For as long as I can remember, I have been aware of the thinness of my lips. So when I became a beauty editor and started writing about injectables like Botox and facial fillers for a living, plastic surgeons and cosmetic dermatologists started flooding my inbox offering to give me lip injections to write about . It was no problem: I numbed myself, took the needles like a champ, bruised for a few days and immediately hit the roads Bumble with plump, juicy lips in tow.
Backstory: I didn’t have my first kiss until I was almost 18 years old. But I’ve been making up for lost time over the past eight years. 😉 After a particularly steamy makeup, I told my partner I had lip fillers. He replied, “Oh, yes, I could feel it while we were kissing. It felt more cushiony and smudgy than real lips.” Sorry, whoa? I dismissed his comment until about a year later when I heard from a guy Island of Love United Kingdom says he could feel one of the girl’s lips in a blindfolded kiss challenge. It was just this conversation (or chat, as the islanders would say) or something legal? That’s where my latest obsession comes in: I ask dermatologists, injectables, plastic surgeons, and yes, my ex-kissing partners if you can feel lip fillers while kissing.
Want fuller lips without needles? Try one of my lip favorites:
Grande Cosmetics GrandeLips Hydrating Lip Plumper Gloss
Patrick Ta Major Volume Plumping Lip Gloss
But first, a little information about Lip Filler and how it works
Lemme (or rather, board-certified dermatologist Anna GuantseMD) explain: Lip filler—like Juvederm, Restylane, The oppositeand RHA—is an injectable gel usually made with hyaluronic acid, which you’ve probably used in a facial serum or facial moisturizer to hydrate and plump your skin. Hyaluronic acid fillers are actually the most popular filler because they’re “identical to what’s already in your body tissues, inside your eyeballs, between your cells, and in your joint fluid,” says Dr. Guanche. “Although it’s chemically classified as an acid, hyaluronic acid doesn’t sting or burn like an acid peel,” she says. “In fact, it’s inert, meaning it has no biological effect on your tissues.”
When injected into your lips, hyaluronic acid lip filler simply fills in the lines and reshapes or reshapes the lips. The result? Fuller, fuller lips that are generally the same shape as your natural lips.
My (Very Informal) Research
Unfortunately, my current batch of lip fillers mostly fall apart at this point (most lip fillers last anywhere from six months to a year, FYI). But I had a decent list of test subjects from when my lips were at full size to the poll on the subject. So I texted a bunch of ex-colleagues and friends (many of whom I haven’t talked to in months, oops) to see if they could tell if my lips got full by kissing me. Here’s what they had to say:
Some of ~them~ told me they didn’t even realize I had filler on at all, while others said they could tell my lips were a little fuller, but that the difference in feel was minimal:
A current kissing partner who has only kissed my now disintegrated filled lips says he has been spotted in the past with other people he has kissed (um, who is she!!). But it was only when he felt their full and not full lips that he said even then, it still wasn’t all so different.
Let’s be real though, most of my messages went unanswered (as seen below, lol) so my sample size could definitely have been bigger.
But, tbh, I also thought about everyone I’ve ever kissed who might have lip fillers themselves, and I don’t remember noticing anything different. I also never felt my own lip filler while kissing once they healed. So I had to really dig in and ask the pros…
What the pros have to say about kissing with Lip Filler
According to the experts, no, kissing with full lips should be no different for either party involved. “Really, none of my patients have reported kissing feeling different after lip fillers,” says the board-certified plastic surgeon and member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Smita RamadanMD.
If you do feel a fill in someone you kiss, it could just be related to the benchmark of whether you’ve kissed them before and after getting a fill, says Dr. Ramanadham. Because, of course, a larger lip compared to thinner lips will naturally change the feel of the kiss. But if your lips are too full of filler, you could change the shape of your lips slightly and affect their natural movement, which can make the kiss feel a little different for both parties.
But Dr. Ramanadham also notes that you could feel lip filler on someone if the filler in their lips is really thick. Facial filler comes in a few different weights depending on where it is placed. For example, cheek filler is meant to look more like bone (to enhance your cheekbones), so it’s a bit stiff. Jaw filler is the most durable because it is meant to give you a strong jawline. Lip fillers, on the other hand, are the thinnest and most flexible because they should “integrate into your natural tissues and feel very soft and natural,” says the board-certified nurse injector. Ilana Brit Mechoullam, RN. “So if you’re using one of these stiffer fillers on your lips, it might not feel as smooth as natural lips.”
It’s also worth noting that people who get lip fillers may have a different kissing experience after the injection, especially at first. “Because it’s a sensitive area, the lips tend to feel swollen, puffy, or sore right after the injection,” Mechoullam says. “Some people also report that the lips feel lumpy or swollen in the weeks after they heal,” she adds. So if you go for injections, it’s a good idea to wait a few days after the injection to kiss someone (as well as put on makeup, touch the injection site, or have oral sex!). But once the pain subsides, walk away. In fact, Dr. Guanche says most of her patients feel sexier when they have their lips filled, so they enjoy kissing even more after the injection (that’s me, hello! I’m the patient, that’s me).
The final verdict
Well guys, no you can’t Really feel lip fillers while kissing (unless your lips are over-filled with a rigid filler versus a flexible one, or you’re just not used to lip fillers). I miss my pillow lips sm but next time I get lip filler I will definitely choose a thin filler like Juvederm Volbella the Restylane Kysse because I prefer a subtle look and feel. And then, you better believe, I’ll piss off with abandon.
Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers skincare, makeup, hair, nails and more in digital and print. She can generally be found in bright eye shadow furiously typing her latest feature or snuggling up and discussing a new “must try” product. Before Cosmopolitanwrote and edited beauty content as Editor at The Everygirl for four years. Follow her Instagram for makeup selfies and new hair ‘do every few months.
