Better kisses!

AKA, the ultimate cure for dry, cracked, flaky lips!

Ladies and (minority) gentlemen, I present to you...

DOUBLE BALMINGTM

This revolutionary method of caring for your lips is brought to you exclusively by yours truly and I've taken the liberty of trademarking it here, though legally I'm not sure where I stand on trademarking a process which essentially involves using two lip balms one after another. 

So here's the thing... Lips get dry, they crack in winter and get all flaky and shrivelled up. My lips have always been like this, also in the summer. So my little discovery has literally changed my life as I have not suffered from dry lips EVER SINCE. No exaggerations. I'm now very proud of my pout. 

Here's the lowdown. You need TWO lipbalms. 

1. The first lip-balm should be  a drier waxy type, preferably based on natural ingredients. Basically anything that you need to massage on to the lips. These balms are usually found in pots. The best in my opinion is the Nuxe Reve de Miel (click here for my review). 
2. The second balm needs to be a balm/lip-gloss hybrid. A thick almost gloopy gloss, one that comes in a tube rather than a stick. My one is Eve's Kiss by Rituals. 

The process: Massage the drier, waxy balm into your lips. Massage well, making sure that your lips are saturated. Then apply the gloss balm on top, massage a little if you want to spread it out but it must sit on top and not be rubbed entirely into the other balm.

Do this at night and you will wake up with gloriously smooth plumped and moisturised lips. Do it in the morning before you put your make-up on and your lips will be luscious for the whole day. Do it during the day too and you'll give Angelina Jolie a run for her money.

Of course you all have lives and double balmingTM (lol) shouldn't get in the way of that, but I can assure you that just doing it an night is usually enough. If you're not well or if you're lips are in a more urgent state of flakiness, I urge you to double balm as much as you can. You WILL thank me.

If you're out and about just take any old lip balm with you to top up, you don't have to use the combo. I will say, however, that supermarket cheapies and petrolatum based sticks are NOT the best thing. Better off looking for something with beeswax, honey, shea.... something natural. Mineral oil gives 'slip' but it doesn't moisturise. Nice natural options include the shea based lip balms by L'Occitane, Burt's Bees honey based lip balms and Nuxe Reve de Miel in stick form (though this is not as effective as the pot form). If you can afford By Terry Baume de Rose (£35!!!) then go for it. 

The results are worth it, and I can't wait to hear from you if you try it. I've finally been able to use all the amazing lipsticks and glosses I have, everything looks 100% on a smoother, plumped up canvas. 

Pucker up, people, this is your lipstick renaissance!