An Inside Look at Melissa Hertzler & Honeybee Gardens

March 26, 2014|Inside Look at Our Manufacturers|Caroline Sarda4

As the heart and soul series continues, today I am focusing on Melissa J. Hertzler and her company Honeybee Gardens, a leading manufacturer of natural cosmetics. I had the pleasure of meeting Melissa at Expo West earlier this month. I use their fantastic mascara and their eyeshadows which I also love. I will soon be adding those to XL Vita.

About Honeybee Gardens

Honeybee Gardens has a full line of natural cosmetics, bath, and body products made entirely of natural ingredients you can actually pronounce! All of their products have also been reviewed by the Environmental Working Group (EWP) , and all have a score of 2 or lower.

For those of you who don’t know the EWP , they are the ones responsible for the wonderful Skin Deep Database which has reviewed and rated over 75,000 products, ingredients, and brands for their safety. They are my main go-to site for all products I consider carrying.

Since the very beginning, Honeybee Gardens, Inc. has operated under one simple concept, “Create pure, all-natural bath and body care products made from only the finest organic ingredients, offer them at a reasonable price, and treat every customer like a friend.”

Here are some of the questions I asked Melissa.

• Is your packaging recycled and/or recyclable?  Both.  Some of our components, like the aluminum ferrules on our cosmetic brushes, are recycled.  All of our packaging is recyclable.  We also make most of our displays out of recycled paperboard which is easier to recycle when they need to be replaced, and takes less energy.
• Do you use organic ingredients in your products?   Yes and organic ingredients are marked (see mascara and lipstick).
• Do you use non-gmo ingredients in your products? YES!
• Do you test on animals or use any animal-by products?   NO, and we are PETA certified.
• How are you involved with the community or how do you give back to the community? Every month we donate money to our local no-kill animal shelter CatNAPS.  This organization takes in feral animals, vets them and finds them homes.  They also do a trap, spay and release program.  We hi-light critters looking for a home on our social media outlets.  Several members of our organization are also actively involved in caring for and vetting the feral colonies in their communities.
• What makes you stand apart from your competitors or other companies?  Quality and price.  Honeybee Gardens is one of only 322 companies in the WORLD who has achieved Championship Status with the Enviromental Working Group for our super clean formulas.  (www.ewg.org)  And while our quality is very high, our prices are very reasonable.  We don’t think it’s fair to tell people they need to use clean, healthy products and then charge $25 for a lipstick.  We may not profit as much as our competitors, but for us it’s not about profit.  It’s about doing the right thing.
• What is your company’s mission?  To provide fun, functional and fashion-forward quality cosmetics at a reasonable price.
• Do you test the ingredients in your products to make sure they are what they claim to be?  We have labs that do that for us.  We also take random samples of different products and send them to an outside lab to be tested for mercury, lead, etc.

The history of Honeybee Gardens

Honeybee Gardens was created in 1995 by author and herbalist Melissa J. Hertzler. As with many businesses, Honeybee Gardens was created out of a simple need. Melissa’s husband hated shaving. With the first swipe of a razor, his face would become red and irritated. He tried everything, from expensive aftershaves and shaving potions, but nothing seemed to work (some even aggravated the problem).

Melissa had been growing and studying herbs for years, and decided to test some of that knowledge to save her husband’s face. It took time but with her husband acting as guinea pig, they tried and tested a bunch of formulas until, one day, he proclaimed, “This is it!” That is the day their Herbal Aftershave was born and as they say, the rest is history!

“It feels so good to finally have my products – which were originally formulated in my KITCHEN – right up there next to those well-known brands….to have people write letters to me thanking me for creating products which are 100% natural and don’t cause skin irritation or pollute the environment….to be able to give back to my community by donating monthly to no kill animal shelters. When I sit down and think about it, it’s really a dream come true.” Melissa

If you’re not familiar with Honeybee Gardens and want to try their awesome products, you can find them in natural health food stores, pharmacies, herb shops, online, specialty and gift stores worldwide.