The Body Shop Honey Bronze Range: first impressions, swatches, Einstein quotes and bee related facts.

Amongst the many brands releasing "Summer" makeup, the range from The Body Shop is the one that has peaked my interest the most as it goes beyond your usual bronzer/blusher staples.

Get comfy because this post is looooooooong..

Vital statistics.
The range..

From L-R:

• Honey Bronze Shimmering Dry Oil £16.00: This gives you a dry finish which is something I think is needed because you don't want to appear sweaty..or sweaty and shimmery.  It contains Community Fair Trade honey and beeswax which is what a product like this needs as it aims to make you glisten and keep your skin soft.  You need to wash your hands after using it though as it will stain!
  
• Honey Bronze Brilliance Powder £16.00: An illuminating powder that you can whack on your cheeks and your collarbone to give you a glow.  It comes with an inbuilt brush and it contains Community Fair Trade honey and beeswax.  It comes in two shades, I know that one is Bronze Shimmer but I don't know the name of the other, sorry!
• Honey Bronze Bronzing Gel for Face £11.00: This suits all skintones and gives an even and natural-looking honey-bronzed glow.  It contains Community Fair Trade honey, beeswax and organic aloe vera.  You need to wash your hands after using this for the staining issue.
  
• Honey Bronze Lip Nectar (Honey Bunch/Honeycomb) £9.50: These have the typical payoff you get from glosses and you can wear them in the same manner.  They contain Community Fair Trade Honey, beeswax and marula oil so they'll moisturise your lips right up.
  
• Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder £13.00: A matte bronzer (woo!) that contains Community Fair Trade honey, beeswax and marula oil.  It's available in four shades which is good because I've never found a one shade fits all bronzer. 

 

The packaging is in your typical "bronzed beauty" colours.  Some of the actual products remind me of that range MAC had out a while ago, Naked Honey.

What I think (aka the important bit).

I was sent the Bronzing Gel in Honey Glow, the Brilliance Powder in Bronze Shimmer and the Bronzing Powder in Deep Matte.

The shade I have comes out too orange if you're over zealous and it does have large particles of glitter in it but I find that glitter is a lot more forgiving when you're tanned/in the Summer.  It spreads really easily when you use your fingers (this is how I use it).  I've used this three or four times since I've had it and I quite like it as it gives me a nice non greasy looking sheen.

The Bronzing Powder is well pigmented but appears orange on my skin upon initial application.  However, when I blend it out, it passes muster.  The honeycomb pattern is a nice touch which sets it apart from the other bronzers I have.  It's smooth and not at all chalky.  And it really is matte!

You can clearly see the coloured powder in the tube but when I put it on my skin, all I get a fine smattering of glitter.  Having said that, the glitter catches the light very nicely once you do have some on.  I'm not sure what a brilliance powder should really do but I wouldn't be too impressed with this had I spent £16.00 on it.

Swatches!
The Bronzing Powder and Gel are both pigmented but I've swatched them as I'd apply them, hence the reason they're sheer.

Click on the last photo to see the glitter.  In reality, you can only see it under false lighting.

Bee facts and how you can help preserve the bee brethren.
Until very recently, bee keeping was illegal in New York..  Yep, honey bees, along with hyenas, tarantulas, cobras and dingoes were all deemed dangerous creatures.  I can see why all bar the bees were seen as dangerous.  But then weren't the Clan always going on about killer bees? And where are they from?  Hyenas  shit me right up, along with tarantulas.  I'm OK with snakes as Simon used to have one when he was younger *insert wang jokes here* and I can't even take an animal called the dingo seriously.

The Honey Bronze range uses honey and beeswax taken from traditional hives as they continue to "work" once the honey has been removed.

You can help the bee brethren by:

• Becoming a bee keeper.  I was running this idea past Simon the other day and I'm convinced I could do it by just donning one of my old Punjabi suits with the chunni wrapped around my face and some old winter boots on.  He wasn't convinced but I'll show him!
• Buying honey sourced from bee keepers that don't kill the bees at the end of every session.  I didn't know they did this, I thought bees just died themselves.  Why would you kill a bee?  Isn't that a bit counterproductive to your honey making endeavours?

What does Einstein have to do with this? 
He said that if honey bees become extinct, human society will follow in four years.  Does that mean that a civilised society or that all humans will perish?  Either way, I'm not looking forward to the day that the bees cease their activities.  Oh that's right, I got mad rhymin' skills.

The range is due for release in the next week or so (end of May 2011) and if you purchase anything in store you get a packet of bee friendly seeds that you can plant and help bee preservation.  What do you think, hit or miss?  Do you prefer matte bronzers or shimmery ones?  Do you agree with Einstein that the demise of the honey bee will signal the demise of human?   Would you ever bee *ahem* a bee keeper?