East vs. West: Lip Trends

Hello again everyone! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I think I’m really going to love this series! ❤

Lipstick trends are probably my favorite part about makeup. It’s probably because of my obsession with bright colors, but there’s so much room to play around with your lips.

Just a simple change in the color, shape, or style and you can change your entire look!

Let’s start with the Western trend.

And, just a reminder, I will be focusing on the trends in the US and South Korea.

 

Whether the trend has been nude or bright colors, the US has always loved the look of full, pouty lips. I don’t see that changing any time soon.

So far in 2014, the trend has been with bright pinks and oranges. With the occasional purple shade thrown in there ;). Obviously, I’ve had no problem following this particular trend. I can’t tell you how many bold lip colors I have right now!

As far as the shading goes, no matter what color, the emphasis on full lips gives a more mature and sometimes sensual look. Unless you’re me! It does make me look older though.

And for the Eastern trend!

Gradient lips! Oh, gradient lips, how I love you! (｡♥‿♥｡)

This trend has been around for at least a year, but it is still very popular! And it’s very easy to attain. All you have to do is conceal the outside shape of your lips, apply lip color or stain to the very inside, and bled outwards. A lot of times you will see a coat of clear lipgloss as well.

Overall, this style of application makes you look more youthful. And if South Koreans want to look anything in the beauty industry, it’s youthful!

It also softens the look of your lips, makes them look more delicate, and has the side benefit of making your lips look smaller. This is a trend that I haven’t really seen out of Asia, but smaller lips seem to be very appealing.

Small lips + big eyes = very cute, dolly look.

I usually bounce between both trends depending on how I feel on any particular day. This trend is really interesting to me considering how opposite the two cultures feel about lips. I hadn’t even thought about lip shapes until I started to notice the beauty standards in South Korea.

So which one do you like more? Have you tried the gradient lips?