How To Solve For Wrinkly Lips When You’re *Of A Certain Age* (Ugh)

Let’s face it: Our faces have lines and wrinkles and creases now. Maybe you’re interested in cosmetic procedures to address it all, or maybe you’re perfectly happy with having your age show. There’s no right or wrong approach to this whole getting older thing. If you’re someone who has wrinkly lips now, whether that be lines on your lips themselves or right around the edges of your mouth, you’re not the only one. We asked estheticians and makeup artists what can be done about lip wrinkles, from procedures and fillers to their best makeup tricks that won’t emphasize lines.

Makeup tricks to camouflage lip wrinkles

No hate to the signs we’ve lived life well, but also, we’d like to not center them in our narrative. Good news: There are some easy makeup techniques that can help our foundation not settle into upper lip lines, and ways to keep our lip color from settling into wrinkles on the lips themselves. For starters, the lips themselves:

“In the makeup chair, I use a lip line barrier, a clear pencil that turns into a satin flexible finish to hold lip color inside the lip line. Dior and Nikol make great ones!” says celebrity makeup artist Brett Freedman. And if you want a lasting lip color that doesn’t settle into lines or feather, Freedman suggests using a lip tint and applying a balm over top. It’s a double whammy of lasting color payoff and plenty of hydration, whereas matte lip products might dehydrate lips and sink right into those wrinkles.

As for your foundation settling in the lines around your mouth, you can solve that issue in a few different ways. “I’d stay away from anything matte foundation-wise. Anything dry and thick accentuates the lines,” Freedman says. “You may not actually need foundation close to your lip line. If there’s no discoloration there, I say leave it. If you really do want to get color payout to the lip line, go for hydrating tinted moisturizer or moisturizing foundations. The Revlon ColorStay and Laura Mercier tinted moisturizers are great.”

How to get rid of lip lines, with or without filler

If you’re open to filler, great. But facial aesthetics experts say there are other things they’d reach for first to soften the appearance of lip lines, and often filler isn’t enough on its own. “Fillers are just one piece of the puzzle. Lip aging isn’t just about volume loss. It’s also about skin texture, elasticity, collagen breakdown, sun damage, and even the way the muscles around the mouth move. So if we only use fillers, we’re addressing maybe 30% of the issue,” says Dr. Larry Fan, a board-certified plastic surgeon.

So, what are some of the treatments a plastic surgeon or other aesthetics provider might talk to you about? “For procedures that smooth wrinkles without adding bulk, microneedling and PRF (platelet-rich fibrin) work well when done properly,” says accredited master nurse injector Kiara DeWitt, RN, CPN, founder of Injectco. “Both stimulate collagen without actually filling the lips, which is the goal for someone who wants texture improvement without size increase. Combine that with a soft neuromodulator dose just around the lip border, and you can reduce vertical lines while keeping your natural shape intact.”

Laser, microneedling, Botox, medical-grade skincare, and good old sunscreen can all be helpful tools in addressing wrinkly lips, Fan says. DeWitt seconds his Botox recommendation: “Injections help, but they should be the final touch, not the first move. Movement causes wrinkles. Less movement equals smoother lips,” she says.

That is why botulinum toxin can soften vertical lines just above the lip with a micro-dose. Results last around 6 to 8 weeks and cost less than $150. When combined with hydration and smart products, you get a natural look that still moves when you talk.

Here’s a little secret, though: Before going for expensive treatments, you could try something as simple as exfoliating your lips regularly. Dead skin accumulates on the lips quickly, DeWitt says. Using a gentle lip scrub once a week could do the trick, especially if you apply a topical barrier like lanolin afterward to “trap in hydration and help your lips keep volume naturally.” Freedman’s hot tip is to just use a wet toothbrush and gently circle it over your lips a few times before applying a hydrating lip balm.

“You can lose 20 to 30 percent of lip volume just from transepidermal water loss, especially in winter. So before you spend $700 on filler, you might want to grab a $7 ointment and see what happens,” DeWitt says.