I’m loving the most recent skincare discovery I made which I think is very aptly named, “Radiance Serum”. I haven’t actually tried any Burt’s Bees products before this one, and I just might start checking them out from now on.

I’ve read about it before at Baby Ass Face and I was curious, so I asked a friend who was coming home from the US to buy it for me. When I did finally have it, I was almost ready to chalk it up as an impulse buy which was, well, sort of the truth anyway! I was happy with my current moisturizer and had no real reason to explore or make a switch. But I’m not big on remorse, y’see so I went on anyway, since duh, it was already there.

And at the risk of sounding like a cheesy infomercial–I’m glad I did!

It comes in a 13ml pinky-sized bottle with dropper. 2-3 drops should do it–smooth it over your face and neck, while patting it over the more sensitive areas like under the eyes. It took a bit of getting used to for me, since I’m used to slathering generous amounts of moisturizer on my face (and I’ve since replaced my morning moisturizer for this one), I felt like this runny liquid might not be giving me enough.

So after a few times of using it, I didn’t really notice much. But other people did (maybe I’m just so self-assured that I think I glow like this everyday, even without this royal jelly stuff on my face)! And these are the ones I see on a regular basis so whatever it is they noticed, it must’ve been something new on my regimen. Almost everyday for the past week, someone would really comment on my skin so I figured heck, that was $18 well spent. The box claims you see the effects after 4 weeks, but it definitely took less time than that before I started reaping in the fruits of bees’ labor.

According to other reviews, it seems okay for oily skin, although I still do have some use for oil-absorbing powder/blotting paper. But I mostly attribute the excess oil to Skin Food Mushroom BB Cream which I also use and is pretty heavy on my skin–but with a dewy finish, once I dust some loose mineral powder a few hours after application. But this should be a different review altogether.

Anyway, not sure how much Burt’s Bees Radiance Serum is, locally, but I remember spotting it in Beauty Bar some time ago. And okay, I didn’t really buy it because it’s environment-friendly but it wouldn’t hurt: do know that this product is paraben and phthalate free and touted 99.86% natural. And hey, whatever’s good for the queen bee is more than enough for me. It’s supposed to help with wrinkles, as well, but I don’t have any yet so I can’t properly verify that.

Ingredients: aqua (water, eau), glycerin, alcohol denat., royal jelly, glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice) root extract, glucose, xanthan gum, sodium chloride, glucose oxidase, lactoperoxidase, caramel

Additional trivia from their website:

Royal Jelly: Very nourishing, royal jelly is made of nectar, pollen, flower parts, vitamins, minerals, and other natural ingredients. It is a very precious, mysterious substance that honeybees produce and feed to only select young bees, which in turn become mature and fertile queen bees. The queen bee lives 40 times longer than her worker bees.

This clinically tested serum combines royal jelly, licorice root extract and glycerin to bring out skin’s natural radiance. These ingredients increase moisturisation by 15% in only 2 weeks, while nourishing skin with 134 nutrients including vitamins A, C, D and K, minerals and 17 amino acids. In 4 weeks, you’ll notice your skin becoming more evenly toned. The result is more radiant beautiful looking skin, naturally.

(Picture from Burtsbees.com)