New Brand: Honeybee Gardens

Hello loves! I tried another new brand! I had decent luck trying out Prestige Cosmetics, and I'm kind of obsessed now with finding some gems hidden away in lesser known brands! I came across Honeybee Gardens, which is an all natural company. I'd never really dabbled in all natural makeup (at least not on purpose, anyway), so I thought I'd give this a go! I picked up four products to try: a lipstick, an eyeliner, a mascara, and an eyeshadow palette.

Let's talk about the brand itself. Honeybee Gardens prides itself in using all natural ingredients that you can actually pronounce and recyclable packaging. They don't test on animals, are PETA certified, and have lots and lots of other awesome environmentally friendly credentials to their name. For all that good stuff, their packaging is very cute and their items are reasonably priced! Now onto the products themselves!

We'll start with the Truly Natural Mascara, which I got it in the colour Black Magic. The packaging is a sleek plastic tube made to look like brushed metal with a big long window on it so you can see inside. The brush is your pretty standard width fibre brush; nothing particularly special about it. There is a little bit of scent to this product. It's not unpleasant or overpowering, but it is different than what I'm used to (probably because there's no chemicals in it). A tube of this stuff costs $11.99!

The formula itself is really nice. I'll be honest, though. If you're looking for a mascara that is going to give you insanely lengthened and volumized lashes, you won't find it here. The look you get from this mascara is a very natural one and that's what I love about it. I have extremely blonde eyelashes to the point where you can't really see them, and sometimes all I want to do for makeup is define them a little. Every other mascara I use is almost too much for this and my eyes end up looking weird and unnatural. One coat of this is perfect for a nice defined look. You can definitely build it up to be a little more bold, but it's not going to give you doll eyes.

The JobaColors Eyeliner shade I chose was Belgian Chocolate. It is, as you'd guess, a matte chocolate brown. I like the colour but I find the formula a little hard to work with. It's not super creamy which leads it to not be as opaque as I'd like in one swipe and to pull on my eye as I apply it. Heating it up a little might make it apply better, but I haven't tried that yet. I don't hate it, though! It smudges nicely and I know I'll get use out of it! This costs a very reasonable $8.99!

Next up is the Cosmopolitan Eyeshadow Palette. There are four eyeshadows in here. One is matte, one is very subtly shimmery, and two are shimmery. The packaging is cardboard with a cute businesswoman silhouetted against a cityscape. There is a magnetic closure so the cardboard lid stays shut, which I like. Included as well is a bamboo dual ended brush/sponge applicator. The only thing I miss in this is a mirror of some sort, but I understand that they want their packaging to be completely recyclable and that might be why they didn't include one. Not a problem.

L-R: Kashmir, Satin Sheets, PS Pink, Angelic

The first shade in the palette is a matte chocolate brown called Kashmir. It is nice and soft, nicely pigmented, and blends very well.

Next is Satin Sheets, which is a very shimmery golden champagne colour. This is incredibly pigmented and very well behaved for blending! It has a very interesting texture; it almost feels a little wet or sticky when I swatch it, but I consider this a plus as I find fallout from this minimal!

Third up is PS Pink, which is a cool toned medium pink with the tiniest hints of silver micro glitter. Again, it's nice and soft, nicely pigmented and blendable. The glitter in it is subtle enough that I think it would make a fabulous blush as well!

Last up is Angelic, a very shimmery cool pink. It's so cool toned that it's almost lavender! This is very similar to Satin Sheets. It's extremely pigmented and also quite blendable. Again, it has that interesting sticky/wet texture to it. It's really hard to describe, you'd have to feel it. It's super super pretty though!

Overall, I really like this palette! At $29.99 for a quad, I think the price is a just a tiny little bit steep. However, the shadows are really pretty shades and a nice quality so that makes it much easier to swallow!

The last thing I tried out from Honeybee Gardens was the Truly Natural Lipstick in their signature shade Queen Bee. The packaging, once again, has that brushed metal look to it. The cap has a little window to see inside on the side of it and the adorable company logo on the top!

Queen is a beautiful cool toned red with a matte finish. It is very nicely pigmented and doesn't bleed at all! I do find that on my naked lips this drags and takes a little effort to apply nicely. If I slick on a layer of lip balm underneath, though, there's no problem! Any extra required effort is so worth it though. This lipstick wears just beautifully! Once you apply it, it stays put until you decide you don't want it anymore. And, even after you wipe it off, it leaves a wonderful deep pink stain behind. At $12.99, this lipstick is a steal and I would gladly even pay double this price for it!

I'll just say it... this is my new holy grail red lipstick. Hands down.

So, all in all, I am very impressed with Honeybee Gardens and am absolutely interested in trying out more products! Their intentions and morals are lovely, their products are lovely, and their prices are reasonable! What more could you ask for in a brand?

xo