Collection: hand harvested sun dried mint

Ethical Bee Venom Collection

The only sting I'll ever pay for.

The beauty industry wants your face frozen, and the bees want you more awake. This collection is made in micro-batches by a New Mexico formulator with more than a decade in cosmetics, for the woman who has tried the $100 cream, then the drugstore dupe, then the "clean" one that smelled like a hiking trail and did… well, nothing. 

What it does for skin. Your face keeps a running tab on every summer you spent without sunscreen, and collagen pays the bill. UVB light wears down the scaffolding that keeps skin firm, and by your forties you can see the results. Bee venom talks to that scaffolding underneath. 

Melittin, its main active, mimics a mild sting, so skin responds with a rush of blood flow, and that's the tingle you feel. In a lab study on human skin fibroblasts, bee venom protected the genes tied to collagen (COL1A1) and to collagen breakdown (MMP1) from UVB damage. In the same research, a clinical trial measured wrinkles, sagging, skin tone and evenness with imaging tools. 

I have severely sun-damaged skin, and I won't pay for needles. I took the habit-stacking route instead, and my own results came in stages: brighter tone around 30 days, finer lines by month 3, and more change by month 6.

But Monique, why Rojel, and why New Zealand!? Long story short, the first venom I used came from a protected reserve in Argentina. When that source disappeared overnight because of exporting mambo jumbo, I started over and vetted a new one. Rojel ethically harvests their bee venom from apiaries near North Auckland under New Zealand's MPI Risk Management Program. In layman's terms, an independent party tests and certifies melittin concentration. 

The bees. People ask whether I'm killing bees. I'm not. A gentle electrical pulse on a glass plate encourages them to leave venom on it, and they walk away unharmed. The collection windows are short, about 15 minutes, so that it doesn't disrupt the hive's natural rhythm. Rojel harvests from the same hive only every 5 to 7 days and pauses in the rain so they can still optimize the hive's defense if a predator is lurking. 

Five steps from hive to jar. The venom goes through negative pressure filtration, a centrifuge, micro-filtration, freeze-drying and cold storage below -20°C. That removes the honey, pollen, and heavy metals you don't want near your face.

Before you apply. Patch test first, and avoid broken skin, cuts, scrapes and lesions. Introduce it gradually instead of stacking five new products at once. Don't use it if you're allergic to bee stings.