New Zealand leads the way in the trend for products derived from bees, reports Janetta Mackay
The right royal fuss about bee venom may have originally emanated from Britain, where it was dubbed "nature's own botox", but it's providing canny Kiwi companies with plenty of business opportunities. Along with other bee by-products, including royal jelly and beeswax, bee venom is turning up in a host of new beauty products.
The smart money, though, remains on manuka honey, with its credibility coming from a scientifically proven role in treating wounds and inflammation in hospital patients.
Manuka honey has particular antibacterial phytochemical properties, measured on a UMF (unique manuka factor) scale, that make it of special interest in ongoing health and skincare research.
Bee venom is more heavily hyped, to the extent that a leading global forecaster picked it as one of the biggest beauty trends of 2013. This in the wake of the Royal Wedding, before which certain members of the bridal party were reported to have favoured facials with the stuff. Since then, savvy companies have been cranking up to produce and export more.
The growth of exports of venom is thanks partly to the ingenuity of a Russian-born scientist and one-time hobby beekeeper who now lives here and handily came up with a patented, humane way to extract it (basically the bees pass over a charged glass plate upon entering the hive, stimulating them to drop their load, but without injury).
Honey, generally, has long been added to skincare and, like beeswax in lip products, it has a recognised role as a humectant, meaning it helps hold moisture to the skin. If that honey is genuinely New Zealand's special manuka variety - a UMF rating being your best guarantee of that - then it has a unique selling proposition.
Given how marketers love not just a unique selling proposition, but a trend, it's no wonder bee venom has been added to many mixes.
In higher concentrations, most often in face masks or serums, bee venom produces a tightening sensation. Its marketing plays up claims of the substance having the age-defying ability to promote collagen regeneration.
Though bee venom skincare packaging may carry various "activity" or purity terminology, these often-initialised terms are trademarked to particular companies rather than being an industry standard, which the UMF mark is.
Another development is companies looking to add value to their sales, with product ranges in the last few years moving from mainly moisturising formulas, often grounded in the natural skincare sector, to an anti-ageing focus which typically commands higher prices.
We could have lined up some honey hand cream - this being one of my favourite uses for the ingredient - but, instead, we've chosen to focus on five same-size serums as examples of how honey is spreading itself around.
Comvita Active Lifting Serum, Bee Pure Rejuvenation and Repair Serum, Manuka Doctor ApiRefine Radiance Serum, Apicare Manuka Natural Night Serum and SaviQ Bee Venom Serum.
Manuka's healing antibacterial properties (measured by UMF) are often played up, but Comvita refreshingly says this is of most interest in the wound treatment area it excels in - or for those with compromised skin conditions such as eczema which its Medihoney Derma Cream caters for - rather than for beautifying skincare such as moisturisers and serums. So don't get too hung up on UMF ratings, although they do show you are getting good honey. This serum contains that, plus algae and plant extracts.
It is certified natural and comes in an airless pump. There's a good selection of companion products for various skin types and a brightening range. For stockists and online see comvita.co.nz.
2. Bee Pure Rejuvenation and Repair Serum - $79 Too new for Viva to have thoroughly checked out, but aimed at the upper end of the market, Bee Pure contains bee venom and UMF20+ manuka honey.
It has signed up a high-profile frontwoman in Kylie Bax, a top international model who recently returned home. So far, there is just this serum, a mask and an eye cream, suitable for all skin types. Bax says her use of them brings out the "glow factor" in skin.
She particularly rates the hydrating mask which, like this serum, is said to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles thanks to the venom's micro-swelling firming effect. beepure.co.nz
3. Manuka Doctor ApiRefine Radiance Serum - $35.95 Being named best new skincare brand in a 2012 British beauty industry award was a boon to new exporter Manuka Doctor, which was developed by a company selling honey.Its mask has made the shelves of the Sephora beauty emporium in the United States.
ApiClear (for troubled skin) and ApiNourish (for drier skin) contain purified bee venom and UMF18 manuka honey and have been supplemented by the new Api-Refine quartet of products aimed at delivering instantly visible cosmetic results along with the usual promises of longer-term action. As well as this silky illuminating and fragranced serum, which contains smoothing silicones and peptides, there is a mattifying primer, a lip plumper and a targeted wrinkle filler, making this an offering unlike others deploying honey.
A CC cream is also in the pipeline. Api-Refine is designed to be used with one of the two main ranges which have trial kits. manukadr.co.nz
4. Apicare Manuka Natural Night Serum - $29.90 Apicare's parent company is one of the longest-standing local makers of honey-based skincare, picking up on manuka well ahead of the pack. Its formulas are straightforward and the moisturising results from its widely available hand creams and lip balms are good. This serum is UMF16+ and has no added colour or fragrance and relies on a good quantity of hydrating plant oils, including camellia, rather than turning to silicones for a quick-fix slick feel.
The Manuka Natural range includes an exfoliating face wash and moisturisers, making it a sound, natural, everyday choice. Apicare has its own store in Onehunga Mall or for stockists and online see apicare.co.nz
5. SaviQ Bee Venom Serum - $79.99 The savvy Auckland company behind supermarket success story Dominate men's hair products and Primal Earth skincare spotted another market opportunity in SaviQ, a higher-pitched, seven-piece range. It uses bee venom, non-rated manuka honey and plant extracts and carries the EcoCert stamp (in this case for having 10 per cent of total ingredients organically farmed, but nearly 99 per cent of natural origin).
The serum's twist top, pop-up pump dispenses a gel-like liquid rich in hydrating aloe extract. Exclusive to selected Farmer's stores and at saviq.org
The French company has a team of scientists doing ongoing research into the bounty of bees, which only adds to the buzz. It says Abeille Royale's blend of honeys and royal jelly helps firm, smooth, lift and hydrate skin and stimulate cellular renewal, which slows with age. It is silky in texture and leaves a nice sheen and the typical trail of fragrance of much French skincare.
You'll find the serum in top overseas department stores. It is stocked in Auckland at Smith & Caughey's where it costs $264 a pot.
Beeswax (or cera alba on some ingredient lists) pops up often. It has a useful moisture-locking barrier function and is sometimes supplemented by honey which offers extra hydration and, in the case of manuka, helps heal cracked lips.
Bee venom can stimulate micro-circulation so no surprise it is used in a few lip products to give a temporary, plumped, bee-stung look. Try Abeeco's Lip Plumper.
For natural moisturising try Eco-Store's Beeswax Lip Balm, Living Nature's Lip Balm with manuka honey, Apicare's Manuka Honey Lip Butter trio with fruit flavours, royal jelly and pollen, and its Protect Me Beeswax Lip Balm with SPF15.
Tauranga company Mossop's favours rewarewa honey in its Natruel Moisturising Lip Balm. The rest of the Natruel skincare range uses manuka. From overseas come US company Burt's Bees' tinted balms and fruity shimmers with beeswax and The Body Shop's Honey Bronze balm in a little beehive of a pot.
Its HoneyMania Lip Balm uses Ethiopian fair trade honey. This is used across the new HoneyMania body range which includes a bee-embossed soap and a bubble bath melt.
