Beauty Hack: DIY Cinnamon 'Botox'

I wasn't visited by the plump lip fairy as a newborn. In fact, I'm 99.9% sure that I was visited by the flat lip fairy as a newborn. As a teen, lip plumper or venom was always a product that I wanted to like more than I actually did. They were expensive, the results were minimal, and the ingredients.. don't get me started.

In to my twenties and still conscious about the size of my pout, I did some research and I discovered that cinnamon is a natural lip plumper (peppermint works wonders, too). It irritates the skin, causing blood to flow to the area and the lips to swell slightly.

It isn't as scary as it sounds - I promise. I've had this sneaky trick in my beauty arsenal for years now and it's been a real confidence booster. Even better, you can pick up a bottle of cinnamon oil for peanuts nowadays. I say "no more!" to spending upwards of $30 on ineffective lip plumpers. If you're willing to spend a whole 30 seconds of your time doing a little DIY, you can create your own for under $10.

All you need is the following:

- A good base. I've used shea butter, lipgloss, melted chapstick.. whichever you prefer

- 100% cinnamon OR peppermint essential oil.

- Vitamin E cream (optional)

- A small, airtight jar

Just combine, mix, and there you go.

In terms of essential oil proportion, this procedure is all about trial and error; I cannot express how irritating cinnamon oil can be enough. Start with just one drop of oil mixed in with your base and work from there - everyone's different. I use 4-5 drops of oil per ½ ounce jar/lip gloss tube. This is perfect for me, but this really depends on your lip sensitivity.

Once you've found the perfect combination for you, combine your mish-mash of ingredients in your container of choice and voila! OR you can quite literally just add a few drops of oil to your favourite lip gloss and pump the wand a few times to mix it all through.

Note: Any amount of oil is likely to give off a tingling sensation when applied to your lips, but if you experience a burning sensation, you've gone too far. In this case, wash the product off immediately and don't trial again for a few days.

Notenote: For the love of fuck, DO NOT put essential oil of any kind directly on to your lips, it's potent stuff and will burn you worse than the fourth floor of hell.

Of course, this is only a temporary effect - nothing is going to transform the actual size of my lips, but this has been my sneaky little confidence booster for years. It's a perfect, portable solution to plump lips that can be touched up throughout the day and being cheap and easy to make, you really can't go wrong.