Your lip and perioral ritual
Working the circular muscle of the mouth, centimetre by centimetre. Read the short notes first, then follow the move along the whole ring.
Before you start - read this
Short rules, and they hold for every repetition.
- Clean hands, short nails. Wash thoroughly and trim your nails: one thumb works from inside the lip, so nothing should catch.
- Dry fingers, no cream here. On the lips you need grip, not glide - the muscle has to be held, not slid over.
- Pressure, never pain. The feeling is a firm pinch that releases. Sharp pain means lighten up, not push harder.
- Skip it when inflamed. Herpes, cracked corners, inflamed gums or a fresh procedure on the lips - wait until it has fully settled.
- Not over filler. If you have filler in the lips or the perioral area, ask the doctor who placed it before you work this zone.
The lip map - where you work
The right and left hand work alternately, one coming on top of the other, all the way around the mouth.
1 · The corners
Where every pass begins. The corners of the mouth hold the most tension - this is where the muscle pulls the lip line down and where the “sad at rest” look is built. Start here, both sides, every time.
2 · The upper ring
From the corner up and along the upper lip to the centre. This is the strip that gathers into fine vertical lines - the ones lipstick bleeds into. Work it centimetre by centimetre, not in one sweep.
3 · The lower ring
The same path along the lower lip, corner to centre. Close the ring here: the muscle is circular, and it only lets go when the whole circle has been worked.
The “making ravioli” move
Two to three minutes along the entire length of the muscle. Slow, unhurried, never forced.
- Clean hands, short nails. Place the pad of the thumb inside the lip and the pad of the middle finger outside, exactly opposite it.
- Clamp the muscle between them - this is the movement Yakov calls “making ravioli”. Hold, do not slide.
- Start at the corner of the lips and move a centimetre at a time along the muscle, clamping each new piece.
- The hands work alternately, one coming on top of the other, so the ring is covered without gaps.
- Go all the way around: upper lip to the centre, then the lower lip, then the other side.
- Two to three minutes in total. You will feel the release - as if something lets go from the inside.
What it gives you
A clearer lip contour and a fuller-looking lip; the fine vertical lines above the mouth softening; and the deep spasm in the circular muscle letting go - the tension of words you never said out loud.
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