When we speak, fo­cus is drawn to our lips and it is there­fore es­sen­tial to main­tain healthy and good-look­ing lips. More­over, sup­ple, well nour­ished, and soft lips make you nat­u­ral­ly and ex­cep­tion­al­ly at­trac­tive and sen­su­al.

Tips for the lips

• Healthy, soft and plump lips are ob­tained by main­tain­ing and in­creas­ing the mois­ture con­tent. The best way to en­sure your lips are well hy­drat­ed is to en­sure high in­take of wa­ter on a dai­ly ba­sis (min­i­mum of 8 glass­es or 64 ounces).

• Avoid the urge to lick your lips when they are dry as sali­va acts on­ly as a tem­po­rary mois­tur­is­ing so­lu­tion but even­tu­al­ly caus­es more harm as it caus­es dry­ness.

• Prod­ucts which in­clude in­gre­di­ents such as co­coa but­ter or Shea but­ter and vi­t­a­min E, are good sources of mois­ture.

• Ex­fo­li­at­ing is very im­por­tant in get­ting bet­ter re­sults as dead cells are re­moved and the skin is clean and ready for mois­tur­is­ing. Ex­fo­li­a­tion can be done nat­u­ral­ly by us­ing a soft tooth­brush (dif­fer­ent from the one you use for your teeth) to gen­tly, scrub your lips in cir­cu­lar move­ments. An­oth­er method is by first moist­en­ing your lips and then ap­ply­ing sug­ar or salt us­ing your fin­ger and mov­ing light­ly in small ro­ta­tions. Do not use salt if you have cuts or wounds.

• There are many cos­met­ics such as lip balms, chap sticks or lip creams that are avail­able to help you get soft lips. Here, too, it is im­por­tant you ap­ply these prod­ucts by ei­ther us­ing your fin­ger, or gen­tly dab­bing in cir­cu­lar mo­tions to get a good out­come.

• Mar­garine (but­ter) and hon­ey (on­ly pure hon­ey) are good prod­ucts for mois­tur­is­ing too. Take a small amount of but­ter or hon­ey and ap­ply it gen­tly with your fin­ger in tiny ro­ta­tions. Leave it on for one or two min­utes and wipe it clean with a soft tow­el or tis­sue. You could re­peat this if re­quired.

But­ter gives your lips that sheen and lush tex­ture while hon­ey adds to the plump­ness of your lips. You can al­so use co­conut juice, rose milk, olive oil, or ba­by oil in a sim­i­lar fash­ion to get ra­di­ant and healthy lips.

• At night, be­fore you sleep ap­ply two lay­ers of crème or pe­tro­le­um jel­ly such as Vase­line. Gen­tly mas­sage a lay­er in ro­tat­ing mo­tions and then ap­ply a thick­er lay­er on top. The sec­ond lay­er will be ab­sorbed dur­ing the night and will help in­crease mois­ture con­tent.

• It is im­por­tant to note that prod­ucts over a year old, cheap prod­ucts or shar­ing of prod­ucts may pass on bac­te­ria to your lips, which may be harm­ful. (lifestyle.ilovein­dia.com)