Beauty and the Bees
Tomorrow – 20th May 2022 – is World Bee Day. At Beauty Bible, we're doing our bit for bees by embracing 'No-Mow May', which means leaving the mower in its shed, and allowing all the grasses and wild flowers in the lawn to grow and flourish. This gives an all-important habitat not only for bees, but for other pollinators, which is incredibly important in a world where insecticides, housing development and generally paving over the landscape have put us in an incredibly precarious position, in terms of the eco-system.
There are plenty of beauty brands out there who 'get' the importance of bees, too – not least because bee ingredients are so valuable in cosmetics (albeit avoided by vegan brands). So, to celebrate World Bee Day (read more about it here), we thought we'd share a little round-up of some of the encouraging actions being taken.
Guerlain
Bees are the emblem of the Guerlain brand, adorning their famed 'bee bottles' since the dawn of the perfume house. Bee-derived ingredients like royal jelly and propolis are also at the heart of many of their creations, particularly Abeille Royale skincare.
Guerlain sum up the importance of bees, quite beautifully: ‘If bees were no longer to exist, most fruits, flowers and seeds would disappear forever, taking with them an infinite number of irreplaceable colours, flavours and smells. Across the world, intensive farming, vanishing habitats, climate change and so forth are drastically impacting the health of bees, both wild and domestic. As exceptional pollinators, bees are “essential to our food safety, nutrition and environment.’
They work with UNESCO on initiatives to protect bees, through their Guerlain For Bees Conservation Programme, and you have a chance to help: from 20th-22nd May, 20% of sales both in store and online will be donated to the programme. Plus (and we will be doing this!), they will donate €20 donated for every Instagram repost of the visual created by Tomáš Libertíny, above, including the hashtags #GuerlainForBees and #WorldBeeDay (their Insta is @guerlain).
Neal’s Yard Remedies
These guys have long supported bee causes, giving over £250,000 to bee causes since 2011. Recently, they also helped to co-ordinate a massively successful petition, delivered to 10 Downing Street, which asked for a return to a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides – which basically cause bee genocide. (The government recently reversed a previous ban, which has environmentalists up in arms.)
You can support their bee initiatives through the fabulous Bee Lovely range (see above), created with Fairtrade, organic honey from Mexico; 3% of sales go to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Bees for Development and Friends of the Earth. Find the Neal’s Yard Remedies Bee Lovely range, here, priced from £6.50.
Cire Trudon
We are longstanding fans of this heritage French candle brand, which now comes in adorable smaller sizes which a) are easier on the pocket and b) allow you to try a fragrant candle out, before splashing out on the full size. (It’s boredom-defying, too.)
Their new Cire offering, meanwhile (above), created with beeswax absolute (and fragrant with notes of waxed wood, sandalwood, honey and patchouli), pledges 4% of sales of the scented candle ro cameos to the Orne Dark Bee Conservatory, working to protect the European dark bee, a local species which is an essential link in the region’s biodiversity chain.. Cire Trudon tell us: ‘Bees and beeswax have always been at the heart of the manufacture’s History: since the 17th Century, Trudon’s motto is “Deo regique laborant”, which means: “they (the bees) work for God and the King.”’ The candle is priced from £39 for the Petite version, at trudon.co.uk
Dr. Hauschka
Conservation has been right at the heart of what they do from the word 'go', as a biodynamic brand that is based on a respect of nature. As they explain to us, 'Since the 1980s, Dr. Hauschka have proudly offered bee colonies a happy and healthy home at their biodynamic herb garden in Eckwalden, Germany. From then, they have researched their bees to ensure they provide them with their optimum living conditions.' In addition, Dr. Hauschka explain, they now 'only mow their meadow twice a year, giving grass, herbs and flowers time to settle and provides nesting places and sources of food for bees, birds and other insects.'
Wilton
Not a beauty brand – but natural cleaning products definitely fall under the category of 'wellbeing', which is of course of equal interest to us. So: we love that for the next four weeks, with each online order, Wilton are offering a free packet of native wildflower seeds which you can plant in your back garden (or heck, throw onto some unloved land, for a bit of guerilla gardening!), to encourage bees and fellow pollinators.
And thank you, bees, for all that you do for us…
