Blurred lips, or lips featuring feathered edges for a more “lived-in” feel, have fallen in and out of favor for years. Now, with artist Nina Park's makeup style trending on TikTok, that blurred lip look is becoming popular again. That’s the thing about the cyclical world of makeup trends: There will always be a back and forth.
Just like the shift from the ultra-shaped block brows of the 2010s to the fluffy brows of the 2020s, after the rise and fall of liquid lipstick, trends once again veered toward the converse. We swapped out neatly-lined, matte lips for glossy ones. Now, with bags full of glosses, shiny lip stains, and the like, we’ve reached yet another spike in the trend cycle thanks to a viral technique.
What Are Blurred Lips?
Blurred lips, most notably a mainstay in East Asian makeup styles, are a lip technique that ditches crisp lines for softer edges and a highlighted center, resulting in a subtle voluminous effect on the lips.
To do so, users softly blend lip liner and lipstick over the edges of their lip line to achieve a fuller, poutier mouth. It is also a mainstay in my makeup routine, because it packs a lot of punch for something that requires very little precision to pull off.
Why Are Nina Park’s Blurred Lips Viral Now?
Makeup artist Nina Park, who has worked with celebs like Addison Rae, Sadie Sink, and Kaia Gerber, established a signature blurred lip technique that has people talking. Over the past few weeks, makeup artists and beauty influencers have been creating their own versions of Park’s blurred lips all over TikTok and Instagram.
Park has a unique ability to make her clients’ lips look soft, pillowy, and most importantly, effortless. The secret is careful blending, of course, but also lip liners in shades just a hair more cool-toned and deeper than the base lip color.
“When I look at the Nina Park face, I see the client first…You see the person because they look like the best version of themselves and then realize, ‘Oh yeah, Nina probably did that makeup,’” makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes said in a video recreating Park’s technique. “That’s a ginormous compliment because to have someone look like themselves, but all the while your work is still recognizable on their face, is kind of goals.”
How to Get the Blurred Lips Look
First things first, prep your lips. A light layer of balm will do, but a little lip scrub (or even a damp towel gently rubbed onto your lips) can help prime them and remove any errant flakes before lipstick and lip liner.
Now, here’s the fun part: Using a lip liner or semi-matte lipstick that’s a shade deeper than than your natural lip color, start lining your lips. Starting with your upper lip and use a small brush (like this one) or your finger to gently blur the edges of the lip liner, focusing the color primarily on your cupid’s bow. Do the same with your bottom lip, focusing color application on the center. This will draw the eye both upward and downward, giving your lips the illusion of being juicier and poutier.
This step is optional, but using a cool-toned liner (this collection has a great color range), gently feather over your lip line. This creates a slight shadow to contour your lips, making them appear bigger — as if your lips are so large they create their own natural shadows on your face (this is the key step!).
Finally, a Nina Park lip look (or any blurred lip for that matter) wouldn’t be complete without a touch of lighter lipstick in the center. Think “popsicle lips,” but more contoured around the edges. I love Violette_Fr’s lip stains or Rom&nd’s Water Tints, which are also a favorite of Park’s. A lighter shade blended into the center of the lips acts almost like a highlight, creating contrast at the center of your lips that also helps make them look plumped (and post-popsicle).
I am fully aware this is a lot of steps for an every day makeup look. Products like Sunnie’s Face Fluff Balm or Violette_Fr’s Bisou Balm offer sheer, matte coverage that make it easy to achieve a blurred effect without all the prep (this method will however miss out on some of the depth of Nina’s multi-step looks). But hey, no matter how you get there the result will likely still elicit from strangers the famed: “What’s the lip combo???”
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