While regular brushing and flossing are the best ways to keep your teeth as white and healthy as they can be, there are several quick makeup tricks that can instantly brighten your smile. Try out these easy techniques to make your teeth look whiter, instantly!

Choose a Blue-Based Lip Color

Warm-toned lipsticks with an orange base will reflect on teeth and make them look more yellow than they really are, while cool-toned lipsticks with a blue base make teeth look whiter. Try lip colors with blue or purple undertones, such as berry, plum, mauve, magenta and bold blue-reds. Avoid light lip colors, which won’t provide a good contrast with your teeth.

Shimmer & Gloss

Shimmer and gloss are back in a big way, and adding a top coat of lip gloss or silver shimmer over your blue/purple-based lipstick can amp up the shine of your teeth even more. Just avoid gold and bronze shimmer (the warm tones will pull out the yellow of teeth), and avoid tints that are overly frosty or holographic - they can make your lips look too light, which will give the illusion of making your teeth look dull.

Pamper Your Lips

No matter how bright your teeth may be, dull and flaking lips bring down your smile. Using a decent lip balm regularly is usually enough to keep lips flake-free, but if more intensive care is needed, try using a lip exfoliator or a lip mask that heals and hydrates chapped lips overnight.

Contour Your Curves

Contouring isn’t just for your face, it’s also for your lips! Use concealer to softly accentuate the curve of your lips, which will make your lips appear fuller and help your lip color stand out more. Add a touch of highlighter onto the cupid’s bow of the lips and just below the center of your lower lip to reflect light and brighten your smile.

Bronzed Beauty

Bronzed, sun-kissed looking skin will make your smile pop! Use a taupe-toned bronzer or self-tanning lotion (never an orangey one!) and see how the contrast instantly makes teeth appear whiter.

Draw Focus on the Eyes

When your eyes are the focal point of your face, attention is pulled away from your teeth. Make your eyes stand out with a classic smokey eye and winged liner, dramatic or colored eyeliner, bold and bright eyeshadow colors, glimmering glitter and more. There are so many choices when it comes to playing up your eyes!

Bonus: Wear a Blue Shirt!

Wearing a blue shirt will make your teeth appear whiter, in much the same way that wearing cool-toned, blue-based lipstick does. Similarly, don’t wear a lot of white if you don’t want the yellow undertones of your teeth (which is entirely natural!) to contrast with the true white of your clothing.