Since January is such a long month in financial terms (who decided to place 6 weeks between paydays?!) I haven’t bought any new sparkly products. Sob. So instead I thought I’d try out Manuka Doctor’s Apinourish Rejuvinating Facemask. With purified bee venom. Bzzz.
Now, bee venom has been used in face creams and facials for quite a while. Caroline Flack reportedly uses a bee venom face cream; while Kate Middleton apparently splashed out on a bee venom facial (After Camila Parkour-Bowles recommended it) before the royal wedding. And who wouldn’t want a complexion like hers?
Bee venom works as it tricks the skin into thinking that it’s been stung by a bee. So far so obvious. When the skin believes that it has been stung, blood rushes to the area whilst the production of collagen and elastin is also stimulated. All of this plumps the skin and makes it more taunt. In 2013, 1 ounce of bee venom cost £30, 000. Just a wild guess, but I’m presuming there isn’t actually much bee venom in this. I’m not sure what other ingredients are in it – mainly because I haven’t looked into it- but they seem to work.
I got this little tube of miracles as part of my Tesco Beauty Advent Calendar over Christmas (you can read about it here) however I was yet to use it. I applied a very, very thin layer of this as I tend to be a bit wary about new creams as I have sensitive skin. I left it on for 30 minutes; however you can leave it on for as little as 15 minutes and still get some very good results.
I thought this would tingle slightly, but there was no such feeling. It went on a dream and seemed to sink into the skin quite quickly. The results were amazing! It left my skin feeling super smooth and kept it that way. Which is saying something, when you consider I’ve previously suffered from eczema and dry skin.
Being the lazy thing that I am, I didn’t use any face creams for about 3 days this week. In the last few years, this is something that I’ve never done. Once you’ve got into a routine and have moisturised your skin into behaving, it becomes something of an addiction. This time, however I felt like I could let it slide for a few days. Mainly because my skin was in such a good condition I thought I could get away with it. My skin stayed soft, and even my normal make up seemed look better once applied.
So there you have it, I’m a bee venom convert. Although face creams and masks containing bee venom can be on the pricey side, I’ll definitely be investing.