World Lipstick Day: Makeup experts reveal secrets to make your lipstick last longer

On World Lipstick Day, experts share secrets for long-lasting lip colour. Key steps include exfoliation, layering techniques, and careful food choices.

Meetings, meals, the metro ride home – most lipsticks don't make it past the first meal. But they come with the promise of lasting longer. It turns out there are a few secret makeup tricks that can help sustain the colour on your lips. On World Lipstick Day, observed on July 29, we asked two makeup and beauty experts, Deepika Thapar and Richa Agarwal, to break down how to make your lip makeup last longer, step by step, from lip prep to what holds up in monsoon humidity.

With a few tricks, you can make your lipstick stay put for longer.

Step 1: Prep the lips

Use a damp washcloth, towel, or gentle sugar scrub to exfoliate, followed by a balm left to absorb before any colour goes on. Clearing away dead, flaky skin gives long-wear formulas an even surface to grip, so colour applies smoothly and holds longer instead of settling into dry patches or fine lines.

Both cap physical exfoliation at once or twice a week. Doing more than that risks tearing delicate lip skin and causing further dryness.

Step 2: Blot Before You Colour

After balm, blot away the excess as the leftover oil stops the formula from gripping the lips properly.

Step 3: Pick Your Formula

Use lip stain, liquid matte, bullet lipstick, and tinted balm in this order. Lip stains last hours, though they need an oil-based cleanser to remove. Liquid matte formulas can sometimes feel drying, so layer gloss on top to offset it. Tinted lip balm nourishes the lips, and bullet lipsticks are the most comfortable but least transfer-resistant, typically needing a touch-up within a few hours.

Step 4: Line the Entire Lip

Both artists suggest filling the whole lip with liner rather than just outlining it. Thapar calls a fully-filled liner "a long-lasting base coat" as when the lipstick on top fades, the liner underneath keeps colour looking even. Agarwal agrees that it gives lipstick something to hold onto and favours a firmer pencil liner over a creamy one, which tends to shift more easily.

Step 5: Build Colour in Thin Layers

Apply one thin coat, blot, apply a second thin coat, and avoid rubbing lips together right after, which can disturb the finish before it sets. Thin, blotted layers outlast a single heavy application.

Step 6: Set and finish

This is optional, but adding a light dot of gloss at the centre of the lips only (not full coverage) adds dimension without compromising wear.

What to watch out for?

Consuming oily food is the fastest way to undo long-wear lipstick, say the experts. Thapar advises choosing finger foods that avoid direct lip contact, drinking through a straw, and avoiding biting or picking at the lips, which breaks the product's surface barrier.

In the monsoon humidity, Thapar recommends a targeted touch-up rather than reapplying everything. “Wipe away faded product and the white film that builds along the inner rim, dab fresh lipstick only where it's worn off, and seal with balm or gloss at the centre,” she says. Agarwal prefers prevention: lightweight, transfer-resistant formulas over creamy ones, applied in two thin layers rather than one thick one.

(The article is written by Diya Agrawal)