Beauty Knowhow: The ingredient creating a real buzz 

Beauty Knowhow: The ingredient creating a real buzz

Soothing, hydrating, nourishing… manuka honey is hitting my skin’s sweet spot right now

As far back as Ancient Egypt it’s believed that the likes of Cleopatra and Nefertiti would use honey in baths and face masks. Fast forward a few millennia and honey is still a beauty favourite. There’s been a renewed focus on it as a skincare ingredient, particularly manuka honey which is considered to be more beneficial than other varieties and good for healing wounds. A jar of the highest quality can easily cost £100.

It forms a key part of the Seed To Skin The Manuka Nutri-Mask (£115, seedtoskin.com). This is one of my favourite skincare brands. It’s created with such integrity by founders Jeanette and Claus Thottrup, who also run the luxurious Borgo Santo Pietro Hotel and Spa in Tuscany. They grow many of their own ingredients on their land and this is no exception. ‘The high-grade manuka honey which we grow on our estate is a real powerhouse ingredient,’ says Jeanette. ‘Full of antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-ageing properties, it is one of the most precious and sacred honeys in the world. Manuka honey provides antioxidant protection by deep-diving into the skin’s epidermis damaged by the exposure to free radicals [due to the environment and pollution], which makes it a fantastic mask to help slow the effects of time on your skin.’

But the benefits don’t stop there. ‘We wanted to create a mask [more than 55 per cent of which is composed of manuka honey] with incredible healing properties and a solution for acne-prone, scarred and pigmented skin and replenish it with the nutrients and enzymes found only in manuka honey for a naturally radiant and rejuvenated complexion.’

This is a wonderfully hydrating and complexion-boosting mask, and also contains vitamin C for skin clarity, stevia leaf to work on wrinkles and ferulic acid to improve skin strength. Paint it on two to three times a week with the brush provided and leave for ten minutes to see best results. I love it.

Manuka honey is also used in two new cleansers: Keys Soulcare Golden Cleanser (£20, cultbeauty.co.uk) and PSA Acai & Manuka Honey Reset Nourishing Cleanser (£28, psaskin.com).

Both are gentle but effective. I highly recommend them. Manuka-rich Nursem Caring Hand Cream (£10, couvertureandthegarbstore.com), created by a former paediatric nurse, is one of the most caring and fast-absorbing creams I’ve tried. It works wonders even on super-dry patches.