Worth It: Guerlain Abeille Royale Honey Treatment Day Cream

Welcome back to Worth It, our weekly seal of approval on noteworthy launches and bespoke collaborations in the worlds of beauty and fashion. If it's featured here, consider these investments worthwhile.

The Promise 

If you’re familiar with Guerlain’s Abeille Royale range, you’re familiar with the skin-renewing power of “the royal bee.” Well, the bee’s honey at least. Unfamiliar? For over a decade, the brand has researched how to harness the anti-aging powers of honey. Their products are proof the ingredient has far-reaching benefits; they reduce wrinkles, firm the skin, and create a more youthful appearance. The Abeille Royale Honey Treatment Day Cream, which is the latest launch from the brand, is no exception. 

It combines honey harvested from bees inhabiting Ouessant Island in Brittany, France, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, with honey sourced from three undeveloped islands. The result: A complex hyper-focused on skin rejuvenation. Add hyaluronic acid and peptides to the mix, and the cream is said to be a super-powered firming, plumping, and wrinkles-reducing agent. The brand has the stats to prove it, too. In a clinical trial, an independent dermatologist concluded that the moisturizer increases skin firmness by 57 percent, increases skin smoothness by 98 percent, and increases skin radiance by 63 percent. 

Now, you know the drill. To see if those stats prove true, I put the Abeille Royale Day Cream to the test. 

Why I’m Obsessed 

My skin and the summer are arch enemies. I’m not exaggerating in the slightest. Heat brings out my rosacea and the sun gives me an allergic reaction resembling hives. To cope, I have to cut out every single product that “sparks joy” and resort to Plain Jane, simple-as-can-be skincare. It calms my flares and keeps me hydrated, but unfortunately leaves me with a complexion that looks dull. That’s where I found myself approximately one week ago—with very, very sad-looking skin. 

It was around that time when Guerlain’s Abeille Royale Day Cream landed on my desk in all its gorgeous, gold-plated glory. I skimmed over the pack, which touted the laundry list of skin youth-ifying benefits. But as any product-fatigued beauty editor will tell you: Don’t trust it until you try it. That’s exactly what I did. I screwed off the elegant, bee-emblazoned lid, removed the seal, and placed a little dollop of the cream on my respective cheeks, chin, nose, and forehead. 

The first thing I noticed was the fragrance. By and large, I’m anti-fragrance. It’s not all so great for sensitive skin types (it can be irritating) and has the potential to be off-putting pending personal preference. Those caveats aside, I was actually very pro this fragrance. I didn’t experience any tingling or redness as a result of its inclusion in the formula and found the honey scent to create a sensorial application experience. 

My next order of business: A texture evaluation. I began massaging the cream into my skin and was surprised by A) how little product I actually needed to cover my face, and B) how quickly the formula absorbed. There was no need to “work” it into the skin—it genuinely sunk in within five seconds of rubbing. And, yes, I counted. There’s almost a gel-like consistency to it that seemingly created a barrier between my skin and the outside world. 

Now, let’s discuss the benefits. I was instantly hydrated. My skin was bouncier. It was happier. But perhaps most notably, it was glowier. It was so radiant, that I actually inspected the formula for glitter flecks. (There are none, FYI). One singular application somehow managed to give my skin back a little life—my complexion was rosier (in a good way, not in a rosacea way), plumper, and eons dewier than before. 

In the time since that first application, the results have only been amplified. My skin looks the best it has all season. I’ll stick to my no-frills routine here on out—with one exception: The Guerlain Abeille Royale Day Cream. Rest assured, it’s worth it.