To kiss someone's bottom lip, gently take their lower lip between your own lips, using soft, light motions, perhaps introducing your tongue slowly and gently for a sensual feel, focusing on light suction or gentle nibbling, and letting your partner's response guide the depth and speed, making sure to lead with your lips and avoid aggression.
Lips open, as if to gasp or moan. Tip of your tongue is resting just touching your lower lip, so you're not doing anything crazy with it. Start to enclose your lips around theirs at that angle as they do the same, and smoothly move the tip of your tongue up to meet the tip of theirs between yours and their lips.
Kissing the top lip is considered gentler and more compassionate, whereas kissing the bottom lip is generally more passionate and sensual. The majority say bottom lip kissing is better, but that's up to your own opinion!
The "3 kiss rule" most commonly refers to the Dutch custom of greeting close friends and family with three kisses on alternating cheeks (right, left, right) when saying hello and goodbye, a friendly gesture that can surprise foreigners. However, in modern romantic contexts, especially TikTok trends, "3 squeezes" (hand squeezes) are a secret code for "I love you," often leading to a requested kiss.
10+ Types of Kisses Guys Like
The 7-7-7 rule for couples is a guideline for maintaining strong connection by scheduling dedicated time: a date night every 7 days, a weekend getaway (or night away) every 7 weeks, and a longer, kid-free vacation every 7 months, all designed to fight drift and routine by ensuring consistent, intentional quality time, though flexibility is key.
Some signs you're a bad kisser: Going too fast, lacking enthusiasm, poor technique, and bad breath are common indicators.
Tips on Being a Good Kisser
First kisses, flirting, and making out…
The 90/10 kissing rule, popularized by the movie Hitch, suggests that one person leans in 90% of the way for a kiss and pauses, allowing the other person to close the remaining 10%, which signals their consent and involvement, preventing it from feeling forced and creating anticipation. This technique gives the other person control, allowing them to either lean in for the kiss or pull away, indicating their comfort level.
Most people can't focus on anything as close as a face at kissing distance so closing your eyes saves them from looking at a distracting blur or the strain of trying to focus. Kissing can also make us feel vulnerable or self-conscious and closing your eyes is a way of making yourself more relaxed.
Here are a few tips on what to avoid when going in for your next kiss.
Then, put your lips against their skin and form an “O” with your mouth. Draw in your breath and suck; it should create a bit of a vacuum effect. Teeth aren't needed to cause a hickey — suction alone will do it — but you can mix in a bit of light biting and nibbling here if your partner is interested in that.
“You can learn what works with communication, practice, and the willingness to be vulnerable.” The best kisser is one who pays attention to their partner, is willing to try types of kissing that make both of them happy, and maybe also carries around a handy stash of mints.
But it does provide some rough guidelines as to how soon may be too soon to make long-term commitments and how long may be too long to stick with a relationship. Each of the three numbers—three, six, and nine—stands for the month that a different common stage of a relationship tends to end.
Red flags in a guy include controlling behaviors, disrespect (for you, your time, boundaries), lack of empathy or accountability, poor communication (like the silent treatment), excessive jealousy, dishonesty/manipulation (gaslighting), and any form of abuse or disrespect toward service staff, often patterns like love bombing, substance issues, or making all exes "crazy". These signs signal potential toxicity, immaturity, or a lack of respect and emotional stability, making healthy partnership difficult.
While many factors contribute, many experts point to poor communication (especially criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling) and a breakdown in emotional connection/trust, often stemming from dishonesty or disrespect, as the #1 things that destroy marriages, eroding intimacy and making partners feel unheard and unloved over time. Infidelity, financial stress, and shifting priorities (like putting family/in-laws above spouse) are also major contributors that feed these core issues.
survived the dreaded two-year mark (i.e. the most common time period when couples break up), then you're destined to be together forever… right? Unfortunately, the two-year mark isn't the only relationship test to pass, nor do you get to relax before the seven-year itch.
The 80/20 rule is the theory that you only need to be satisfied with about 80% of your relationship. Apply the 80/20 rule to your love life by spending 20% of your time on your own meeting your own needs.