“I have a lipstick tree growing in my stomach,” complained the on-camera female news anchor to me one morning in the makeup room. “And the ultra-dry, matte, never-come-off-no-matter-what lipsticks make me look like I’ve eaten chalk. What do you suggest?”

As a perpetual lip chewer, I have at least 10 lipstick trees growing in my stomach from years of constant reapplication. Having said that, I have some savvy strategies to help you benefit from my waisted efforts.

You can make your lipstick stay put with a couple extra steps in the morning! Here are my top four steps to keep your lipstick in place.

Keep ‘Em Dry, Girl

Having beautiful, shiny, sexy lips is a wonderful idea. It’s such a wonderful idea that we spend millions of dollars every year buying tubes of the shiny, glittery, fabulous stuff, only to have it drool its way down to our navels or land in our stomach. It’s a sad fact of life that anything glossy will slide down your face!

Lipsticks stick on dry lips that have had every ounce of sexy juiciness removed, and then reapplied with whatever color you desire, and even a gloss if you provide a barrier so help it stick.

To start, wipe off every last vestige of Chapstick or hydration from your lips. If you live in a humid climate, you will want to do an even more thorough job of this.

For those of us in dry climates, this will feel a bit odd and uncomfortable, as you probably have Chapsticks stashed all over the house, your purse, car, etc.

Foundation and Powder

After drying your lips as much as possible, take your foundation and apply an even amount all over your lips. Be sure to wipe the product around the outside of your lips as well, as this will help prevent the lipstick from slipping into fine lines around your mouth.

My favorite foundation is Jane Iredale Liquid Minerals foundation, a light to medium foundation made specifically for mature skin. I do not recommend that older women use a full coverage foundation or foundation powder on their face, as it has a tendency to set in fine lines and look overly made up.

Once you have the foundation on your lips, add a translucent powder to help set the foundation and give the lipstick something to grab onto. You can use a powder brush, cotton, Q-tips, or even your finger to apply the powder.

Use a Lipliner

By now, your lips should be the same color as your face and look, well, weird. At this point, we are ready to use lipliner to not only provide a barrier so that your lipstick doesn’t run into fine lines, but also so that your lipstick looks cleaner and professional.

Taking a liner that is the same color or one shade darker than your lipstick, follow the natural outline of your lips. If you want your lips to look fuller, then go slightly outside your lip-line, but be careful, it’s easy to look a little crazy if you go too far.

Personally speaking, I’m going for pretty, soft, sexy lips, not crazy-I-went-too-far-with-my-lip-line lips.

What Type of Lipstick Stays Put?

If you have ever tried a matte lipstick, you might have had the same experience as the news woman I mentioned above who said it felt like chalk. The only way to know if matte lipsticks are for you is to try one and see how it feels, but I can say that it greatly depends on the brand.

For example, one very expensive brand of matte lipstick I tried stained my lips for hours but also dried them out to the point that it was uncomfortable.

For me, the happy medium is to use a satin texture lipstick and dry out my lips as I explained, but you might find a brand of matte that you like and are happy with. If that’s the case, then please tell us in the comments section!

In my demonstration I use a Jane Iredale Triple Luxe Long Lasting Lipstick called Tania, a soft bubble-gum pink color. I love this color; it’s creamy and stays put on my lips!

Bonus Tip: Once you’ve applied the lipstick, put a dash more powder on top of it and then reapply the lipstick. This is a layering technique that I use on brides, and it really works!

What have you tried to keep your lipstick on your lips? Which techniques have worked? Please share any brands that work especially well for you.