Anne Hathaway's Viral Lip Plumping Hack Requires No Extra Products (Just A Hair Pin)

When it comes to lips, our society seems to believe that the plumper, the better. Some people are willing to drop hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on lip injections, and even those who don't go that far aren't above things like the lip liner hack that mimics a lip flip. But why are full lips so desirable? One word: youth. According to a 2023 study published in Aesthetic Surgery Journal, pouty puckers are associated with youth and beauty in all genders — and we all know our culture is obsessed with youth, making plump lips a highly-coveted feature.

But even those with naturally full lips can have a day where their lips aren't as plump as usual and need a little kick. Recently Anne Hathaway took to TikTok to share her hack for plumping up her lips when they're not as full as she'd like them to be. How does the Oscar-winning actress get her lips photo-ready? By stimulating them with a hairpin "to get some blood flow back there, to get some circulation," she explained in the video. While she admitted that everyone in the room looked at her like she had three heads when she did this, Hathaway is definitely on to something. Sure, tapping your lips can breathe life back into a "wilted" lip, but its effects are short-lived and, like all things, you need to be wary about how you approach this technique.

First of all, get yourself a hairpin. If you think you can substitute the hairpin with something else, you are mistaken. Your instrument must be ultra-light so you can avoid getting carried away and hurting yourself — your lips are a pretty sensitive area. Then, it's about tapping along the lip for no longer than 30 seconds and doing so very gently. You are, after all, just trying to stimulate circulation and not draw blood.

While Hathaway only does her upper lip in the video that doesn't mean your bottom lip is off-limits. So if you think that one needs some plumping, use the tapping technique along there too. Again, don't do it longer than 30 seconds and if your lip becomes irritated at any point, stop immediately. Everyone has different sensitivity levels and if you're someone whose lips are easily upset by any sort of poking and prodding, then this might not be the best route for you. Remember: overlining your lips is always an option.

For starters, as much as this hack may give you plumper lips in the moment, it's not going to last. If you want a fuller look that's going to extend beyond 20 minutes or so, then you want to look into getting lip fillers which can last a year or more, depending on what the injections contain.

Secondly, if you're thinking this sounds ridiculous, there's actually some pretty basic science to back it up: increased blood circulation anywhere in the body results in fuller, healthier-looking results. Hence the reason why we so often hear about how important good circulation is, especially as we get older. The need for proper circulation might even contribute to the recent interest in the benefits of gua sha. In fact, there are gua sha techniques designed specifically to plump the lips through nothing but stimulating circulation. "Like anything that brings circulation to the lips, it doesn't last forever," holistic facialist Britta Plug told Byrdie. "But it does help to preserve the youthfulness of the lips over time because you're ideally stimulating circulation on a daily or regular basis." The more you know, right?

Full lips aren't for everyone and not everyone likes the look. But if you're someone who prefers a little short-lived lip boost, then give Anne Hathaway's lip hack a try.