The warmer weather means moving to brighter lip colours as well as clothes. The only problem is finding a lip liner to match all those pretty coral and orange lipsticks, not to mention the more random colours like the purple lip crayon I received from Birchbox.
That is where transparent lip liners come in. I have really thin lips and use a lip liner to make them look larger, a clear lip liner doesn’t really help with that, but it is a must have to stop your lip colour bleeding and feathering. If you are like me, you probably have lots of lipsticks you rarely wear because they just don’t stay put. Using a lip liner will help with that, making an invisible boundary to make the lip colour stay where it is meant to and not use the tiny channels in your skin to feather and bleed away from your lips.
Because you don’t want to make your lips look smaller, transparent lip liners are applied just outside of the lip line. Usually a big no-no for regular lip liner unless very close to your skin colour. They work best when you dab a little concealer around your lips and finish with powder to stop the waxy look of the pencil over foundation. Since I have very light pink lips, I tend to touch up my cupids bow with a light pink lip pencil to give it more definition – something not possible with a transparent liner.
No Bleeding Lips Transparent Lip Liner
No Bleeding Lips is hardly a splurge at $15 but it is more expensive than drug store brands. If you really want to splurge, there are a number of reverse lip liners or transparent lip liners on the market, but I personally do not find that many of them are any better than No Bleeding Lips.
No Bleeding Lips seems a little softer than Rimmel’s transparent but glides on with no issues. You have to be careful to get it very close to the lip line, No Bleeding Lips is almost invisible and since the idea is to keep the lip colour on your lips, you don’t want to be give it somewhere else to go with a bad line.
Rimmel Moisture Renew Universal Transparent Lip Liner
While not hard (even by lip liner standards), Rimmel Moisture Renew Universal Transparent Lip Liner is not quite as soft as No Bleeding Lips. It has the same twist up applicator and rounded end. Since neither can be sharpened, you get a dull point, but since they are invisible, no big deal and you should be using a lip liner at an angle and not the point anyway. At $6, Rimmel’s transparent lip liner lasts longer because it is not as soft, and is less than half the price of No Bleeding Lips.
While almost invisible, Rimmel’s transparent lip liner is slightly more noticeable than No Bleeding Lips. At a certain angle, you see the waxy look to it. As mentioned above this is easily counteracted with some concealer and finishing powder which helps your lip colour stay on your lips even better. To be fair, you have to be looking for it to see the line, and only with certain bright lipsticks.
Both do a decent job of keeping your lipstick on your lips without a noticeable lipliner (and I doubt visible lipliner will ever become the it trend of makeup) and save you lots since you don’t need multiple coloured lip liners.
Honestly, they work about as well as each other, Rimmel’s transparent lip liner lasts a little longer, but I prefer the soft more invisible look and feel of No Bleeding Lips. So save or splurge, or like me, keep Rimmel in your purse since it lasts better in the heat and use No Bleeding Lips in the cool comfort of your home!
I’ve never tried an invisible lip liner before, so your tips on how to use are very helpful. It’s also great to hear both options work well.
Never tried an invisible lip liner, but I loved your review… Will have to check it out and give it a try. Thanks!
I had never heard of an invisible lip liner before but I really appreciate your comparison of these products. I will have to look for it in store.
I didn’t even know there was such a product but I know some people who would benefit from it so I’ll be sure to recommend it.
Never heard of transparent lip liners before. Sounds interesting, might have to pick one up to try
I have never heard of the transparent lip liners before. This is an item I most certainly be interested in. I will definitely keep my eye out for this product and pick one up. I always have my lipstick bleed into my upper lip, so I simply wear a lip gloss now, however it would be great to wear all my stash of lipsticks again. Thank you for posting such an amazing cosmetic.
I’ve only started to use Invisible lip liner. I honestly didn’t know it existed until I was sent one. I like the idea of it but think I need some practice to get it perfect!