I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for make-up.

I’ve got to check out the latest and greatest. So on a recent trip to the drug store, I was lured to the cosmetic aisle like a fish to shiny objects.

They put all the new stuff on an endcap. Brightly colored displays featuring images of too perfect women adorn the shelves and scream, “try this product and you’ll look like ME!”

The blonde in me kicks in…… Okay….

Mascara seems to be the one to get me. It’s easy for me to overlook anything foundation related. My skin is way too sensitive and I know what will happen if I go there. I love eye shadow, so sometimes the bright new shades will captivate me. And I’m pretty loyal to my lip products (Honeybee Perfection Lip Liner and Seduction Lipstick) so that’s not the best bait either. But mascara intrigues me. I want to have the BEST. And I’m always comparing mine to other brands.

Nine bucks later, I’m walking out of the store with yet another tube of black mascara. This one has a huge super new technology brush which includes both brush and comb bristles. “Finally,” I think, “a mascara that won’t clump. I mean, how could it with this brush that has TWO KINDS of bristles?”

The next morning as I apply my make-up, I’m anxious to try my new purchase. I open up the tube to find the brush is HUGE – about the size of my eye ball. I’m wondering how I’m going to keep from poking an eye out with this thing (especially since my kitten Falon is walking back and forth across the vanity in front of my face, begging for attention…if her tail goes up my nose one more time I’m tempted to bite it to send her packing). With the precision of an artist I began sweeping the bulbous object across my lashes. Clump. Clump. Dang. I get out my single applicator brush that I swiped from Sephora, and begin sweeping away about half the product which is caked on my lashes. It’s about 6:30 in the morning and I’m not the brighest bulb at that hour, so I think to myself that possibly things will go better with the other eye. Several tissues, gobs of mascara and one upset cat later, I reach for my own brand of mascara and start over. Nine bucks down the tube. Rats.

Will I repeat this process again? Probably. Will I be lured by vibrating mascara wands, colored mascara that promises to make my green eyes even greener, and super techno advanced mascara brushes that will make me have lashes like a Victoria’s Secret model? No doubt. And they’ll all end up in my vanity drawer. At least they make fun cat toys.

One of my (younger) friends suggested I check out Facebook. “Yeah, right” I thought to myself. That’s a communication tool for kids in high school. Like I have time for that! A few months later, and I’m on the darn thing ever day…okay several times a day.

It is a good communication tool. Yeah, I like the voyeur aspect of seeing what my friends are doing and checking out old classmates, but I think it can be so much more. I’ve created both a “Group” and a “Fan Page” for Honeybee Gardens. What better way to communicate with my customers in real time than to be able to upload a note or comment with a few key strokes? And as you can tell from looking over this blog, I’m not very good at keeping up with it! But Facebook is different. It compels you to update it and keep it current. Instead of my personal page where I post stupid stuff like “Melissa is eating a sandwich”, I can post useful information on my Honeybee Facebook page like “Honeybee Gardens was featured in this month’s issue of Real Simple Magazine – check it out!”

Maybe I’m justifying my obsession with Facebook. Or maybe it really is a smart and effective communications tool. Oh, and did I mention it’s free?

“You look tired means you look old.
And you look rested means you’ve had collagen.”

- Nathan Lane to Robin Williams in The Birdcage

Someone close to me called recently to let me in on a secret – she is going to have plastic surgery. Now, it’s a minor procedure – we’re not talking boob job – but she begged me not to tell ANYONE. Of course I agreed, but it made me wonder why she was so adamant. Did she think others would criticize her for being vain? Was she afraid the younger folk would say, “You’re old, so why bother?”

Which made me examine the dichotomy that exists in our society. We’re all supposed to be 5’10” blondes, tan (somehow without setting foot in the sun), tight-bodied, an unrealistic 118 lbs. with flawless skin and not a sag or wrinkle anywhere, no matter what your age. BUT if you choose to sneak in a little nip tuck to help you achieve that level of perfection, you’re scorned and marked with a scarlet letter. So others choose to ignore this unachievable level of perfection and let their hair go gray, allow gravity to take over and celebrate their changing bodies. These women are categorized as New Age kooks who obviously don’t care what they look like. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched the Celebrity Plastic Surgeries Gone Wrong shows on cable. Who could forget the photos of a botched Tara Reid or plastic surgery addict Jenny Lee who looks like a walking Barbie doll? We scorn them and make fun of them, but aren’t we the same people who created them? This is the same society who will scoff at Cher for having a nip tuck, but when the subject of abortion comes up will scream, “I can do what I want with my body!” I don’t get it. Maybe I’m not supposed to. I guess we can’t all be Joan Rivers who makes fun of herself for having so much work done. Will I still secretly sneer at the 40 year old blonde trainer at the gym who I know has had breast implants and regular Botox but looks amazing? Probably. But I hate her because we all want to be her. When will it be okay to just be our own imperfect selves? Sadly, not in my lifetime.

My mother-in-law called the other day.

“When are you going to start making a wrinkle cream?” she asked.

This surprised me. It means that possibly my mother-in-law is finally starting to take my business seriously. When someone asks, “What does Randy’s wife do?” the standard response is “Oh she has her own little business. That ‘all natural’ stuff. Ya know.” So perhaps by her asking me this question, it means she actually believes in what I’m doing. Gee, and it only took twelve years and worldwide distribution into 15 different countries….

“I won’t be making a wrinkle cream” I responded. “Why not?!” she demands. Well because we’re all about making real solution-based products that truly work and are good for your body. There is no cure for wrinkles. It’s the sad truth. Lots and lots of companies out there will try to tell you otherwise, but it’s just not true. You can make wrinkled skin look better by plumping it up, but it only lasts as long as you use the product. I’m certain this is not what she wanted to hear.

“The good news is there’s a much cheaper way of making your skin look better,” I proceeded. “Make sure you eat right – good whole natural and organic foods. Drink LOTS of water. And exercise to improve the circulation in your skin.” I could tell she was already bored with my answers. “That’s what everyone says,” she whines. Well, there’s probably a reason why everyone says this, but I hold that thought to myself and continue, “The other thing you can do is provide external hydration to your skin. Skin loves humidity.”

“I live in Florida,” she responds without adding the “duhhhh….”

“Yeah, I know you live in Florida” I tell her, “But you rarely go outside. You’re often inside with the air conditioner on. The air conditioner sucks the humidity out of the air and consequently out of your skin. Try putting a small humidifier in your room.” I continue to tell her the story of how scary my skin was looking earlier this winter. As soon as I put a humidifier in my bedroom, my skin almost instantly started to look better. Those little fine lines I was starting to see are gone. My skin has never gone through a winter looking this good. And the only thing I really changed was adding that humidifier.

“So you’re not going to make a wrinkle cream?” she asks after patiently listening to my story.

“No, I don’t think so.” I hear her sigh. I wonder if she was preparing to tell her friends that her daughter-in-law was working on a magical cure for wrinkles. Perhaps then making her son wealthy and soon retiring to Caymans. But alas, she must continue to tell them…only when asked….that I make “that all natural stuff.” Ya know.

I tried to tell myself it’s just that time of year. November in Pennsylvania can be pretty tough on your skin. Well, for that matter, so can December through March. The frigid outside air combined with dry interior environments can take a toll on your skin quickly. That’s what I told myself when I looked in the mirror yesterday morning.

Okay, I’m fighting a cold. And PMSing (a little too much info). But when I looked in the mirror before dragging myself into the shower, I was horrified. And it wasn’t the typical do-I-really-look-that-scary-in-the-morning horror. My skin looked like it had aged five years overnight. My dermatologists’ words from earlier this summer came flooding back to me, “stay out of the sun!” But I knew I couldn’t wake up to instant sun damage. There had to be something else going on. The skin under my eyes was crêpe-y and gaunt. Crows feet were forming at the corners of my eyes, and there was a crevice between my brows the size of the Grand Canyon. Thoughts of the big 4 – 0 looming on the horizon tortured my brain as I stepped into the warm steamy shower. “Okay, think this through,” I murmured to myself. “I know I’m dehydrated from the head cold. That’s a big part of this. And I haven’t exfoliated my skin in forever. It has been awfully cold and dry outside….” Thoughts of a friend from the gym who is my age and regularly gets Botox injections raced through my mind. NOOOO! I reached for my old terry washcloth and lathered it up with plain all natural bar soap. My skin was well-hydrated from having been in the warm water for a few minutes, so I proceeded to rub the soapy washcloth over my face using a small circular pattern. I wasn’t scrubbing – scrubbing is a bad thing. Just gently massaging the fabric over my skin. After thoroughly rinsing and breathing in some steam, I emerged and looked into the dreaded mirror once again. The water gods had done me justice. My skin looked pink and plump. The wrinkles were gone and my pores looked happy. I quickly dabbed on a bit of natural moisturizer to lock in the look.

So next time you look in the mirror at your skin and think “this is NOT me”, give the old washcloth trick a try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results. Remember, drink plenty of water, avoid bad-for-you foods, get lots of rest, exercise and don’t waste your money on take-out-a-mortgage skin creams, acids/peels, or injectible poisons. Bee well and bee naturally beautiful.

They let me out of my cage for a few hours this weekend, so I decided to go shopping. We headed down toward Philly and hit a large mall that I enjoy going to. Inside the mall is a large chain cosmetics store (I don’t feel like getting sued, so I won’t use their name). I had just fed my husband, so I knew I had a good half an hour before he started complaining (thank God for L-tryptophan).

I walked into the crowded store and began perusing the new lines. I enjoy looking at new packaging and new product concepts. I tell my husband that it’s “research” and he usually responds, “yeah, just shop and quit trying to make excuses.” Within about 30 seconds, a young store clerk comes up to me and asks if I need help. I’d love to say that I’m the owner of a cosmetics line and I’m checking out the competition, but instead I say “oh, I was looking for eye liner.” She proceeds to drag me over to a brand whose name matches the crappy ingredients they use. Then she pulls out an electric purple shade and says “let’s try this on you.” Before I can utter “no” the pencil is practically in my eyeball. I freeze. I feel the grinding back and forth of the crayon along the inner corner of my left eye. “See…that looks hot with your green eyes.” I grab for the mirror to find the neon shade carved into my skin. I almost swore I could hear Cyndi Lauper “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” playing in the background. I tried to explain to the clerk that this bright 80s shade would probably look lovely on her, but at my age and with my skintone, I didn’t think it was a good fit. Besides, my eyes are rather close set, so the darker shades should be on the outside of my eye – not the inner corner. “Oh, well you seem to know a little about make-up,” she responds. Then looks at my husband who seems to be getting dizzy from all the artificial scents being sprayed in the air. “What do you think?” Now, that’s just about one of the scariest things you can say to a guy. No matter what they say, they’ll be wrong. Hedging his bet, he simply nods his head – we have no idea what he means. I again express my appreciation for her opinion, but don’t think it’s going to work for me. “Fine” she says, dismissively, and walks away.

Hey, I’m not cheap. I would buy it if I liked it and if the ingredients didn’t scare the hell out of me. I grab the pencil and hunt her down. Half way back in the store I spot her and make a bee-line for her. “Just so you know…I’m going to buy this pencil anyway.” Why did I feel like I had something to prove to this stranger? It reminded me of that episode of Seinfeld with the crested blazer. “Oh..” she muttered, obviously un-phased. Just when I thought the combat was over, she spins around with a palette of eye shadows in her hand. “These would look hot on you.” ‘Has she been hanging out with Paris Hilton?’ I think to myself as I feel the brush hit my eyeball. Within minutes, one eye looks like I had been hit by a baseball bat. “That looks so hot,” the clerk says as I scan the room looking for my husband who has mysteriously disappeared by this point. “um….yeah…could you even me out….I don’t want to walk around the mall with one eye…um….’done’”. She proceeds to trowel product on the other eye as I stay very still, thinking any movement could only make it worse. My skin was starting to burn – what was in this stuff? Then came the mascara. By the time she was done, I made Tammy Faye look good. And I had to walk to my car. Thankfully the young girl got distracted and I made my escape. My husband made no comments – smart man that he is. He kept his arm tight around my waist and I swear he was flashing his wedding ring – did he think I looked like a hooker??! I was happy to return home and wash the garbage off my aching skin. As I sat on the floor playing with the dog, my husband brought over the items we purchased on our trip. Out from a bag fell the purple eye liner. I looked up at him in horror. “But I thought you wanted it….? he said” Poor guy.

Excuses, excuses. Seems like they’re all I have for not writing in my blog.

But it’s not like I haven’t meant to. I’ve had great ideas! When I’m putting gas in my car, or taking a shower or lying awake at 2:00 a.m. But when I finally get to work, those ideas are gone. And they never happen AT work. Maybe I’m too busy when I’m here. Doesn’t it seem like we’re too busy for anything these days? The days now just fly by. Summer is over already. My little niece is going to be 17 in two months. I remember when my sister-in-law was in my wedding and we found out she was pregnant with this child. And the kid will be graduating in a year! Where does the time go? Is our society moving too fast? Am I the only one who feels this way?

Back to cosmetics – ya know, what I’m supposed to be writing about. My major dilemma for the past few months has been our next product introduction. Not to let the cat out of the bag (that’s a weird expression) but it’s going to be foundation. The issue is what KIND of foundation? About half of customers surveyed want liquid; the other half want loose mineral powder. The sad part is that I can’t do both (unless L’Oreal decides to be generous and donate half their R&D budget to me). The other issue is color range. My coloring is different from your coloring which is different from your neighbor’s coloring, etc. So do I put out 20 colors? I can just hear the stores screaming at me now – “do we REALLY have to stock ALL of this?” “it takes up too much room” “my customers only wear these three shades”.

So that’s where I’m at with things. What is YOUR opinion? Let me hear from you. Afterall, we make these products for you – we’re just looking for a little guidance.

Okay, we all know how excited I am about the new lip gloss and mascara. These products have been more than two years in the making – hey, I wanted to do it right! So I was all comfy and happy with putting them up on the site, and then a customer called and our conversation had me realize that some people need assistance with putting on their mascara!

This customer told me she can’t wear any mascara because it smudges below her eyes almost instantly. I asked if her skin was oily. She said yes, but not excessively oily. Long story short, I came to find out she wears foundation – oil-based foundation! So now she has oily skin over which she is applying more oil. Hello! Anything is going to stick to that and smudge. We talked and I suggested she not apply the oily foundation to the area below her eyes (the powder foundation will do a better job of covering up her undereye circles anyway). Plus the powder foundation will help to control her natural oilyness. If her lashes do happen to touch the skin below the eyes, the powder will also help to continue to “set” the mascara. I’ll bet her smudgy problems go away now!

You see there, with any problem it helps to talk it out. So who wants to chat with me about my workaholic issues….? anybody….??

We get this question every single day. I wish I had a better answer.

See it depends upon where you live and what stores are in your area. And who the body care buyer is. And what mood he or she is in. And what phase the moon is in. Okay seriously, here’s the deal. We mostly sell our products to distributors. Distributors are big companies who stock products from a whole bunch of different companies to make purchasing easier for stores. Think about it this way, if you’re a big health food store like Whole Foods Market, imagine how difficult it would be to place an order for all the stuff you needed if you had to contact each company individually to buy their products. You would be calling us for lipstick, Sun & Earth for laundry detergent, Kashi for cereal, etc., etc. So distributors make it easy – a store like Whole Foods can call them up, tell them all the stuff they need, and the distributor personally delivers the products to that store, several times a week if need be.

So where does that leave us? Pretty much not knowing where our products end up!! Now there are some stores who contact us directly for product, and some stores who call us with questions or needing testers – we keep track of them so when you come to us and ask us where to find our products in say Atlanta, we can tell you.

“Well why not just ask the distributors for a list of stores?” you might ask. Because they won’t tell us. Why should they give us their list of customers and risk us selling directly to those stores? It’s really a very frustrating process.

In general, you’ll find our products at health food stores like Whole Foods Markets, New Seasons, etc. Or simply check with your local health food store. If they don’t have the product you’re looking for in stock, they can probably order it for you at no extra cost to you. They’re buying from these distributors anyway, so why not just tack an extra lipstick on to their order? If you want, you can email us for a list of distributors that sell in your area. Some of these stores may not even know about us (hey, we don’t have the advertising dollars that the big boys do, and with all of those bigger companies getting bought by even BIGGER companies, it’s getting that much harder for us to get the word out). So by talking to a store buyer about our water-based nail polish or odorless polish remover, you might be educating them and allowing them to offer better products to their customers, which they may not have otherwise even known about!

Another thing we’re doing to try and make it easier for our customers to find our products locally is that we’re making a list – and checking it twice (sorry, just had to say that…haven’t had my coffee yet). We’re compiling a list of stores who carry our products, and which products they carry. We plan to publish that list on our web site. So if you know of a store in your area who carries our products, TELL US! We’ll put their info on our site to help all of our customers. And really, it helps you too. If we know about these stores, we can make sure they have fresh product testers, proper educational information available for their customers, updated colors and new products. It’s really a good thing for everyone. It makes the store’s job easier and makes it easier for you to find the products. Okay it makes things a little harder for us to keep track of all that, but hey, that’s what we’re here for!

As always, we love hearing from you. Let us know your thoughts. You can use our on-line comments form or just email me directly: melissa@honeybeegardens.com

I’m off to get that coffee…

I LOVE Valentine’s Day. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that my birthday is the day before (if only my mom could have held on for four more hours, I’d be a Valentine’s baby). Still, it was fun growing up with heart-shaped birthday cakes and candy hearts and I usually never got shafted having a birthday so close to a holiday (my husband has learned that they are two very distinct and separate days!). This year, I’m getting a little wild for the event. I have decided to fly to Miami and get my first – and last – tattoo. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years, and decided that now was the time to go under the knife – I mean, needle. What will my tattoo be? I’ll leave you guessing for now…

Considering I’ll be having such a memorable holiday, I was wondering what everyone else was doing. So I decided to hold a contest: what was your most memorable Valentine’s Day? And it could be anything – good, bad, crazy. Tell us! Did your boyfriend surprise you with a romantic engagement? Did your girlfriend say she was busy that night, but you later found her at a restaurant with someone else? Did a moose plow into your living room window while you were watching a romantic movie with your husband? We want to know! Share your stories with us, and the top five winners will receive a $25 gift certificate to honeybeegardens.com Email your tales to sales@honeybeegardens.com Winners will be decided the week of Valentine’s Day.