Great lips start with healthy lip care.  I often work on lips that are too dry and chapped.  The lips, just like the skin need moisture.  If you are like most people, and weather or just lack of time have resulted in chapped uneven lips here is a tip I use.

1. Apply a heavy application of Vaseline.
2. Let the Vaseline sit on the lips for 10 minutes or so.
3. Use a toothbrush and scrub the lips until all the dead skin has been removed.

Powder lipstick with 1 ply tissue

Once you have your lips smooth and have applied that perfect shade of lipstick, how can you make the color last.  There are many tricks for this one but one that works great for me is to:

1. Separate a sheet of tissue into 1-ply. 
2. Place the tissue over your lips.
3. Dust some translucent powder (even baby powder works) with a powder brush over the tissue.
4. Gently peel the tissue off of your lips.

This should set your lipstick and give you longer wearing power.  You can repeat this step twice if necessary. Also lining your lips and filling them in with the color will prolong your color as well.

Loose color powder

To finish off that perfect lip nothing beats a fabulous lip gloss.  There are so many great colors out there but most cosmetics companies charge a lot of money for a tube of this season's shade.  A trick I use is to take a good shade of eyeshadow and mix it with a clear gloss.

1. Either put a clear lip gloss or even Vaseline on a smooth surface.
2. Gently scrape the eyeshadow into the gloss.  Make sure to scrape just the top layer so you don't break your pressed shadow.
3. Mix until you get the right shade you need.
4. Apply sparingly.

Some of the best lip glosses I've made this way.  Great colors are champagne, apricot, and rose colors. The options are unlimited!