versa). 

To make your matte lipstick creamy, simply apply your matte lipstick like you normally would, and then apply a layer of creamy lip balm on top for an instant creamy look.

I recommend going at least 1 shade darker for your matte lipstick as creamy lip balms tend to lighten the shade a bit after mixing. For best results, look for lip balms with the following types of creamy ingredients: 

Beeswax – Creamy texture with antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties

Shea Butter – Contains vitamins A and E which help to soothe and moisturize lips. 

Cocoa Butter – Creamy emollient that helps to protect your lips by forming a barrier on top. It also contains vitamins A, C, and E which are strong anti-aging antioxidants.

Kokum Butter – Helps to moisturize lips. It has a creamy texture that works to hydrate lips by locking in surface moisture. 

How To Make Creamy Lipstick Matte

Here’s How to Make Creamy Lipstick Matte with Baby Powder:

Step 1 – You can make your ordinary creamy lipstick matte by using a piece of tissue paper or oil blotting paper. Separate the layers of the paper and remain with only a single sheet. With a single layer of the two-ply tissue paper, gently press it against your lips and let it settle for a few seconds. Using a cosmetic brush, dust a small amount of baby powder on your lips through the tissue paper. The small amount of powder will gently mattify the lips by absorbing additional oil on the tissue. Note that baby powder is not directly applied to the lips as we want it to only absorb the oil but don’t want it to stay on the lips.

Step 2 – With a piece of tissue or oil blotting paper, gently press it against your lips. Be careful not to rub the paper on your lips and damage your lipstick layering. The blotting action will absorb the gloss, shine on your lips, and make the lipstick appear more matte.

How to Make Matte Lipstick Not Sticky

Applying translucent powder on top of your matte lipstick is the best way to make it not sticky. The powder provides a dry barrier on top of your lips and this helps to prevent your lipstick from sticking on anything else. 

Here’s how to make your matte lipstick not sticky.

Step 1 – Use a soft foundation brush and dab a small amount of translucent powder to the tip of the brush.

Step 2 – Dab the powder on your lips, ensure that all areas are covered. 

Step 3 – Add another layer of powder if required (optional)

A translucent powder works well here because it will blend in well with your matte lipstick. If you rather go a bit lighter, baby powder can also be used. 

How To Make Matte Lipstick at Home

Making your lipstick may be an initiative you take for several reasons. Maybe you’re yet to find any off-the-shelf lipstick that doesn’t react to your skin, you don’t like the idea of using products whose ingredients you’re not familiar with, or you want a go at synthesizing your lipstick formula.

For whatever reason you may want to create your matte lipstick, we believe that the process should be fun and rewarding in the lipstick that you get out of it.

To prepare your homemade matte lipstick, you will need to have the following products:

• 1 teaspoon Rice bran wax
• ½ teaspoon Sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon Rice flour
• ¼ teaspoon Zinc Oxide
• 1 teaspoon Your desired colorant
• 1 teaspoon peppermint essential oil
• 1 teaspoon Honey beige
• ½ teaspoon Shea butter
• A silicon mold
• Lipstick tubes

Here’s the procedure for making your matte lipstick with the commodities listed above:

Step 1 – In a small bowl, mix up the rice flour, mica oil, zinc oxide, and your desired colorant. To move between different shades of the color you want, add smaller quantities of the rice flour or colorant to make the color intense or lighter, respectively.

Step 2– Stir the mixture well to ensure no molds and aim to get a smooth, creamy texture.

Step 3 – In another bowl, add the rice bran wax and shea butter and warm them up in low heat over a bowl of warm water. Mix up the two ingredients until they have the same consistency.

Step 4 – To the bowl with the rice bran wax and shea butter mixture, add a few drops of sunflower oil and peppermint essential oil.

Step 5 – Add the mixtures in the two bowls together and stir them thoroughly until there’s an even texture and color.

Step 6 – In the empty lipstick tubes, pour in the mixture and stuff it tightly in the tube. Place the tube in the freezer for up to half an hour to allow the ingredients to bind to each other.

Step 7 – Take your lipstick out of the freezer and it will be ready to use.

How To Wear Matte Lipstick Without Drying Lips

Matte lipstick in whatever form, whether homemade or professionally manufactured, is a trendy form of makeup that feels and looks nice. But when done wrong, matte lipstick can be the cause of your lips appearing and feeling a bit too flakey.

Here’s How to Wear Matte Lipstick Without Drying Lips:

Check the Active Ingredients – The first step to ensuring your matte lipstick doesn’t dry up your lips is to look at the active ingredients in the lipstick. Avoid ingredients like lanolin, fragrances, vitamin E, castor oil, beeswax, flavorings, and sunscreen.

Make Time for Some Lip Scrubbing – When done correctly and delicately, lip scrubbing will get rid of all the dead skin on your lips that would otherwise go unnoticed. Usually, when there’s a buildup of dead skin on your lips, it plays a big role in speeding up the moisture loss process on your lips. Check out my guide on exfoliating lips if you want to learn more.

Apply a Layer of Balm Underneath the Matte – If you want to apply matte lipstick on dry lips, applying a thin layer of balm on your lips just before applying your matte lipstick can go a long way in ensuring that your lips retain moisture for longer.

How To Make Matte Lipstick Long Lasting

To make your matte lipstick last you longer, the first thing to do is apply a layer of lip primer to your lips. The primer will act as a foundation for the matte lipstick, making it last even longer than usual. Once you’ve primed your lips, all that’s left to do is to apply the matte lipstick.