Why You Should Join Us And #FlipYourLips With Red Lippy Project This Week

It's Cervical Screening Awareness Week and we want you to paint your pout to help spread the word.

According to statistics published by Cancer Research UK, there were 3,064 new cases of cervical cancer in the UK in 2011. And in 2012, there were 919 deaths caused by it.

There's no age group that's particularly at risk from being diagnosed, which worryingly means it can happen to any woman at any stage in her life.

But it is preventable, for scientists have estimated that cervical screenings save up to 5,000 lives each year.

To break this down a little, a medical examination can halt 75% of cervical cancers in women in their 50s and 60s, 60% of cervical cancers in women in their 40s and 45% of cervical cancers in women in their 30s.

Yesterday marked the start of Cervical Screening Awareness Week and saw the Red Lippy Project kick off a new campaign. The group are encouraging females get themselves booked in for Liquid Based Cytology, more commonly known as a smear test.

The #FlipYourLips initiative is extremely easy to get involved with - and it's fun too.

Simply paint your brightest and boldest red lipstick across your mouth and take a picture. Flip the image sideways using the rotate function on your phone or Instagram app and write the following message, tagging three of your friends.

'#FlipYourLips for Cervical Screening Awareness Week! I nominate @xxxxx @xxxxx and @xxxxx @redlippyproject.' The Red Lippy Project's powerful idea is already building up a steady momentum on social media, with many girls puckering up for the cause.

Red Lippy Project co-founders Caroline Muhlich and Linda Andersson said: 'If we can get women talking about Red Lippy Project and cervical screening it will lead to more and more making the effort to get tested.

'These tests are free, easily available on the NHS and are an effective way to avoid developing cervical cancer. It’s time to spread the word and fight back against cervical cancer together.'

Here at Marie Claire, we couldn't resist jumping on board too (although we had to improvise a bit with shades we had in our make-up bags)...