Hi everyone! Winter has officially started here in Seoul and my lips and hands are getting dry. Now I am one of those people who cannot live without drinking at least 11/2 to 2 litres of water and yet I get dry lips, hands and feet. I have an overall dry skin so despite my good water intake on 5 days of the week, I have to do extra steps to replenish my skin. Here are a few things I have leanrt over the years to take care of my lips. So let’s get started with my thoughts on How To Get Soft Lips in Winter.

Tips for Lip Care

1. Apply a lip balm with an SPF during the day. Lips have the thinnest layer of “skin” over them so sun can burn them easily.
2. Exfoliate your lips at least once a week to strip off the layer of rough and dry skin over the lips.
3. Drink water throughout the day because if your body is dehydrated, your lips will be first to dry out.
4. Do NOT lick or bite your lips. It will dry out and damage your lips even more!
5. Use an enriching (SPF free) lip balm at night. Choose a lip balm with Vitamin E or vegetable oils.
6. Remove your makeup before going to bed at night. Pay attention to wiping off any lip color residue on your lips. Otherwise this residue may dry out your lips and lead to darkening of lips.
7. Lipsticks and other lip products like lipliners and glosses come with a shelf life of usually a year. So keep cleaning your makeup collection and get rid of expired products. (Note to self – do this today!) Throw out lipsticks you haven’t used in over 6 months.
Home remedies/Simple lip care products:

Lip Scrubs

Homemade lip scrub
1. Mix 1/2 tsp of coconut/almond/olive oil with 3 pinches of powdered sugar. Rub it lightly on the lips. Wash off with water (preferably lukewarm water).
You can also replace the oils with milk. This is the best lip scrub recipe and will leave you with super soft moisturized lips. I love doing this little treatment at night.
2. (For busy bees) Put 2 pinches of powdered sugar on your palm, lightly touch the tip of your stick lip balm (like Maybelline baby lips or Nivea etc. lip balm) to get some sugar particles on it and then scrub your lips.
Or
Buy a lip scrub and follow directions (which are pretty simple). I have heard many good things about Lush’s lip scrub but have never used it myself. Check it out if you want to.
One thing I would like to mention is that please do not lick your lips and eat the scrub residue. Take a minute and wash it off. Do you really want to eat the dead skin from your lips? No matter how natural the lip scrub recipe is, wash it off.
Did I say wash it off?
Yes. Wash it off.

Lip Mask recipes

I see lip masks in the Korean beauty brand stores and wonder why someone would need it. But sometimes due to medication (or smoking) lips can dry out a lot and develop cracks. In such conditions using a lip mask may help.
Home-made lip mask
Rub 2-3 petals of rose and mix it in a 3-4 of drops of milk. Apply on the the entire lips area and leave on for 20 minutes. For extra nourishment, replace milk with milk cream/butter. You will see the change within 5 days of doing it daily!

Ayurvedic remedy

– Apply coconut/olive/almond/sesame oil in your navel before going to sleep. Your lips will get softer within 2 days.

Fake Healthy lips

Sometimes we are so busy that we have no time for extensive pampering sessions. So fake healthy/pink lips by applying a tinted (pink) lip balm and dabbing it with your finger to remove the shine (that is exactly what I did in the pic above)!

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I hope these tips were helpful. I follow my own advice from time to time because I have all this knowledge but sometimes I get lazy and forget to take care of myself. This post has given me a much needed kick and I am going to follow these tips this winter! How are you going to care of your lips this winter?