The recent discovery of a few brown lip liners that work for me has been a game changer. I had been trying dark pink lip liners on my dark brown lips, wondering why they weren’t making much of a difference, until a makeup artist at MAC showed me how incredible a nude lipstick would look with the right shade of lip liner.

For a natural look, I have several go-to lip liners, such as MAC Lip Pencils in Cork and Chestnut. If you’re wearing lipstick that has some warmth to it, look for a liner with a hint of red in the undertone, such as Lisa Eldridge Enhance and Define Lip Pencil in Decade. If the lipstick is cool-toned, you might want a more neutral or cool lip liner, such as MakeUp by Mario Sculpting Lip Pencil in Dark Chocolate, which has a handy lip brush on the end to blend with.

I love an ombré effect – where the liner is a little darker than the lipstick or gloss – I choose the same colour as the darkest shade on my lips, such as Beauty Bay Gel Lip Liner Duo in Saddle and Truffle, which applies beautifully.

I’ll choose a shade darker than my natural lip colour for a more dramatic look, using Huda Beauty Lip Contour in Rich Brown, because it lasts. For extra staying power, you could experiment with lip stains as lip liners; Stila Calligraphy Lip Stain has a couple of brown shades that work as a lip liner, too.

Got a beauty question for Anita? Email her at beautyQandA@theguardian.com