BEE-eautiful Christmas!

I LOVE Burt’s Bees. Sadly, I generally haven’t got the money for it, so when my mum announced she was heading to The States again to visit Grandma and asked if I wanted anything bringing back I knew exactly what I wanted.

Burt’s Bees have long been a favourite of mine, since I first stole my mum’s Rhubarb Lip Shimmer, but even more so since my family got bees! We have two hives and they are so fun to watch, we also got 8 kilos of honey from them this year out of half a hive! I am now even more supportive of anything that encourages bees in the community and helps them thrive!

There were a couple of things I wanted specifically, such as body lotion (my skin gets really dry in winter) and facial cleansers (I am very bad at remembering to clean off makeup and my skin shows it), but come Christmas morning I opened my presents and found many surprises.

I’m sure many of you are already aware of Burt’s Bees, if not complete converts, but I thought I would take the time today to review all of the products I got and let you know how fabulous they all are.

I’ll try to categorize these slightly and so I’ll start with the not-quite-as-exciting-but-no-less-lovely lip balms!

The one I have been using most is the Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm with Kokum Butter. It claims to provide 4-hours of moisturization and lives up to that well! I had exceedingly chapped lips over the holidays and after a couple of applications of this they were so much smoother and softer!
Second is the Honey Lip Balm with Vitamin E. Firstly this smells divine, primarily of honey with an after-scent of candle-like beeswax.  I have started using this as a night time moisturizing balm as it goes on a bit thicker than the Ultra Conditioning, this is because its primary ingredient is beeswax, whereas the other is a mix of plant oils and beeswax which thins out the balm a little. I can still feel it on my lips when I wake up in the morning, luscious.

In my collection I also have a plain beeswax which smells slightly herbal, a beeswax with Vit E and peppermint which is super fresh and smells of candy-canes (yum) and a rose-tinted balm which has a very subtle pink shimmer and came in a nicely designed cardboard tube.

Now on to cleansing products!

My most often used product of all of these has been the Radiance Facial Cleanser With Royal Jelly, which I use 1 to 2 times a day. It has a faint clean scent, lathers up a little and after rinsing and drying my skin instantly feels and looks better.

A little more heavy duty is the Orange Essence Facial Cleanser that is a thicker pasty texture with a strong, zesty smell. You use this with a flannel or face cloth and so it really gets a good rub in to clean off the day’s grime.

Next is the Peach & Willow Bark Deep Pore Scrub. With a beautiful, creamy peach scent this product is gentler than I first expected. The little crumbs of peach stone are very fine so don’t rub too harshly on the skin and just leave a really deep-cleansed feeling. I tend to use this one in the shower as it is creamier and I have a tendency to leave little bits in my hairline.

Finally for this category is the Cranberry & Pomegranate Sugar Scrub, I use this on my legs mostly to prevent ingrown hairs and occasionally my arms if I get little dry patches. I love, love, love it! It smells so fruity and rich and has little pieces of cranberry seeds that also add to the sugary exfoliation. It also leaves a fine coating of pomegranate oil and shea butter after showering which keeps my skin feeling moisturised all the way to the next morning. (I have already almost finished my tub of this)

The final category is moisturizers! I honestly don’t think I have ever written the word ‘moisturizing’ more in my whole life time, but prepare yourself for a few more!

First up are 3 more products from the ‘Radiance’ range; Day Lotion with Royal Jelly and SPF 7, Day Cream with Royal Jelly and Body Lotion with Royal Jelly (getting the theme of this range?). All three have the same very subtle, fresh, clean scent and all are wonderfully light to the touch but still intensely moisturizing. I use the cream every day right now, morning and night most times, as I decided I’d save the lotion for when we get a bit more sun back. The body lotion is amazing, super hydrating for my legs, which get very dry and irritated by shaving, and it also contains Mica, which is a mineral that creates a glittering effect that lasts for about 3 days. My bf did initially mention Twilight when I first used it, but I promise, it is nothing like as intense as that sounds.

I also have a big pump bottle of Cocoa & Cupuaçu Butter Body Lotion for dry skin. This has a chocolatey makes-me-want-to-eat-it smell and is a really good thick (but not too heavy) lotion.

Last, but definitely not least, is the Honey & Shea Body Butter, another mouth watering smell, another top quality product.

Wow, that took longer than I anticipated, I hope at least a few of you made it to the finish and that my endless rhapsodising encouraged you rather than put you off from ever trying Burt’s Bees.
Anyway, I hope you have a lovely weekend whatever it is that you may be doing and that next time you see a bee out on its business you wave to the tiny, fuzzy worker rather than fleeing in terror (if you are severely allergic the latter is acceptable)