The colour of her lips darkened; is it permissible for her to colour them?
Question

I am a young woman, and I know that it is not permissible for a girl to adorn herself when she goes out of her house, but I have a problem, which is that I have begun to suffer from darkening of the lips. This has caused me to lose self-confidence, because there are a lot of comments: Do you smoke? Your lips are like men’s lips. I have tried a lot of natural treatments, to no avail. Is it permissible for me to use some light lipstick to hide this darkness?
Praise be to Allah.If you will appear with this adornment in front of women only, there is nothing wrong with that, because the basic principle for women is that it is permissible to adorn themselves.
Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
{Say, “Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah which He has produced for His servants and the good [lawful] things of provision?” Say, “They are for those who believe during the worldly life [but] exclusively for them on the Day of Resurrection.” Thus do We detail the verses for a people who know } [al-A‘raaf 7:32].
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (17/129):
There is nothing wrong with a woman adorning herself by putting make up and kohl on her face, and styling her hair in a way that does not resemble the hairstyles of disbelieving women, but it is also stipulated that she should cover her face in front of men who are not her mahrams. End quote.
With adornment of this type, it is permissible for the woman to appear with it in front of other women. Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
{And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their women …} [an-Noor 24:31].
But if you are going to appear with this adornment in front of men who are not your mahrams, then in this case it is not permissible to wear this adornment, because darkening of the lips is not regarded as a defect, and does not cause significant disfigurement of the face which would make removing it a matter of need or necessity that would make permissible that which is ordinarily prohibited. Moreover, this adornment would not conceal the darkness or restore the lip to its natural colour; rather it would make it more beautiful to onlookers.
It is worth noting that darkening of the lip is something that has organic causes, so it is a good idea for you to consult a doctor who can identify the cause, as there are beneficial medicines that could help you, by Allah’s leave.
What would be better for you than that is to wear niqab, for it is a covering for you and is obedience to the Lord of the Worlds; it is either obligatory or recommended, according to differences of scholarly opinion concerning the matter. In this way, you will achieve the aim of concealing yourself from the gaze of onlookers and the annoyance of those who make comments.
For more information about leaving the face uncovered when going out of the house, please see the answers to questions no. 21536 and 11774 .
And Allah knows best.