Honey: The Anti-Aging Beauty Remedy

Photo by Sandi Benedicta

Honey has been revered as an anti-aging remedy for centuries. Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, renowned for her exquisite appearance, was said to have used milk and honey facial masks to smooth and firm the skin as part of her beauty regime. During the Ming Dynasty period in China, women lathered a mixture of honey and orange peel on their faces to help clear blemishes and keep their complexion dewy.

Honey bees work diligently to cultivate the sweet golden-hued substance—there are hundreds of unique types of honey found around the globe. Flavours and colour vary, depending on the blossom.

Raw, unpasteurized honey is filled with vitamins and minerals, promoting anti-aging properties that play an integral role in repairing and renewing skin cells. The result is youthful, glowing skin. If that’s not enough to make you want to slather sticky honey on your face, this natural-beauty remedy is high in antibacterial content and even acts as a humectant, helping to draw and seal in moisture. It’s a perfect ingredient to keep skin hydrated, especially in cold weather.

L.A.’s May Lindstrom Skin, which uses natural ingredients, is a must-try. The Honey Mud Enzyme & Acid Facial Pudding is infused with organic raw honey, salicylic acid extracted from wintergreen leaves, and white halloysite clay, honey mud softens and plumps the face, gently exfoliating and removing pollutants, resulting in radiant skin texture. It’s great for sensitive skin too.

Guerlain knows a thing or two about honey —the company even launched a bee lab to research the biological properties of honey. Its luxury honey-inspired skin-care line Abeille Royale is filled with naturally derived ingredients. Even the eco-designed pump bottles are embellished with little gold bees. The bee has been a corporate symbol since 1853.

Guerlain’s Double R Renew & Repair Advanced Serum is a honey lover’s dream. In addition to honey, one of the key components is royal jelly, a coveted secretion made by the worker bees to feed the queen bee. The serum has exceptional anti-aging benefits, lifting the skin and refining pores.

Be sure to add Guerlain’s Abeille Royale Advanced Youth Watery Oil (made with rare black bee honey from Ouessant Island, in Brittany, France) to your daily beauty ritual. This illuminating oil helps moisturize, creating a youthful appearance while fortifying your skin.

Eminence’s award-winning organic Birch Water Purifying Essence, formulated in Hungary, is like wearing a touch of nature on your face. The scent is reminiscent of a day spent in the woods. Enhanced with honey, mushroom extracts, and botanical collagen, calms the skin, and reduces fine lines almost instantly.

Made in Canada, Bee By The Sea’s Clay and Honey Detox Mask is the ideal skin pick-me-up, rejuvenating dry, dull skin with its ethically sourced ingredients of honey, Moroccan lava clay, rose hip, and sea buckthorn. The face mask draws out impurities, leaving you with a healthy, radiant glow.