The unexpected return of lip tattoos What they are and how to make them at home

Who would have ever imagined that temporary lip tattoos would make a comeback and, surprisingly, look much cooler today than they did back then? For anyone who forgot about them: they were those transfer-style decals covered in leopard prints, glitter, polka dots, galaxy motifs, or animal patterns that turned lips into a full-on pop accessory. For a few years they were everywhere in beauty tutorials on YouTube, then they completely disappeared. But now Gen Z is bringing them back to life, somewhere between 2010s nostalgia and a growing desire for more creative makeup and less perfectly polished beauty looks.

The unexpected return of lip tattoos

One of the first people to bring lip tattoos back into the spotlight was also PinkPantheress, who in recent months has increasingly embraced a hyperpop, internet-core beauty aesthetic. She showed off lips decorated with a very British tartan pattern created by makeup artist Julian Stoller. From there, TikTok did the rest. More and more girls are digging up old kits forgotten in drawers or experimenting with completely customized DIY versions.

The return of intentionally excessive beauty

The return of lip tattoos also perfectly reflects the current state of contemporary beauty. After years dominated by the clean girl aesthetic, minimal skincare, and makeup designed to look almost invisible, there’s now a strong online craving for excess. A more playful, artificial, and performative aesthetic that doesn’t necessarily aim to enhance the face naturally, but rather to transform it into something visually interesting. And this is exactly where temporary lip tattoos suddenly make sense again. They’re impractical, sure, but they’re not supposed to be functional or elegant: they’re supposed to stand out. In a beauty landscape obsessed with soft-focus perfection and neutral looks that all blur into each other, leopard-print, glitter-covered, or polka-dot lips suddenly feel fun, lighthearted, and ironic. Basically, a breath of fresh air.

How to create custom temporary lip tattoos

The most interesting part of this comeback, however, is definitely its DIY version. Because if you can’t find a lip tattoo online that feels interesting enough, you can easily create one that’s completely personal. The process, by the way, is much simpler than it sounds. All you need to do is place a piece of transparent tape over your lips and trace the outline with a marker to create an accurate template of your mouth. Once removed, you recreate the design digitally on your computer. This sort of template becomes the base for experimenting with endless graphic ideas. The key part is the printing process: the design needs to be transferred onto temporary tattoo transfer paper, which is easy to find online. At that point, you simply cut out the design following the lip outline and apply it exactly like a regular temporary tattoo, using water and a bit of pressure for a few seconds, and that’s it.