Liquorice & Melissa // Lip Gel

You know when you come across a product and think why the heck did I not know about this? well, I had one of those moments with this product - the Liquorice & Melissa Lip Gel is formulated with licorice and Melissa oil which contains the herpes virus busting ingredient, glycyrrhizic acid (GA). If you're someone who suffers from dry, chapped or cold sore prone lips when the weather changes then you're going to lurve this gel.

I normally pick up a lip balm when my lips are struggling to stay hydrated, typically it's The Body Shop Hemp balm. I would have never thought of buying a gel just because it's not something I would initially think of putting on my lips. The last time I ever used a gel near my lips was when I was tiny and Bonjela was the product my mum and dad pulled out for mouth ulcers - although I'd never tried a gel, I was all for testing this out and seeing if it was any good.

The product itself comes in a 15 ml tube, the branding is simple but effective and the application tip is slanted to ensure you're applying the right amount of product directly to your lips - nothing is wasted with this gel. I don't tend to suffer from cold sores but I do suffer from dry stingy lips that really suffer when there's any sunlight - if this product could improve the texture and the comfort then in my eyes it's a winner, of course I would never be able to review it on it's cold sore combating skills.

The licorice and Melissa oils both have strong antiviral properties but unlike other cold sore products these ingredients are more natural on your lips and body as a whole, keeping in mind whatever you put on your lips your going to ingest, do you really want to ingest some nasty chemicals that ''maybe'' safe for you? - licorice specifically aims for the genes that initiate the production of cold sore cells to break out. Part of me wishes I could have tested it out for you guys because I know so many people who suffer from these outbreaks, the results, however, should make you a bit happier as 83% of subjects who used the balm reported that their outbreaks were less severe with this product than with the typical high street brands. They also reported that any outbreak they had cleared up in half the time when this product was used *yay*.

As a healing lip product what I will say is that this is so cooling on the lips, for the first few days I applied it constantly throughout the day and evening as I wanted to see how long it would take to improve my lips. My lips at that point were absolutely chapped, I'm a lip biter so they were all raggy especially in the centre of my lower lips. Around the third day mark my lips were soft, I no longer had to apply the gel but I did because it feels so nice on, really light and as I said it's cooling - it also stopped me biting my lips. By the fourth day my lips were absolutely normal; no raggy bits, no bits of skin that needed biting off and no chapped skin whatsoever - just normal, even looking, soft lips *yay*

I also found that I got more kisses from hairy boy when I had this gel on *wink* Overall it's a win-win with this product and I'm so glad this came into my life. It's one of those products that may not come with bells and whistles and multi-million pound advertising deals but it bloody should because it's awesome. The 15 ml tube costs £7.95 and you only need a tiny amount, I've used mine now for ten days and it's still brand new - this will last for months.

If you fancy checking it out you can pick it up from one of my favourite stores the Skin Shop who sell the best natural branded beauty and skin products. Can you feel the love in the room guys? I can.