What Are Fig Lips—and Why Is Everyone Talking About Them?
Fig lips are a trending lip color look that blends brown, pink, and berry tones into a muted, soft-focus finish that enhances your natural lip shade instead of masking it, creating a polished yet effortless effect that works for everyday wear and more dressed-up moments alike.
Think of fig lips as the modern upgrade to a classic nude: still easy-going, but with more depth and warmth so your lips never look flat or washed out. According to Lisa Eldridge, fig tones have "this beautiful ripe, earthy quality that sits somewhere between pink, brown and berry," which is why they flatter so many different complexions. The color sits in that sweet spot where it enhances your own lip pigment and feels wearable with minimal effort.
The fig lips trend started bubbling among makeup fans and took off when Zendaya wore a soft wash of fig-toned color for a fan event, paired with graphic liner and luminous skin. Her makeup artist created the look with a fig-toned melting lip color, and the internet promptly wanted to know how to get fig lips for themselves. If you like the idea of a blurred lip look that feels relaxed yet put-together, this trend is worth your attention.
Why Fig Lips Feel So Effortless (Even If They Look Polished)
Part of the appeal of the fig lips trend is that it borrows from the blurred lip look that’s been popular for years—the soft, "bouche mordue" or just-bitten effect where color looks diffused instead of sharply lined. Over time, beauty lovers have chased this kind of blurred, matte pout through cloud lips, tints, oils, stains, and pencils to get that sensual, soft-focus finish.
Fig tones take that same relaxed, imperfect attitude and pair it with a muted, sophisticated color palette, rather than a bright or high-drama shade. Instead of full-coverage pigment, fig lips use color that enhances your natural lip tone, sits between pink, brown, and berry, and keeps everything looking modern and easy. The result feels polished, but effortless and youthful all at once. Like popsicle lips, you’re not aiming for a crisp, painted edge; the charm is in the soft blur and "lived-in" color concentration.
A nice bonus: fig lip shades are designed to adapt to a wide range of skin tones, thanks to their balance of earthy brown and neutral rosy undertones. That means less stress about exact matching and more room to swipe on color without a mirror, especially when you use a melting balm formula that leaves a healthy wash of pigment with a juicy sheen.
Step-by-Step: How to Get Fig Lips at Home
You don’t need a full "lip combo" routine to get fig lips—part of the trend’s charm is that it feels like the antidote to overdone, high-maintenance lip looks. You’re aiming for a soft wash of color that enhances your mouth, not a heavy, opaque coating.
- Start with comfortable lips by applying a light layer of your usual balm and letting it absorb so the fig shade can glide on smoothly.
- Choose a fig-toned product that sits between pink, brown, and berry and feels like a natural evolution of your everyday nude shade.
- For daytime, swipe on a single sheer layer straight from the bullet or applicator to leave a healthy wash of color with a subtle sheen.
- For evening, softly trace and slightly shape your lip line with a coordinating liner to add definition without creating a harsh outline.
- Apply your fig shade over the liner, then gently blur the edges with a fingertip or cotton bud for that relaxed, blurred lip look.
- Blot once with tissue if you want a more diffused finish, or leave the sheen as is for a polished yet effortless effect.
According to Lisa Eldridge, a fig-toned melting lip color can be swiped on without even needing a mirror during the day, which tells you how forgiving this look is. The main thing to watch out for is overlining or packing on too many layers—both can push the look away from that soft, modern fig feeling and back toward a traditional heavy lipstick finish, which is exactly what this trend is moving away from.
Shade Matching Tips Inspired by Zendaya’s Fig Lip Moment
Zendaya’s fig-toned lip look—paired with graphic liner and luminous skin—shows how versatile this trending lip color can be. Her makeup artist used a fig shade inspired by the rich, warm tones of a perfectly ripe fig, designed to strike "the perfect balance between freshness and depth." That balance is your guide when you’re choosing a fig shade of your own.
If you usually reach for classic nude lipsticks but find they can look flat, look for fig colors that add more rosy and berry depth while still feeling neutral enough for daily wear. On lighter complexions, a softer fig with more pink can keep things fresh; on deeper tones, richer earthy fig shades with stronger brown and berry notes will enhance what’s already there. Because these tones sit between categories instead of in a strict pink or brown box, they’re designed to adapt across a wide range of skin tones.
For an option tied directly to the trend, Lisa Eldridge’s Sweet Fig Melting Lip Colour was developed to capture those ripe fig tones and deliver both nourishment and shine, thanks to a mesh of butters and a blend of meadowfoam seed oil with jojoba oil and pomegranate extract. One light layer by day and a slightly more defined application at night will keep your fig lips in that sweet spot between understated and noticeable.
Is the Fig Lips Trend Worth Trying?
If you’re tired of elaborate lip routines and harsh, high-contrast shades, fig lips are a refreshing middle ground. They give you the soft, blurred pout so many people love, but in a muted color story that’s easy to wear daily. The expected result is a lip look that feels polished, but effortless and youthful—all while enhancing your own lip color rather than hiding it.
The only real watch-outs are overcomplicating the application or choosing a shade that’s too opaque and heavy for the effect you want. Reach for formulas that promise a wash of color or a melting balm texture, apply with a light hand, and keep the edges softly diffused. With that approach, you get the best of all worlds: an on-trend, Zendaya-approved lip that looks thoughtfully done, but never fussy.
