The Marilyn Monroe Lip Technique: How Two Shades Create Fuller, More Dimensional Lips

The Marilyn Monroe lip — also called the Hollywood lip — uses two shades from the same colour family to create the illusion of fuller, more dimensional lips without filler, overlining, or any permanent change. You line and fill most of the lip with a darker pencil but deliberately leave a small oval unfilled in the centre, then place a lighter lipstick into that reserved space and blend the join. Dark recedes and light advances, so the centre appears to project forward and the lip reads rounder and fuller than it is. Nikol Johnson learned this technique during permanent-makeup training in Los Angeles in 2011, where it was standard practice for creating the appearance of a lip shape that does not exist naturally. Applied with regular makeup it is temporary and fully reversible, but the colour-theory principle is the same one tattoo artists use to sculpt dimension into a flat surface.

Key takeaways

1. The Marilyn Monroe lip technique uses two shades from the same colour family — a darker liner that fills most of the lip and a lighter lipstick placed in a reserved centre circle — to create the optical illusion of fuller, more dimensional lips.
2. The technique works because of basic colour theory: dark tones recede and light tones advance, so the lighter centre appears to project forward the way a naturally full lip catches light at its highest point.
3. Both shades must come from the same colour family — deep red with light red, deep nude with light nude — because mixing families creates two separate colours rather than one seamless, dimensional lip.
4. Gloss goes only on the lighter centre circle, not across the whole lip, because glossing everything flattens the contrast between the two shades and undoes the dimension you just built.
5. Exfoliating and priming before you start is non-negotiable because the entire effect depends on clean gradients, and dry patches or uneven texture will catch the pencil and break the blend.
6. This technique works on any lip shape — thin, uneven, or volume-depleted — because it manipulates where light falls rather than adding physical size, and the centre circle adjusts to your own proportions.

Where does the Marilyn Monroe lip technique come from?

Nikol studied permanent makeup in Los Angeles in 2011, and this two-shade technique was already standard practice in the studios there. In her training it was called the Hollywood lip — the Marilyn Monroe name attached later and is probably how the technique entered mainstream beauty vocabulary. The permanent-makeup origin matters because the method was built by tattoo artists who needed to create the appearance of a lip shape that does not exist naturally, using only pigment and placement. That is a harder problem than regular makeup faces, because tattoo pigment cannot be blended or removed in real time the way lipstick can.

Nikol's reason for training in permanent makeup is worth knowing: she disliked the permanent makeup she saw on clients walking into her esthetics studio. It looked like permanent makeup rather than like natural features. So she trained specifically to do it so well that it would not be recognisable as a procedure. She stopped seeing permanent-makeup clients in 2020, but the techniques — including this one — came with her into her makeup practice and her teaching.

Why does the two-shade technique make lips look fuller?

The mechanism is straightforward colour theory rather than any kind of trick. Darker tones read as further away from the viewer. Lighter tones read as closer. When you place depth around the perimeter of the lip and light in the centre, the eye interprets the centre as projecting toward it. That is exactly what a naturally full lip does — it catches light at its highest, most projected point and falls into shadow at the edges where it curves back toward the face.

You are reproducing the light behaviour rather than the volume. The lip is not physically fuller, but the eye cannot easily separate real volume from the light pattern associated with real volume. This is the same principle that makes contouring reshape the nose — dark on the sides, light down the centre — and it works on lips for the same reason. The key is that both shades must be in the same colour family so the gradient reads as a single three-dimensional surface rather than two separate colours sitting next to each other.

How do you apply the Marilyn Monroe lip step by step?

1. Exfoliate the lips. Use a lip scrub or a simple sugar scrub you make yourself. Dry lips catch the pencil unevenly and the entire effect depends on clean, smooth gradients. If you plan ahead, applying a Dream Melt Lip Mask the night before does the same job overnight.
2. Prime both lips. Apply Eye Primer directly to the lips — it functions as both an eye and lip primer. This neutralises your natural lip colour so both shades read true rather than mixing with whatever is underneath. Without priming, the lighter centre shade will be altered by your natural pigment and the contrast will not be clean enough.
3. Line and fill with the darker pencil. Using a waterproof lip liner, draw the lip border and then fill the colour inward from the edges across both the upper and lower lip. Deliberately leave a small oval unfilled in the centre of each lip. Think of it as reserving a circle in the middle — this is the space where the lighter shade will go. Most people under-fill at this stage. You want the darker shade covering roughly 70-80 percent of the lip surface.
4. Place the lighter shade in the reserved centre. Apply a lipstick that is several shades lighter than the liner, from the same colour family, into the reserved oval. Deep red liner gets a lighter red centre. Deep nude liner gets a lighter nude centre. Do not mix families — a red liner with a pink centre gives you two colours, not one dimensional lip.
5. Blend the join between the two shades. Use a fingertip or a small lip brush to soften where the darker and lighter shades meet. The goal is a seamless gradient with no visible ring or hard boundary. On mature lips, this blending step matters most — a sharp line between the two shades reads as a mistake rather than as dimension.
6. Gloss the centre only. Dab a small amount of Manifest Glow Lip Gloss on the lighter centre circle and nowhere else. The gloss adds the final highlight that completes the illusion of projection. Glossing the entire lip flattens everything you just built because it equalises the light across both zones.

Which shade pairings work best for this technique?

The rule is simple: both shades from the same colour family, separated by a few levels of depth. The darker shade is always the liner that fills the perimeter; the lighter shade is always the lipstick that fills the centre. The further apart the two shades are in depth, the more dramatic the dimensional effect. For daytime, keep the gap subtle. For evening or photography, widen it.

For the darker base layer, the Waterproof Lip Liner Pencils give the precision and staying power the technique demands. For the lighter centre, pick from the lipstick collection — a NIKRAY Shiny Velvet Cream Lipstick or any cream formula that blends easily. If lipstick tends to travel on you, apply a Crystal Clear Stay Put Liner underneath everything as a feathering barrier before you begin the two-shade layering.

Does this technique work on thin or mature lips?

Yes, and for a specific reason: the technique manipulates where light falls rather than adding physical size. A thin lip, an uneven lip, a lip that has lost volume with age — the mechanism is the same in every case, because you are painting light behaviour onto the surface rather than building up dimension underneath it. The centre circle adjusts to your own proportions. On thinner lips the reserved oval is smaller; on fuller lips it is larger. The ratio stays roughly the same — about 20-30 percent of the lip surface reserved for the lighter shade — but the absolute size scales to your anatomy.

On mature lips, the blending step becomes especially important. Fine lines and a less defined lip border mean that a hard boundary between the two shades will look like a mistake rather than like intentional dimension. Spend extra time softening the join, and consider using a lip brush rather than a fingertip for more control over where the gradient falls. The primer step also matters more on mature lips because it gives the lipstick something to grip on a surface that may have less natural moisture and texture to hold pigment in place.

Why does gloss placement make or break the look?

Gloss is the finishing element that completes the illusion, but only when it goes in the right place. A dab of gloss on the lighter centre circle amplifies the highlight — it catches and reflects light exactly where you want the eye to perceive projection. The effect is the same as a catchlight in a portrait photograph: a small, bright point that the brain reads as dimension and forward movement.

Glossing the entire lip destroys this precision because it puts the same reflective surface on both the dark and light zones. That equalises the light across the whole lip, flattens the contrast you built, and turns your two-shade dimensional work into a single-shade glossy lip. The whole-lip gloss also softens the darker edges, which is the opposite of what you want — you need those edges to read as receding. If you like a glossy finish in general, keep it for looks where you are wearing a single shade. For the Marilyn Monroe technique, gloss is a targeted highlight, not a finishing coat.

What mistakes ruin the Marilyn Monroe lip?

1. Only outlining instead of filling. The most common error. The technique requires the darker shade to cover 70-80 percent of the lip, not just the border. Outlining alone gives you a ring of colour with bare lip in the middle, which is the opposite of the dimensional effect.
2. Mixing colour families between the two shades. A red liner with a pink lipstick centre creates two separate colours, not a gradient. Both shades must share the same colour family — red with red, nude with nude, plum with plum — so the eye reads one seamless, three-dimensional surface.
3. Making the centre circle too large. If the lighter zone covers more than about 30 percent of the lip, the proportions flip and the "projection" reads as a blob of lighter colour rather than a natural-looking highlight. Start small and expand only if needed.
4. Skipping the blend between the two shades. A visible ring where dark meets light reads as a mistake on any lip, and on mature lips it is especially unflattering. Blend with a fingertip or lip brush until the transition is seamless.
5. Glossing the entire lip instead of just the centre. Whole-lip gloss equalises the light, flattens the contrast, and undoes the dimension. The gloss is a targeted highlight on the lighter zone only.
6. Applying over dry, unexfoliated lips. The pencil catches on dry patches and the gradient breaks. Exfoliate first, prime second, then start the colour work on a smooth, neutral canvas.
7. Expecting it to look right on the first try. Your lip shape, proportions, and bone structure are not the same as anyone else's. The size and placement of the centre circle need adjusting to your face. If the first attempt looks strange, change the circle size and try again — that is the expected learning curve.

When is the best time to wear this look?

The dimensional effect reads particularly well in photographs, which is exactly why it came out of Hollywood studios and permanent-makeup clinics. Any occasion where a camera is involved — a wedding, a graduation, a formal event, professional headshots — is a natural fit. The technique translates into photographs as naturally fuller lips because the camera captures the light-and-shadow pattern the same way the human eye does in person, and the flat, compressed perspective of a photograph actually amplifies the dimensional illusion.

That said, the look has no rules about when you can wear it. The invisible-effort version — deep nude liner with light nude centre — is subtle enough for a Tuesday morning, and the only person who will know you used two shades is you. The classic Hollywood red version is bold enough for any evening event. Start with whichever pairing matches occasions you actually have coming up, and practice at home before you need it. The technique rewards repetition, and the adjustments you make to fit your own lip shape are the ones that make it look natural rather than like a method you saw online.

The bottom line

The Marilyn Monroe lip is a permanent-makeup technique translated into regular makeup: two shades from the same family, darker on the outside and lighter in the centre, with gloss targeted only on the lighter zone. It creates the illusion of fuller, more dimensional lips by reproducing the way light behaves on a naturally full lip — dark at the receding edges, bright at the highest point. The technique works on any lip shape because it manipulates light rather than size, and the centre circle scales to your own proportions. Exfoliate, prime, fill the perimeter dark, reserve the centre light, blend the join, gloss the highlight, and expect to adjust. Practice before an event, not at the event. Start with a waterproof lip liner for the darker base, pick a lighter lipstick from the same colour family, prep with Eye Primer on the lips, and finish with a dab of Manifest Glow Lip Gloss on the centre only.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Marilyn Monroe lip technique?

It is a two-shade method where you line and fill most of the lip with a darker pencil, leave a small oval unfilled in the centre, then place a lighter lipstick from the same colour family into that space and blend the join. Dark recedes and light advances, so the centre appears to project and the lip reads fuller and more dimensional.

Do you fill in the whole lip with the darker liner?

Almost all of it — roughly 70-80 percent. Fill from the edges inward but deliberately reserve a small circle in the middle of both lips for the lighter shade. Simply outlining the border without filling inward does not create the dimensional effect.

What two colours should you use together?

A darker liner and a lighter lipstick from the same colour family, separated by a few levels of depth. Deep red with light red, deep nude with light nude, plum with lighter berry. Mixing families — red liner with pink centre — gives you two separate colours rather than one seamless gradient.

Does this technique work on thin lips?

Yes. It manipulates where light falls rather than adding physical volume, so it transfers to any lip shape including thin, uneven, or age-depleted lips. You adjust the size of the centre circle to your own proportions — smaller on thinner lips, larger on fuller ones.

Where exactly do you apply the gloss?

Only on the lighter centre circle, not across the whole lip. The gloss is a targeted highlight that amplifies the illusion of projection at the centre. Glossing the entire lip equalises the light, flattens the contrast, and undoes the dimension you built.

Why do you need to prime the lips first?

Priming neutralises your natural lip colour so both shades read true instead of mixing with the pigment underneath. Without primer, the lighter centre shade will be altered by your natural lip colour and the contrast will not be clean enough to create the dimensional effect.

Is this only for special occasions?

It reads beautifully in photographs, which makes it ideal for weddings, formal events, and headshots. But a subtle version using deep nude and light nude is wearable any day. There are no rules about when to use it — the invisible-effort pairing is subtle enough for everyday if you enjoy the technique.

How long does it take to learn this technique?

Expect the first attempt to look a little off. Your lip shape and proportions are unique, so the size and placement of the centre circle need adjusting to your face. Most people find their version after two or three practice sessions. Practice at home before an event, not at the event.

Can you use this technique with any lip liner?

A waterproof formula works best because the liner must hold its position while you layer the lighter shade and blend. A soft, waxy liner can smear when you add the centre colour and lose the contrast. Waterproof lip liner pencils give the precision and stability the technique demands.

What if the two shades look like separate colours instead of a gradient?

Either the shades are from different colour families, or you have not blended the join enough. Switch to shades within the same family, and spend more time softening where the dark and light zones meet. The gradient should look seamless — if you can see a hard line between them, keep blending until you cannot.