So we're in the dead of winter, and winter means dry skin. I've been missing my Wild Ferns Manuka honey scrub, which made my face so soft after using it, so I got the brilliant idea to experiment with honey in skincare.

Honey has a ton of properties that make it ideal for skincare: it's naturally antibacterial, anti-fungal and a humectant, which means that it absorbs the moisture from the air into your skin. On top of that, it's soothing and supposedly able to calm down breakouts.

Raw honey is said to be the best, in terms of nutrients and beneficial properties, whether you are eating the honey or applying it on your skin. Raw honey is quite different from clover honey or other types of amber-like, liquid honey. Raw honey contains some pollen and beeswax, as it is minimally (or not at all) processed. As a result, it's quite thick and solid, with a much lighter flavor and color than "regular" honey. I started messing around with raw honey about six months ago, when I started experimenting with making my own moisturizer, and it's been raw honey pretty much all the way ever since. Raw honey in my tea, raw honey on my face, raw honey everywhere.

Anyway, I've posted three different face masks with different purposes ... before you get into it, make sure you're not allergic to honey. If you'll be using raw honey, be extra sure you're not allergic to honey, because it contains pollen. Also: do this in a place that's easy to clean up, like your kitchen or bathroom. I recommend also having a hair tie on hand if you're going to apply the mask immediately afterwards, and a hair towel to drape around your neck and shoulders (or wear old clothes). You might also want to do this right before a shower, as I'm pretty sure it's a lot easier to wash honey off in the shower than in a sink. Now that my spiel's over, without further ado ...

*Refrigerate any leftovers and use within a week.

Brightening Honey and Lemon Mask

Ingredients
2 teaspoons of honey
1 teaspoon of lemon or lime juice

Mix together and apply to clean face. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes, then rinse off and apply moisturizer. Absolutely do not apply to a recently scrubbed, waxed or shaven face unless you enjoy pain.

The citric acid from the juice will, over time, brighten your complexion, so be sure to wear sunscreen if going out within 24 hours of applying this.

If you have acne or do not particularly need or want to brighten your complexion, you can substitute yogurt or milk for the lemon/lime juice. The alpha hydroxy acid in the dairy products will help exfoliate and soften.

*Add a teaspoon of sugar to the mixture to turn it into a scrub.

Soothing Oatmeal Honey Mask

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of ground oatmeal
3 tablespoons of honey

Mix the two ingredients together until it forms a paste. Apply, again, for 20-30 minutes. The longer you leave it on, the more exfoliating the mask will be when you wash it off (the mask will become drier over time, and messier to work with).

You can use full-sized oats if you wish, but the finer the grain, the less harsh the effect on the skin. Oatmeal has an overall soothing effect and, paired with honey, calms the skin down.

Exfoliating Honey Mask

Ingredients
2 parts honey
1 part baking soda

Mix into a paste and apply to any part of your skin you'd like to exfoliate. Baking soda, because of its fine-grained nature, is a good exfoliant.

I have to warn you, however, the smell of baking soda and honey together isn't particularly appetizing. It smells like one part fish and one part like you're baking something with a lot of baking soda in it. For this reason, I use this on my feet, although the grains may be a bit fine for the rougher skin on the feet.

There are a lot of other uses for honey in skincare, including dropping up to a cup of honey into warm bathwater to help out dry skin ... or applying a thin layer of honey onto any blemishes you may have and leaving it on overnight (so long as you don't have an ant problem in your house).

What are some of your favorite uses for honey?

Here is my video guiding you through the 3 recipes: