Do you want to pucker up to Billy Bob Thornton or Brad Pitt?

We can’t prove it’s her lips that land her all the celebrity hotties, but you can’t deny that Angelina Jolie has one of the most popular pouts in Hollywood. Having luscious lips is a dream for many women, and with the right tips you can get the same look in minutes.

Plump Lips are Popular

With the right makeup, you can transform your lips into one of the most striking features on your face. Ms. Jolie’s lips are so iconic that they’ve been the focus of several movie posters, like the 2008 film Changeling, where she played the lead role.

According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, getting lips like Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johansson is one of the most common celebrity-look-alike requests for plastic surgery patients. A scientific study even found fuller, firmer lips may make us appear younger – it’s a genetic trait that reaches its peak when men and women are in their young adult years.

Scientists and Hollywood seem to be in agreement that a plump pucker is a sign of youth and beauty, and the cosmetics industry has several ways for you to keep that look even in your later years.

Plump Lip Tips: Makeup

In an article for TotalBeauty, editor Sharon Yi shared with readers what she learned from the Napoleon Perdis Makeup Academy in Hollywood, CA regarding those Jolie-worthy lips. All you need is a few standard makeup tools.

What you’ll need:

• base foundation;
• white eyeliner pencil;
• matching lip pencil and lipstick;
• lip brush; and
• lip gloss.

Start with a small amount of foundation applied to your entire lip. This helps create a uniform color on your lips and allows you to see your natural lip lines.

After you have a clean canvas, use a white eyeliner pencil to softly feather over your natural lip contours. You can also use the pencil to make your lips appear fuller by drawing past your natural lip line. After you’ve defined your lines, use a lip pencil color that matches your lipstick hue and retrace the white lines.

Apply your preferred shade of lipstick with a lip brush using a downward motion starting from the Cupid’s bow (dip in the center of your upper lip) and working out to each corner of your mouth. Return to the center of your lower lip to make an even application of lipstick and create a smooth surface.

Finally, add a light shade of base foundation to your new lip line and blend it into your natural skin tone with a lip brush. Remember that when choosing your lipstick color, lighter shades reflect light and help give your lips a fuller appearance. A secret used for the Victoria’s Secret Angels is to apply a small dab of gloss to the upper part of your cupid’s bow and to the center of your bottom lip to help give a highlight to your lips and create more depth.

Plump Lip Tips: Medical Solutions

Chemical lip plumpers are a new wave of products to fill up the makeup aisle in recent years. Hit the beauty section of your local pharmacy and you’ll find several brands to choose from that all garner different results. Because these are chemicals, it’s important to start out light and make sure your skin can handle the ingredients.

Lip plumpers are chemical stimulants that irritate the sensitive skin of the lips to make them appear plump and full by drawing more blood to the area. When choosing a lip plumper cream or gel, remember that the effects will be temporary. Read the labels carefully to see what they’re made with and how long they claim to last.

If you’re preparing for an entire day of full-lip beauty, look for a long-lasting plumper or one that you can reapply during the day. If it’s just a hot date night, you can usually get by with one that lasts a few hours.

You might also opt for minimally-invasive injectable fillers like Restylane or Juvederm. Different fillers may use different ingredients to provide fuller lips such as hyaluronic acid, collagen and more. Lip implants involve the insertion of natural or synthetic material through small incisions. Implant procedures may require a longer recovery period than injectable treatments.

Plump Lip Tips: Natural Plumpers

There are plenty of chemical-free, natural ways to stimulate your lips and make them appear fuller. Physical exercises like whistling for 2-5 minutes a day can result in pouty, plump lips if you make it a habit.

Lightly biting your lips may prove helpful as well. It is what they used to do in Victorian times! In fact, women went even further than that in the 1800s. Beauty, What It Is and How to Retain It, originally printed in 1873, states, “Paint is used, we believe, by some absurd women, on the lips – we need scarcely say to their ultimate injury and always at the user’s peril.” Looks like the quest for a perfect pout transcends generations.

Next time you’re grocery shopping, skip the makeup aisle and head to the produce section instead. Plants like peppermint and ginger are not only good for stimulating blood flow when applied to the lips, they also taste better than many chemical products! You can purchase peppermint oil in most natural food stores, and fresh ginger is easy to grab at your local supermarket.

Honey is another common natural lip plumper that may already be in your pantry. You could also try cinnamon oil. Just apply a light layer over the lips of whichever you choose.

Whether you’re going for a temporary lip boost or you want a long-term pouty pucker, there are plenty of options to try when you’re going for that Angelina look. With more celebrity names being added to the luscious lip list every year, you may want to take a moment to check out your own mouth and see where a little lip liner could give you a movie star smile!