WEN peppermint cleansing conditioner

I have incredibly dry hay-like hair so use really heavy duty moisturising products. Occasionally some of these products really hydrate my hair but make my roots more oily. When my roots get oily the root of the hairs at the front come up leaving white residue in my hair which is pretty much impossible to get rid of. I had tried everything. Fine tooth combs, cleansing shampoos, switching products but nothing worked.  I picked this conditioner up on a whim and was amazed by the results. The white residue disappeared and my roots left feeling cleansed but not stripped.

The product is labelled "sweet almond mint", personally, I can't smell any almond and the mint scent is far more prominent.  The container advises you to use 10-15 PUMPS! 10-15! What a waste. I used about 3-4 pumps and it worked really really well. The container holds a whopping 480ml so this should last me a few months. It is a little pricy at $32 but as the bottle contains so much product the price per use works out to be quite fair. It is available from Sephora (here).

Birchbox UK August 2013

Montibel.lo gold oil essence:
The smell. I have never smelt anything so beautiful in my life. I can't describe the scent it's so complex and gorgeous. I kind of don't want to use it so i can keep it and sniff it forever. My hair was left feeling soft and looking shiny. 100% recommend this product. Buy for £22.50 (here).

Gerda Spillmann hydro pearls:
This is a really light cream which sinks in in a few minutes and leaves a semi-airbrushed look when it has been absorbed. It has a very subtle fresh smell and is designed to be a make up primer. It allows your foundation to glide on smoothly and leaves your skin looking flawless. I think it'd be just as good worn alone as it puts a mute on your flaws. Great for both oily and dry skin. Buy for £30 (here).

Bluemandarines SkinLife energetic cellular cream:

Smooth lightweight moisturiser. Leaves skin soft. The scent is a bit too prominent for me. Buy for £35 (here).

LAQA & Co. lip pencil in Wolfman:
I've never owned a lip pencil so was really interested to try this. The pencil has a lovely mint scent which has a slight cooling effect on the lips which i really like. My pencil is a sheer light pink shade which is very wearable when swatched but didn't suit me when applied on my lips. I find that like most sheer lipsticks you have to apply it very often. I re-applied mine every hour or so. The product wasn't drying on my lips. Buy for  £14 (here).

Molton Brown Ylang-Ylang body wash:
Usually i'm not a fan of shower gels in beauty boxes but i'm a big fan of Molton Brown so i'll let this one slide. The body wash has a relaxing quality as a result of having mainly Ylang-Ylang in the wash. The wash doesn't strip your skin of any moisture and feels really luxurious. Buy for £18 (here).

Propercorn Fiery Worcester sauce & sundried tomato:
I AM IN LOVE. I saw the title and was like.... yum (ew). I tried it and take it back. It tastes a bit like monster munch with a bit of added spice. Delicious!! Not only does it taste great but a big bag is only 100 CALORIES!! I will never stop eating these. Buy for £0.90 (here).

Birchbox gel mask:
I love these sorts of lifestyle extras. They're things you can use but wouldn't think about buying yourself and turn out really great! I'm really enjoying using mine and have found that when i put it in the fridge overnight and wear it for 5 minutes in the morning my eyes are less puffy and look more alert. Buy for £10 (here).

Really really really happy with this box. Sign up for birchbox for £10 a month (here). What are your thoughts on this box?

I've just seen on the website you get FREE SHIPPING on all items included in this box and a free eyelash curler & mirror. Go and buy now- the eyelash curlers are AMAZING and worth £10 alone!

Balance me moisture-rich face cream

I'm in constant conflict when it comes to face creams. My face is extremely dry so needs heavy duty moisturisers which do the job well. Whilst there are plenty of face creams that do this i hadn't been able to find one that didn't break me out concurrently. When the lovely people at balance me sent me this cream i was a little worried because of my previous experiences with face creams. I've been using this for a few weeks now and i think i may be in love.

From the moment i applied the moisture-rich face cream* my skin appeared brighter and more hydrated. As a result my skin looks much healthier. My favourite part about this cream is whilst it is a heavy duty cream, it doesn't feel like it at all. The cream is thick upon application but sinks in almost immediately and leave no greasy residue.

The product itself has a gorgeous subtle scent created through a mix of shea butter with essential oils such as rosehip and kukui oils.

Overall, i can't recommend this product enough. Both for people with dry skin and oily. As the product sinks in immediately it shouldn't cause any problems for people with oily skin. It is available for £24 with free delivery worldwide on look fantastic (here).

Free Jo Malone sample for UK Talisa talks beauty readers!

Hiya guys!

Jo Malone are releasing a new fragrance called "Peony and blush suede" and giving you guys a chance to test it before the official release!

All you have to do is design a peony pin (here) and send it to a friend. You are then given the option to receive a sample of "Peony and blush suede"; simples! Enjoy!

Best spot treatment- Panoxyl aquagel

After posting my review on Rimmel's Wake Me Up Foundation I received a lot of tweets asking me how I keep my skin so clear so I thought i'd share my little secret.

I find that a lot of the high street options are cheap but not effective and the effective ones tend to be priced at £20+ which, to me, is a little steep for a spot treatment. So when i discovered PanOxyl i was thrilled.

It's intended for use on acne but i've found it works a treat on little breakouts, painful red spots, pussy spots (yuck!) and even the tiny little ones.

You can get different strengths. For people who only really get little spots i would recommend 2.5, for people who get a mix of big and small spots get 5 and those who have regular breakouts get 10. As i don't have acne I use Aquagel 5. It's a lightweight formula that lies somewhere between a gel and a cream. As the product is essentially drying the spots out it can make your skin very dry if you overuse it. On a small spot put a tiny amount on and apply it as if you were applying a moisturiser. On big spots put a little dollop on top of the spot and don't rub it in, the first time you use it on that particular spot. Then start treating it as if it was a small spot. I advise you not to use it more than once a day as it is incredibly drying. After letting it sink in for a few hours I always apply cream to my face for little spots and with big spots I put moisturiser everywhere avoiding the big spot.

It retails for around £3 and lasted more than half a year for me. I've just found out this has been discontinued but i bought a new one the other day at the chemists. It's always worth asking your local chemist/boots/pharmacy if they sell this product because it works wonders. If they only sell panoxyl 10 then just apply it every other day for those who don't have acne/ regular breakouts.