The Simple Hack That'll Keep Your Lipstick Off Your Teeth And On Your Lips

Women wearing lipstick can be traced back at least 5,500 years ago to ancient Sumerian Queen Schub-ad, who used "white lead and crushed red rocks" to bring some color to her lips, according to Food and Drug Law Journal. Another ancient queen who was a fan of lipstick was Cleopatra, who got the red tint of her lipstick from carmine — the red dye derived from crushed insects is still used in many cosmetics today. Fast forward to Queen Elizabeth I; she loved wearing heavy red lipstick. Red lipstick definitely has a powerful history.

Through the millennia, lipstick or lip tint of some kind has been around and depending on the culture and the era, it's been seen as both amoral by some and empowering by others, per CNN. Now you can find hundreds of lipstick options in all colors of the rainbow and a variety of finishes from matte to glossy — if you're feeling overwhelmed with choices next time you're at the makeup counter, here's the best lipstick color for your skin tone. And when you head out into the world wearing that chosen lipstick, you want to feel confident and beautiful. You don't want to have that unsettling feeling in the back of your mind that you might have lipstick on your teeth. But fear not — there are ways to keep your lipstick where it belongs.

Lipstick is one of the last things that you do in your makeup routine, via L'Oreal Paris USA. But before you walk away from your mirror, make sure that lipstick stays on your lips and doesn't end up on your teeth. Here's how. Right after you finish putting on your lipstick, put your index finger into your mouth, close your lips, and pull the finger back out. Ta-da! The lipstick that could have most easily ended up on your teeth is now on your finger, as noted by Byrdie. 

There's another step you can take before the index finger trick to help keep your teeth free from any errant lip color. Makeup artist Melissa Van Dijk recommends using your index fingers to wipe the corners of your lips from the outside in, which helps keep lipstick off your teeth and from smudging, via YouTube. You can also blot your lips on a tissue before doing the index finger trick as an additional way to remove excess product, per Cosmopolitan. Use a light touch with the blotting so you don't ruin all the work you just put into doing your lips.

Makeup artist Florrie White, who has worked with celebs like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, is a fan of the index finger technique for protecting your pearly whites from your lipstick. She told Good Housekeeping the likely cause for getting lipstick on your teeth: putting on too much. So along with the index finger hack, White suggests using lip liner all over your lips and not just along the lip line. "The lip liner is a great foundation for the lipstick," White explained, "and you will also use less lipstick." Go into the whole lipstick application process with an eye toward using less product by using a lip brush, according to Proarte. And help ensure that your lipstick stays in place by setting it with translucent powder, via L'Oreal Paris USA.

For another potential layer of lipstick to teeth protection, you could spread a bit of petroleum jelly on your teeth pre-lipstick application to keep them safe from color, per Glamour South Africa. And don't forget to drink with a straw. If you still keep finding yourself with lipstick on your teeth, consider swapping it for a long-lasting lipstick designed to remain only where you put it, or try out a lipstick sealer.