Petal Pout: Gradual Lip Fade

Hyper-florals are dominating the fashion scene right now, and the land of beauty is following suit. It's all about the flora and the fauna for spring/summer 2012. The petal-inspired pout looks super cute and automatically makes your lips look fuller. Double win.

Here's your step by step guide to petal pout perfection...

Step 1. Prime the lips by removing any dead skin. I find the best way to exfoliate my lips without causing more damage is to wet a soft toothbrush and brush the lips in gentle circular motions. I then apply a light moisturiser which will soak in fast - like Simple's Kind to Skin Light Moisturiser, available from Boots, £3.79. Then dab away any excess moisturiser left on your lips.

Step 2. Now you have a perfectly primed pout, you can start to apply the lush pinks. To begin, use a dark pink lip pencil to frame the lips. I used Barry M's Lip Pencil Liner in Dark Pink, available from Barry M for £2.99. Apply the line quite thick, as you can then blend the lip paint into the line with ease.

Step 3. Get lippy! I used the Barry M Lip Paint range (available from Boots, £4.49 each) in Baby Pink and Shocking Pink to create the lip fade pictured above, but you can experiment with the shades which suit you best. My top tip is to use a lip brush (like No7s Lip Brush available from Boots, £7) to apply the lipstick, you will be able to blend the colours so much easier. I actually used a slim paint brush to create the effect, and it worked equally as well. Apply the lightest colour first, concentrating on the centre of your lips, clean the brush and apply the dark colour to the edges. Clean the brush again and use it to blend the colours together, but remember to stay consistent with the direction of your brush strokes. You could always use a mid-tone pink to blend them together, but this would mean purchasing another Lip Paint and isn't a necessity for the look.

Step 4. Seal the colour. Try Lipcote, available from Boots, £3.69, for a colour-packed pout which stays put.

And there you have it... you're ready to Pout Out Proud with the petal pout!