Ever since I finished up my Wild Ferns New Zealand Manuka Honey Exfoliating Facial Scrub, I've been kind of infatuated with all things honey. Funny, because up until a couple years ago, honey was a taste I hadn't fully "acquired." But for some reason, the relatively new Honeymania line at The Body Shop really appealed to me. I took a risk and ordered about half of the products from the line without ever having smelled it, and I have fallen in love with the scent.

I am now the happy owner of two Honeymania mini body butters, two Honeymania lip butters, and one Honeymania shower gel. Each of these has a slightly different take on the Honeymania scent, which I can best sum up as syrupy sweet with honey undertones. Though I'm typically quite good at identifying scents, I still can't really pinpoint the notes that go into the "syrupy sweet" scent. Upon first sniff, I thought it had that drippy sweet quality of Dimetapp, but it doesn't really smell like grape syrup. And upon further sniffing, the sweetness isn't so much a fruity sweetness, but a sweet floral. The longer you sniff and the further in the dry down process, the more prominent the honey note becomes. Though I try to stay away from overly sweet scents, something about this one won me over.


Of the three products I own, the lip butter is definitely the most subtle in scent. And to call it a lip butter would be stretching it. Unlike The Body Shop's actual lip butters, the Honeymania lip butter has a beeswax base and is translucent. It's not creamy like the other Body Shop lip butters, but is thicker and less waxy than your average beeswax lip balm. It has a nice weight on the lips, spreads easily across the lips, gives a subtle shine, and seems to do a good job of moisturizing and lasting on the lips. I like The Body Shop's lip balms and butters because they are relatively natural, though they are not vegan. (They typically use lanolin, which is a wax secreted by the sebaceous glands of lambs.)


The body butter has the heaviest and longest lasting scent. The Body Shop says the Honeymania butters each contain "Community Fair Trade honey made from the nectar of thousands of wildflowers." I've only used The Body Shop's body butters once before, and it was the Mango line ... I remember that one being a lot more "whipped" and easy to spread across the skin. To me, the Honeymania body butter has a texture closer to actual butter. When applied onto to damp skin, the body butter is easier to spread, but on dry skin, the mileage isn't nearly as great and more body butter is needed. The Honeymania body butter is recommended for dry skin, but it still wasn't enough to soothe or "heal" my itchy winter skin. I overlooked the fact that the body butter contains dimethicone, but otherwise, it's free of parabens and mineral oils.

I ordered the Honeymania shower gel sort of as an afterthought, to get free shipping. Turns out, it's probably my favorite one of the bunch, scent-wise. The scent is neither too heavy nor too light, and is the most honey-like. The shower gel itself also resembles honey, in color and texture. The Body Shop's shower gels are supposed to be "soap-free," which supposedly means it's not as harsh on skin as other soaps. I found this to perform as well as all of my other body washes, and it contains sodium laureth sulfate like most other soaps, along with sodium benzoate.

I thoroughly enjoy each of these products and would repurchase the body butter and shower gel, despite the questionable ingredients. I'm not sure whether I would repurchase the Honeymania lip butters, but The Body Shop's line of lip butters is one of the most reliable lip conditioners I've used that doesn't contain parabens and mineral oils. And you get quite a bang for your buck, especially if you get it during one of The Body Shop's frequent sales.

More information on the Body Shop Honeymania products mentioned after the jump ...

Ingredients of Honeymania Lip Butter, 0.3 ounces ($6 retail):

Vitis Vinifera Seed Oil/Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil (Natural Additive), Ricinus Communis Seed Oil/Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil (Emollient), Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2 (Emollient), Hydrogenated Castor Oil (Emollient), Cera Alba/Beeswax (Emulsifier/Emollient), Parfum/Fragrance (Fragrance), Synthetic Wax (Binder/Emollient), Tocopheryl Acetate (Antioxidant), Ammonium Glycyrrhizate (Flavour), Mel/Honey (Natural Additive), Tocopherol (Antioxidant), Limonene (Fragrance Ingredient), Benzyl Benzoate (Fragrance Ingredient), Linalool (Fragrance Ingredient), Geraniol (Fragrance Ingredient), CI 77891/Titanium Dioxide (Colorant), CI 77492/Iron Oxides (Colorant), CI 19140/Yellow 5 Lake (Colorant), CI 77491/Iron Oxides (Colorant).

Ingredients of Honeymania Mini Body Butter, 1.7 ounces ($6 retail):

Aqua/Water (Solvent/Diluent), Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter/Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter (Emollient), Butyrospermum Parkii Butter/Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter (Skin Conditioning Agent - Emollient), Glycerin (Humectant), Cetearyl Alcohol (Emulsifier), Glyceryl Stearate (Emulsifier), PEG-100 Stearate (Surfactant), C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate (Emollient), Ethylhexyl Palmitate (Skin Conditioning Agent), Cera Alba/Beeswax (Emulsifier/Emollient), Sesamum Indicum Seed Oil/Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil (Skin-Conditioning Agent), Parfum/Fragrance (Fragrance), Bertholletia Excelsa Seed Oil (Emollient), Dimethicone (Skin Conditioning Agent), Mel/Honey (Natural Additive), Caprylyl Glycol (Skin Conditioning Agent), Phenoxyethanol (Preservative), Xanthan Gum (Viscosity Modifier), Hexyl Cinnamal (Fragrance Ingredient), Benzyl Salicylate (Fragrance Ingredient), Disodium EDTA (Chelating Agent), Tocopherol (Antioxidant), Geraniol (Fragrance Ingredient), Sodium Hydroxide (pH Adjuster), Linalool (Fragrance Ingredient), Limonene (Fragrance Ingredient), Citric Acid (pH Adjuster), CI 15985/Yellow 6 (Colorant), CI 19140/Yellow 5 (Colour).

Ingredients of Honeymania Shower Gel, 8.4 fl ounces ($8 retail):

Aqua/Water (Solvent/Diluent), Sodium Laureth Sulfate (Surfactant), Glycerin (Humectant), Sodium Cocoamphoacetate (Surfactant), Cocamidopropyl Betaine (Surfactant), PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate (Viscosity Modifier), Parfum/Fragrance (Fragrance), Citric Acid (pH Adjuster), Mel/Honey (Natural Additive), Sodium Chloride (Viscosity Modifier), Polysorbate 20 (Emulsifier), Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Myristamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate (Skin-Conditioning Agent), Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate (Surfactant), Hexyl Cinnamal (Fragrance Ingredient), Benzyl Salicylate (Fragrance Ingredient), Geraniol (Fragrance Ingredient), Linalool (Fragrance Ingredient), Disodium EDTA (Chelating Agent), Limonene (Fragrance Ingredient), Denatonium Benzoate (Denaturant), Caramel (Colorant), CI 15985/Yellow 6 (Colorant), CI 14700/Red 4 (Colorant), CI 42090/Blue 1 (Colour).