monecel
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I am not sure if there is a full post on optimal lip shape anywhere in detail, but I thought I would make this anyways as I may have some unique viewpoints others don't. One of the least discussed aspects of a holistically coherent face is proper lip shape. Most people only discuss how big/tall the lips are, but there are many more details that make them look ideal.
First, it is important to make a distinction between lips in men and women. First, Men's lips tend to be thinner than women's lips, with fuller, plumper lips being associated with a more feminine look (usually). Second, the philtrum distance in men is usually larger, leading to a different vertical position to women. Third, the top lip in men is smaller than the bottom more often than compared to women.
In women, even lip height is more ideal, but in men, having a smaller upper lip is generally better for facial aesthetics. The reason for this is most likely because it appears more feminine (as equal lip height is seen more in women), and in men with highly androgenic features, they tend to have very small upper lips and lips in general. This actually can be a downside of high birth testosterone levels, as thin lips are not optimal either (compared to equal lip heights).
The difference is only slight, but in addition to other aesthetic features of the lips, it builds up.
Another factor that contributes to lip shape is philtrum prominance. It is generally good to have a philtrum with prominance and width within the normal range. A smooth philtrum (seen in fetal alcohol syndrome) looks strange on its own, but it also means that the two forces (sides of the philtrum) which usually pull the lips upward to create the two upper peaks are not there, causing a nonexistant Cupid's Bow. This can cause the lips heighest point to be right in the middle rather than equally on two points, which universally looks bad. It also can cause a receded maxilla look.
Philtrum shape and prominance is relatively hard to change. Fillers are not selective enough to create a natural look, and also fillers won't cause the vertical pulling that the philtrum naturally has ("Cupid's Bow"), meaning lip shape would be fixed.
Another factor to lip aesthetics is the upper lip gradient to the lip edges (technically the Vermillion border height gradient to the Oral Commissures). The lip height should be heighest at each peak of the Cupid's Bow, and should have a smooth decreasing height until the edge of each side of the mouth. One factor that can improve lip aesthetics is when the upper lip completes before the Oral Comissure. When this happens, a slight "upturned look" at each edge of the mouth happens and it generally is regarded as a desired feature.
You can see this effect on the faces of models and generally attractive people. For women, this feature seems to matter less, and comes more down to preference. Fuller lips can remove this "early end" to the Oral Comissure, which in men may be undesirable. That is why it is ideal for lip fullness to ideally occur below each peak of the Cupid's Bow (center of the lips) rather than equally throughout the lips.
This change in lip shape towards each edge is part why lip fillers look so unnatural.
Here is an example of a lack of the "early end" feature in a case of lip fillers. You can see that the top of the upper lip (Vermillion Border) is more arched than what is ideal. Some prefer this aesthetic to thinner lips with the "early end" feature, however naturally full lips containing this feature always look better.
Another problem with lip fillers is the unnatural raising of above the Vermillion Border (Lower Philtrum). This seems to happen because filler is not selective enough for the lip, and escapes to part of the philtrum. The effect this has is that non-lip skin becomes raised, and it gives the same kind of look that happens if you suck a glass/bottle until there is a vaccum to make your lips bigger; it does not look good.
Here are examples:
In cases of over-filling, it looks even worse:
You can probably see why for the most part I am against lip fillers. Using solutions that increase "natural fullness" without worsening lip aesthetics is more optimal. I will mention this later in the post. Men using lip fillers can also give a homosexual look, firstly because gay men usually get lip fillers more than straight men, and also because it makes the lips look more feminine if the upper lip is equal in height to the lower.
Regarding lip width, lip width is normally compared next to nose shape, where the base should ideally be the same as the intercanthal width (e.g of a width between each medial commissure of the eyes to about the same width as the intraorbital distance.)
Mouth width should ideally be 1.3-1.7x the width of the nose for an optimal look (my judgement based on models), and this should match the IPD of the eyes.
In addition, total mouth height (measure from peaks to bottom) should be within a specific range to be optimal. Lower third height should be ~2.5−3.7x total lip height to be optimal.
An additional element which controls lip aesthetics is underlying bone structure. The most prominant bone structure that affects lip shape is the maxilla. If the maxilla is receded, over-wide (shoutout MSE ogres), or over-projected (rare), then it will cause the lips to look strange.
Maxilla structure is complex, but in simple terms, the angle between the start of the nose and philtrum should be forward projected, and never larger than 90 degrees.
A well structured maxilla will also usually make the upper lip more prominant and slightly more forward than the lower. This is an aesthetic feature to have, and also improves side profile:
These features combined, and when optimised, will improve facial aesthetics and the holistic look of the face.
For increasing lip fullness, fillers should nearly always be avoided in my opinion. Using topical volufilline and Hexapeptide-38 selectively on the lip/s that need enhancement is better from experiences I have seen, and seems to cause less Vermillion Border raising (which is unwanted). A novel method of increasing lip height / apparent fullness is using plasma fibroblasts vertically above/below the lips. It causes increased skin tightness, which is able to pull the lips, increasing lip height.
For mouth width, a wider-than-normal mouth is pretty rare, but in such a case there isn't that much that can be done. For a smaller-than-normal mouth however, a mouth widening device can be used like the one below. They can be found online on stores such as aliexpress. Using such a device may require consistent use however.
For lips that are too big (such as in cases where the upper lip is bigger than the bottom or lower third is less than 2.5x the height of the lips), lip reduction can be done but it is more difficult than increasing lip size. Topically-viable compounds that reduce fat storage without causing damage are likely suitable for this, but it is outside of my expertise.
PDO threads can also be used to improve lip aesthetics, but they should be used carefully, as some results have problems similar to lip fillers.
I hope this guide was useful, and let me know your thoughts below.
Thanks
First, it is important to make a distinction between lips in men and women. First, Men's lips tend to be thinner than women's lips, with fuller, plumper lips being associated with a more feminine look (usually). Second, the philtrum distance in men is usually larger, leading to a different vertical position to women. Third, the top lip in men is smaller than the bottom more often than compared to women.
In women, even lip height is more ideal, but in men, having a smaller upper lip is generally better for facial aesthetics. The reason for this is most likely because it appears more feminine (as equal lip height is seen more in women), and in men with highly androgenic features, they tend to have very small upper lips and lips in general. This actually can be a downside of high birth testosterone levels, as thin lips are not optimal either (compared to equal lip heights).
The difference is only slight, but in addition to other aesthetic features of the lips, it builds up.
Another factor that contributes to lip shape is philtrum prominance. It is generally good to have a philtrum with prominance and width within the normal range. A smooth philtrum (seen in fetal alcohol syndrome) looks strange on its own, but it also means that the two forces (sides of the philtrum) which usually pull the lips upward to create the two upper peaks are not there, causing a nonexistant Cupid's Bow. This can cause the lips heighest point to be right in the middle rather than equally on two points, which universally looks bad. It also can cause a receded maxilla look.
Philtrum shape and prominance is relatively hard to change. Fillers are not selective enough to create a natural look, and also fillers won't cause the vertical pulling that the philtrum naturally has ("Cupid's Bow"), meaning lip shape would be fixed.
Another factor to lip aesthetics is the upper lip gradient to the lip edges (technically the Vermillion border height gradient to the Oral Commissures). The lip height should be heighest at each peak of the Cupid's Bow, and should have a smooth decreasing height until the edge of each side of the mouth. One factor that can improve lip aesthetics is when the upper lip completes before the Oral Comissure. When this happens, a slight "upturned look" at each edge of the mouth happens and it generally is regarded as a desired feature.
You can see this effect on the faces of models and generally attractive people. For women, this feature seems to matter less, and comes more down to preference. Fuller lips can remove this "early end" to the Oral Comissure, which in men may be undesirable. That is why it is ideal for lip fullness to ideally occur below each peak of the Cupid's Bow (center of the lips) rather than equally throughout the lips.
This change in lip shape towards each edge is part why lip fillers look so unnatural.
Here is an example of a lack of the "early end" feature in a case of lip fillers. You can see that the top of the upper lip (Vermillion Border) is more arched than what is ideal. Some prefer this aesthetic to thinner lips with the "early end" feature, however naturally full lips containing this feature always look better.
Another problem with lip fillers is the unnatural raising of above the Vermillion Border (Lower Philtrum). This seems to happen because filler is not selective enough for the lip, and escapes to part of the philtrum. The effect this has is that non-lip skin becomes raised, and it gives the same kind of look that happens if you suck a glass/bottle until there is a vaccum to make your lips bigger; it does not look good.
Here are examples:
In cases of over-filling, it looks even worse:
You can probably see why for the most part I am against lip fillers. Using solutions that increase "natural fullness" without worsening lip aesthetics is more optimal. I will mention this later in the post. Men using lip fillers can also give a homosexual look, firstly because gay men usually get lip fillers more than straight men, and also because it makes the lips look more feminine if the upper lip is equal in height to the lower.
Regarding lip width, lip width is normally compared next to nose shape, where the base should ideally be the same as the intercanthal width (e.g of a width between each medial commissure of the eyes to about the same width as the intraorbital distance.)
Mouth width should ideally be 1.3-1.7x the width of the nose for an optimal look (my judgement based on models), and this should match the IPD of the eyes.
In addition, total mouth height (measure from peaks to bottom) should be within a specific range to be optimal. Lower third height should be ~2.5−3.7x total lip height to be optimal.
An additional element which controls lip aesthetics is underlying bone structure. The most prominant bone structure that affects lip shape is the maxilla. If the maxilla is receded, over-wide (shoutout MSE ogres), or over-projected (rare), then it will cause the lips to look strange.
Maxilla structure is complex, but in simple terms, the angle between the start of the nose and philtrum should be forward projected, and never larger than 90 degrees.
A well structured maxilla will also usually make the upper lip more prominant and slightly more forward than the lower. This is an aesthetic feature to have, and also improves side profile:
These features combined, and when optimised, will improve facial aesthetics and the holistic look of the face.
For increasing lip fullness, fillers should nearly always be avoided in my opinion. Using topical volufilline and Hexapeptide-38 selectively on the lip/s that need enhancement is better from experiences I have seen, and seems to cause less Vermillion Border raising (which is unwanted). A novel method of increasing lip height / apparent fullness is using plasma fibroblasts vertically above/below the lips. It causes increased skin tightness, which is able to pull the lips, increasing lip height.
NOTE: if you use this approach, you may want to do more towards the center of the lips as mentioned before, to not remove the "early end" look of the lips.
For mouth width, a wider-than-normal mouth is pretty rare, but in such a case there isn't that much that can be done. For a smaller-than-normal mouth however, a mouth widening device can be used like the one below. They can be found online on stores such as aliexpress. Using such a device may require consistent use however.
For lips that are too big (such as in cases where the upper lip is bigger than the bottom or lower third is less than 2.5x the height of the lips), lip reduction can be done but it is more difficult than increasing lip size. Topically-viable compounds that reduce fat storage without causing damage are likely suitable for this, but it is outside of my expertise.
PDO threads can also be used to improve lip aesthetics, but they should be used carefully, as some results have problems similar to lip fillers.
I hope this guide was useful, and let me know your thoughts below.
Thanks
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