Proof That You Don't Need Liner For Liquid Lippie

With the advent of Kylie Jenner's Lip Kits in the last year — liquid lipsticks that come with liner — I finally started wearing liner with my own liquid products. If Jenner was doing it, surely I had to as well. Yet I couldn't help but ask myself, "Do you need lip liner with liquid lipstick, or is all the recent hype a massive scam?" I mean, why sell one product when you can sell two, right? I also couldn't shake the feeling that the combination of items was more of a suggestion that we draw on bigger lips to match the surgically-enhanced ones so popular at the moment than an implication that liner is a necessity.

After several months of using both liner and liquid lipstick together, I wanted to know whether liner truly is a must-have for this kind of product, even if so many makeup artists recommend lip liner with all lipsticks. So I spoke to freelance makeup artist Terri Capon via email — who I have personally worked with on set for feminist fashion zine Polyester, and whose work has been seen on album covers and publications like Wonderland — whether one really does need to splurge on the liner for liquid pout creations.

Her reply was short and sweet: "Nope, no lip liner needed with liquid lipstick," thanks to its generally malleable consistency.

You can imagine my shock: The sense of dread that filled my core and spread throughout my body. Tears sprung to my eyes and I tried to breathe deep.

This doesn't mean that I'm going to trash all of my lip liners, of course. First off, I spent money on them. Secondly, besides their alleged use for keeping liquid lipstick on my lips and not the rest of my face, I can also use lip liner to draw on the aforementioned bigger lips.

Still, I wanted to test life with liquid lipstick and without lip liner, something I have been doing by rocking NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick solo.

NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick, $12, ASOS

I'd like to take this moment to highly recommend all NYX products. Not only are they great, but they're cheap, too. A Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick will only set you back $12, which means you can get four for the price of one higher end product.

As you can see, not using lip liner did not affect my lipstick's shape or wear throughout the day. I was worried about my lipstick bleeding onto my skin, but this wasn't remotely the case.

Of course, with a thinner-consistency product or even a darker shade, I would reccomend more caution. My OCC Lip Tar colors, for example, have been known to make their way halfway across my face even with the addition of lip liner, so I wouldn't want to risk it.

OCC Lip Tar, $16, Amazon

Perhaps this is why Kylie Cosmetics now sells liquid lipstick on its own — especially since Bustle writer Amy Sciarretto proved that you can wear Kylie Lip Kit lipstick without any liner.

At the end of the day, however, your choice should depend on what you're trying to achieve from your lip liner. If you want a bigger pout, go ahead and draw it on. If you're just putting on liner because you think you have to? My advice is to save your money for more important beauty products.

Images: Georgina Jones