If there’s one term that has defined beauty aspirations of late, it’s the so-called “clean-girl” aesthetic. A quick scroll through TikTok reveals that this effortless-looking “no-makeup makeup look” is most commonly characterized by dewy skin, sun-blushed complexions, barely-there eye makeup and bushy brows in their most lawless form.
Kelli Anne Sewell, a celebrity makeup artist and content creator based in New York City, has popularized a new step in the clean-girl routine: a pout-enhancing trick that she’s dubbed “gym lips.”
“Gym lips [were] just a lip combination I started to wear when I was wearing basically no makeup,” Sewell told HuffPost. “I’d put on my Glowscreen and brush up my brows for the gym. I like the way my lips look when they’re over-lined, but I was finding that when I over-lined them with the lip liners that I would use for a full face of makeup, my lips would look totally overdone and there was this super stark contrast to my... no-makeup-look.”
Her solution was using a toned-down liner the exact shade of her lips to slightly over-line her natural mouth contours, then adding a glossy, nourishing lip-treatment over the lips to help blend everything together. The result, according to her was, “fuller, plump lips, perfect for anytime you want to look like you’re not wearing makeup, but still want to feel elevated.”