Organic Honey Bee Face Mask - just like chocolate fudge on your face

This is the most fun I had with a product review so far. I put on Honey Bee Holistic's Organic Honey Bee Face Mask while my four year old daughter watched. Here is our conversation:

Eva: Why do you look like that?

Me: Because I want to make my skin look pretty.

Eva: Can I lick the chocolate off your face?

Me: It's not chocolate.  It's clay and honey.

Eva: Is that from a muddy puddle?

Me: No, honey, it' super special clay that Melissa collects when she's hiking in the mountains.

Eva: Can I have some on my face, too?

Me: Sure you can.

She wasn't so sure about it.  

Me, though?  I loved it!  Do you remember playing in sticky mud when you were a kid?  What's not to love?

Apart from the entertainment factor, the reason I love this product is because it made my skin so soft and moisturized.

Let me start from the beginning.

I was a little nervous about putting a mask containing clay on my super sensitive, dry skin.  I've had bad experiences with clay before, leaving my skin stressed and even drier.  Not this mask.  Melissa puts honey and jojoba oil in it, which are both incredibly moisturizing.

I didn't have any directions on how to apply this and how long to leave it on, so I just opened the jar, put my finger in it, and tried to put it on my skin.  That didn't work, because it was too thick, so I mixed it with a little water, and - voila!  It adhered to my face like a charm.

I noticed immediately that this mask is different than other products I've tried before finding Honey Bee Holistics.  The minute I put it on, I felt nourished.  I also noticed some gentle exfoliating effect, probably from the oatmeal. 

Eva kept asking me funny questions, which made me laugh.  When I opened my mouth, I noticed the taste of honey.  Yum!  I had to remind myself not to lick my lips and eat the stuff, especially since it looks like chocolate fudge.

I left the mask on while I told Eva stories under the Christmas tree.

After 30 minutes, I decided to take it off.  It never dried, which I love, because whenever clay dries, it pulls on my skin and kind of hurts.  The mixture came off nicely with a warm wash cloth.

My skin felt amazing!  I never even put moisturizer on my skin afterwards!  I usually HAVE to put lotion on after washing my face, even if it's just with water.  But with this mask, I didn't need to.  Even now, hours after removing it, I know I won't have to put any moisturizer on my face until tonight, after my shower.  Wow!!!

I told you I was having fun with this product!

See?  Nice and rosy skin!

Now for YOUR chance to WIN a 2oz jar of YOUR OWN Organic Honey Clay Face Mask customized to YOUR skin type!
Enter below!! Please don't forget when you get to the entry for commenting that you comment here on the blog post, and not in the giveaway link box!! Thanks!! Good luck!

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Organic Vanilla Mint Lip Balm.......tested out in Mexico!

I'm writing this lounging on my balcony overlooking the ocean in Mexico. No kidding.

My husband and I have a child-free (!!!!) week in Cabo San Lucas, courtesy of my husband's brother, who owns a timeshare at a fancy hotel. He is letting us use a week for free, which is incredibly generous of him. We would never stay at a fancy place like this, but am I complaining? No. I am sipping Mexican beer, listening to and looking at ocean waves, computer on my lab, ready to review Honey Bee Holistics lip balm.

And let me tell you: lip balm is essential in Mexico. There is lots of sun, salt water, and wind to dry up those lips, and since this is kind of a honeymoon, I have to make sure my lips stay nice and kissable.

Melissa's lip balm is working wonders on me so far. I am very picky about lip balm: I don't like the stuff that feels greasy and thick on the lips, and I don't like artificial smells. I also don't like it when lip balm makes your lips tingle. So this vanilla balm is perfect for a lip balm snob like me.

Disaster struck on the flight to Mexico, somewhere over Phoenix. Across the aisle from us sat a family with a two year old daughter.  They had their hands full keeping the little girl happy. My husband said something about our four year old daughter, who would be bouncing off the seat by now, and I cracked up laughing. That did it. The recycled airplane air had made my lips dry, and I had forgotten to put the lip balm in my carry-on bag. I felt my lip split. It hurt. Bad start to our trip.

Immediately after landing and reclaiming our baggage, I yanked out Melissa's lip balm and put it on. I re-applied it every hour for the rest of the day. The next day, my lips were good as new!

We have been playing in the ocean, swimming in a chlorinated pool, sunbathing in the hot sun, drinking plenty of salty margaritas, but my lips have stayed hydrated, soft and kissable!

I get giddy just looking at the ingredients.  Listen to this: Organic Tahitian Vanilla Bean infused olive oil!  Wow!  How exotic is that!  Then there is local unrefined beeswax.  I love, love, love that Melissa uses local ingredients.  In fact, I bet I know the guy whose bees make this.  He also sells honey, and I buy from him!  Way to support local!  Then there is organic fair trade shea butter.  No, not some ordinary shea butter, but fair trade!  Yes!  And then we have organic peppermint essential oil and organic vanilla essence.

Now this is a lip balm I support buying.

Now is YOUR chance to WIN one of your own!! This time there will be 2 winners, so share with a friend!!

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Organic All-Purpose Surface Scrub - or as Corina calls it: My new miracle cleaner

Please promise me you won't judge me when you look at the pictures in this post. Okay?  Please don't judge me!  Okay?
This post is about cleaning with Honey Bee Holistic's Organic All-Purpose Surface Scrub.

Now, let me first tell you that I am the daughter of a German mother. A mother whose mission in life is to clean, and then to clean some more. Things were spotless when I grew up. I don't know how she managed this with four kids in the house.
 I have three kids and a farm, with lots of soil and dirt and manure. I should be the one concerned about cleaning.

The sad truth is: I am not obsessed about cleaning. I wish I were, but I do realize that if I took my home making duties as far as my mother did, I would be hospitalized in a mental institution. While my house is reasonably hygenic, it's very messy and untidy. I put one thing away, and my four-year-old drags it out on the carpet ten seconds later. I make a home cooked meal from scratch every night, and after cleaning the pots and pans and dishes, the next day still looks like a bomb detonated in my kitchen. Every now and then, I dust in the living room. Then my husband makes a fire in the wood stove, and dust gently spreads all over everything immediately. Do you see what I'm saying? I give up.

So let's talk about my stove. It's a very nice stove, stainless steel and heavy duty. I cook on it a lot, and I take pride in creating nourishing meals for my family. You can imagine what this workhorse looks like, what with all the stuff that drips down and boils over. Cleaning the stove is one of those things I don't like to do because it is such a futile activity. It's so hard to do and takes a lot of elbow grease. I don't like the standard cleaners you buy at the store, with all their harsh ingredients and chemical smells (another excuse not to clean the stove!).

So when Honey Bee Holistic came up with her all purpose surface scrub, I resolved to make my oven look like new. This is what I started with.  Yucky, I know.  Don't judge me, okay?

This scrub has only natural ingredients in it, and a total of 16 essential oils, if I counted right. It smells awesome!  It's like cleaning in a garden scented with peppermint, thyme, rosemary, lavender, oregano, pine....  It comes in a cute little mason jar with a pretty sticker on top and looks like a paste. It's not gritty, but smooth, and I wanted to lick it, it looked so appetizing.

I can't believe how gentle it was on the stainless steel. Previously, when I cleaned the stove with a scrubbie, it left fine scratches on it, which are still there. But using this cleaner, it didn't scratch at all – neither the stainless steel nor my skin. That's right: I didn't wear gloves, because I really wanted to feel everything in order to write a thorough review. Maybe Melissa should market this scrub as an exfoliant for hands?

Okay, I am getting carried away here. I want to show off my “new” stove, looking clean, smelling clean, and oh-so-shiny!  My mother would be proud of me.

This is now officially my new miracle cleaner.  Believe me, it's a big deal to get someone like me excited about cleaning!  I love this stuff.  You will, too, even if you don't like cleaning.  

NOW for YOUR chance at snagging a jar of your own!! Follow the entries below to get entered to WIN one of your own jars!! This would come in VERY handy to all of us who are cleaning for the Holidays before company comes to visit!!

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