Tuesday 19 November 2013

Be my honey

When I was a little girl, every morning my dad would insist that I ate a teaspoon of honey saying that it would be good for my immune system and it would keep me healthy and strong. At the time I didn't particularly care about that bit, I was more interested in getting a yummy sweetie after having finished my breakfast - no wonder I was bouncing off to school every morning on a sugar rush from the natural sweetness. But in addition to keeping me happy and energetic as I left for school my dad actually had a very valid point, since honey contains antiseptic and antibacterial properties and has been found useful to fight off infections. Honey is also a well known natural ingredient for nourishing, soothing, rejuvenating and hydrating skin and hair so today I thought I would show some of my favourite honeypots.
 
Up until a few weeks ago I hadn't used anything from Herbal Essences for a very long time. Their shampoos have always smelled amazing, but completely stripped my hair of hydration and turned it into a tangled nightmare of a mop. Having read some great reviews of the Bee Strong range, I thought I would risk it and see if the Herbal Essences products had improved so I got the shampoo, conditioner and the mask. The Bee Strong Shampoo (£3.89) is specially formulated for dry and damaged hair and it contains extracts of honey and apricot to repair the individual hair strands as well as strengthen them. The shampoo works ups a generous lather that gives a great deep cleanse, but without leaving the hair in a tangled mess and compared to the Herbal Essences shampoos I've used previously, it feels wonderfully hydrating and nourishing. The Bee Strong Conditioner (£3.89) contains the same strengthening ingredients as the shampoo but also has a serum to add extra moisture, and the richness of it makes the hair feeling super soft and cared for. If I haven't used the conditioner after the shampoo, I've applied a generous amount of the Bee Strong Mask (£4.19) which is a strong and intensive mask that feels quite heavy on the hair. It's a really lovely mask and it leaves your hair feeling very luxurious, nourished and detangled - as if you were using a much more high end deep repair mask, so it's incredible value for money. All the hair products have a nice and creamy golden consistency but to my surprise neither of them really smell of sweet honey at all, instead the scent is much more of a fresh tropical scent of warm mango, papaya and delicious apricot. I love this new formula from Herbal Essences and they have certainly redeemed themselves a lot in my book and I might even consider trying some of their other shampoos too. I may not look as fabulous as Nicole Scherzinger, but my hair certainly likes the Bee Strong range, and so do I

A few days ago I did a post on a wonderful plumping lip balm from Gatineau which admittedly is a little bit too expensive to use more than as a prep in the morning and a treatment in the evening, so in between I'm using an old classic, Burt's Bees Honey Lip Balm (£2.99) which I slap on a good few times every day. It's made from 100% natural ingredients and in addition to honey also contains beeswax, shea butter, cocoa butter and lanolin. It's a fuss free, cheap and cheerful product that you can afford to be generous with and there's nothing like it to keep your lips soft or to heal chapped lips. Burt's Bees also do tinted lip balms, but since I like to use this under a lip stick or lip gloss, this sweet honey balm is just right for me.

For a long luscious bath you need a Lush product, and when you're skin is feeling a little angry or sensitive, the Honey Bee Bath Bomb (£3.25) is just wonderfully soothing. It's a gentle and almost therapeutic bath bomb with honey (obviously!), rhassoul mud and aloe vera. The rhassoul mud softens the skin, scrubs away dead skin cells and helps to rebalance the oil production and tightens the pores, while the aloe vera and honey adds plenty of moisture. The bath bomb isn't as colorful and pretty to look at as many of the other Lush products, but it turns the water into a lovely warm yellow color and it's gentle enough for even the most delicate of skins. To me it doesn't smell anything like honey or even particularly sweet, and instead it's a nice and refreshing scent of very faint orange, bergamot, and gardenia which together form a very light floral that has a subtle sweetness to it.

Having indulged in a lovely relaxing bath, your skin will need a little treat in form of a rich and moisturising body butter and the Body Shop Honeymania is absolutely wonderful. It's very similar to most of the Body Shop body butters with it's smooth and almost "fatty" consistency that melts into the skin as it's heated up between your hands when you massage it in, and it really soaks the skin with hydration that lasts almost all day making the skin feeling very silky and soft. As with the hair care products, I was surprised that this doesn't smell particularly of honey. It's a harmonious scent that does have a noticeable rich and sharp sweetness to it, but it's of a floral kind and it reminds me a little of the Moringa scent as it's quite strong in a slightly artificial way, and if you're not keen on florals - you might give it a miss.

All of the products I have mentioned are pampering and indulgent to use, although most of them haven't really smelt that much of honey. But what they have lacked in terms of honey scent, the L'Occitane Immortelle Eau de Parfum makes up for with exuberance. This wonderful EdP comes in a beautiful but plain heavy glass bottle which has a very exclusive feel about it, that makes me think of bespoke perfumiers where the scent does all the talking, not the packaging. When Him Indoors bought this for me, it was a horrible cold and blustery day and when I tried this on it took me to a sunny, scorching Mediterranean filled with aromatic scents and I was completely bowled over. It's a very warm and luxurious scent that blends essential oils from rich honey like immortelle, powdery rose, deep animalistic musk and sweet iris - all vibrant and strong scents in themselves. This is not a fragrance for the faint-hearted or for anyone who wants to blend in and there is nothing girly, light or playful about it. It's a very womanly, intriguing, sensual and fascinating scent that creates an air of warm golden nectar - it's definitely a statement and I absolutely LOVE it.
I have been waxing lyrically (ha, ha - see what I did there...) about these wonderful honey products, but for good reason. Honey is the ultimate all in one beauty product - it hydrates, soothes, nourishes and smells wonderful and is definitely worth getting now that winter is coming to help keep your skin soft and smooth. But Behive and don't spend too much ... sorry - I blame it on the sugar rush from the honey I just had...

67 comments:

  1. Hi Charlotte, how are you? I hope you are well. I love any Honey (but strangely I don't like the taste of honey) beauty products and I love Lush Honey beauty products, especially the bath bomb.

    http://www.annanuttall.com

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    1. Hiya Anna, doing well and hope you are too :o). They are lovely and I hope I have included some of your favourites :o). Xx

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  2. I've been meaning to try the Herbal Essences honey range but, like you said, I haven't had the best experiences with them in the past. I might give this a go sometime soon if I'm feeling adventurous :) x

    Stereonana.com

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    1. I was a bit nervous about them since I'm really trying to use great nourishing products, but I was positively surprised and would definitely recommend the Bee Strong range :o). Xx

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  3. Sweet as honey post!
    loved all the products especially the bath bomb...
    xoxo

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  4. My favorite its the burts bee lip balm.
    http://tifi11.blogspot.com

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    1. It's lovely and nourishing - great for everyday use. Xx

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  5. Great post :) I have the body shop honey perfume and shower gel and I love the scent! x

    Heather | Of Beauty & Nothingness

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    1. It must be very warming, perfect for winter time :o). Xx

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  6. I love the smell of honey, but I don't like to eat it at all :p
    great post!

    xx
    Astrid

    http://truthaboutcosmetics.blogspot.be/

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    1. Thank you so much :O), it can definitely get a bit too sickly sweet :o). Xx

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  7. i love honey! i am currently reviewing some right now!

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    1. :o) - maybe even some of the products I've picked out... Xx

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  8. Replies
    1. It's funny because it reminds me of summer but is perfect for winter :o). Xx

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  9. That honey bee bath bomb looks amazing. I am definitely gonna try to have a bath this evening! xo

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  10. Herbal Essences Honey I'm Strong is the only shampoo from that line I can use that doesn't make my scalp itch, and I love the results. I think it's the same thing as Bee Strong, just with a different name here? The mask and bath bomb sound divine!! :)

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    1. I'm so surprised I even liked it and that it didn't mess up my hair completely - very nice surprise though :o). Xx

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  11. I've never seen the herbal essences honey products! Seems very interesting-- I've considered trying some of the body shop products though and I love the honey burts bees :) such a lovely post + I tagged you in my post today :)

    sundays grace

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    1. Thank you very much for the tag, it's very nice of you! I have a lot of tags that I need to do and since I try to only do them every now and then, it'll be a while until you see any replies from me, but I haven't forgotten, so please just be patient with me. Xx

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  12. Oh man, I need that perfume! I do love honey and have several of the products you listed and while they are nice, they don't give me that sweet honey scent I want so much :)

    writingwhimsy.com

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    1. The EdP is absolutely stunning - you can only get a travel sized one on the l'Occitane web site at the moment, which is why I haven't added the price, but I do know that you can get Immortelle on other web sites like eBay. Xx

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  13. I so want to try the honeymania range!

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    1. It smells lovely, as long as you don't expect it to be of honey :o). Xx

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  14. I'll definitely try the honey bee bath bomb! I like anything exfoliating and kind to the skin x I also love the colour of your haul!!
    Much love
    bohobun.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Thanks a million, that's really lovely of you! Xx

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  15. I personally only started using honey (natural) for about 3 weeks now as a mask for my acne prone skin and I am seeing quite a difference already so I think your dad was onto something there ;)

    The bath bomb looks lovely and something I should get for winter!

    www.steffysworld.com

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    1. Yes - I'll always trust what he says now :O). Xx

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  16. I'm interested in trying out the Bee Strong products, they seem pretty good and my hair is in need of something new haha

    http://beautyblog.skylish.co.uk

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    1. It's a really nice range and I think you'll enjoy using it :o). Xx

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  17. Thank you so much for your comment. Stay in touch. Can we follow each other on GFC, Bloglovin, FB and Twitter? Love
    New Post Fashion Talks

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  18. What a lovely post all these look so amazing! :-) So many new things to buy now...xxx

    www.stylapetite.blogspot.co.uk

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  19. Very nice post! I'm not huge on sweets but I do love honey and the medicinal properties are an added bonus! VERY interested in getting a sniff of the L'Occitane perfume.

    atelier zozo

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    1. It's absolutely amazing, probably not something for a warm summer day but for this time of year it's just perfect :o). Xx

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  20. great review of the bee-strong range, i always thought it would either strip my hair or make it feel quite greasy but after this I'm more inclined to try it out. I have been using the Sebastian shampoo that I get from my hairdressers which has been amazing.
    Hope you're well, Saida xx

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    1. Thank you so much! I haven't tried Sebastian but heard great things about it on YouTube so might give that a go, see where I can get hold of it :o). Xx

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  21. I also have problems with Herbal Essence stuff with the same results--dry hair that doesn't want to cooperate or just remains super flat and blah, but hey, that was long ago and I'm sure they've changed their formula. And I love all things Body Shop! Everything smells so amazing from them.

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    1. I know what you mean - the same for me, it was a long time ago since I used them, but it shows as well that if you don't have a good impression of a product it can take a looooong time before you try it again - if at all! Xx

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  22. Honey Bee bath bomb from Lush is one of the most amazing things ever! :D

    http://theremightbecoffee.wordpress.com/

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    1. It turned the water amazingly golden and lovely - a definite must have for sensitive skin I think :O). Xx

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  23. I love honey! The real stuff AND the stuff that smells like it! I just bought my first jar of raw honey... holy YUM!

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    1. Oooh - sounds lovely, the honey we used to get was really hard, but it was perfect to put in tea and it would just melt away.... yum... Xx

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  24. I love everything honey! The Burts Bees lip balm is my all time favorite! Great post! :)

    http://allthingsglitterandbeauty.blogspot.de/

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  25. I have the burts bees lip balm & it's lovely isn't it?!
    Loving the other products too, I'd really love to try the new strong shampoos xxx

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    1. Oh yes, it's a great every day lip balm :o). Xx

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  26. Some gorgeous products and I think my favourite has to be the honey bath bomb- it sounds divine! Oh and I loved the story about your dad. So sweet :)

    Love Kate xx
    prettylittleus

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    1. Thank you so much, that's really nice of you :o). Xx

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  27. Hey, I just came across your blog and am now following :)
    I LOVE honey products! I use the herbal essences shampoo too and am dying to get my hands on the body butter!
    I'm a massive fan of Lush products too and love honey bee! It's so softening on the skin!
    I'm actually holding a Lush giveaway on my blog at the moment, if your into the sweeter, more bubblegum scented products you should definitely check it out!

    x

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    1. Thank you so much for visiting and for the lovely comment. I love the bubblegum scents - Snow Fairy is one of my absolute favourites so will definitely have a look :o). Xx

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  28. This is actually my favourite bath bomb!! I like some of the others but I'm always drawn to this one because it smells so darn amazing. <3

    Tara xo

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    1. And it's lovely and gentle on the skin - extra bonus :O). Xx

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  29. I love Burt's bees lip balm ;) Now i want buy lush honey bath ball ^^ I discover your blog today and i love it ;)
    xxx from France :)
    Laura

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    1. Hello Laura, thank you so much for visiting and for your sweet comment - it's really nice of you. The lip balm is excellent for everyday use and I think you'd love the bath bomb. Hope you'll visit again soon :o). Xx

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  30. i love honey :) anything that has honey i am in :) nice post :) xoxo
    www.ambifashion.com

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  31. I have really been enjoying the honeymania body butter. I need to try that bath bomb!

    katespitz.blogspot.com

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    1. It's not as sweet as the Honeymania range but they work really well together :o). Xx

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  32. I've got the body shop honey mania body butter, I like the scent although it isn't very honey scented!

    http://mercuteify.blogspot.com/

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    1. I know what you mean - it's nice, but now what you would have expected from a honey product :o). Xx

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