Before glass jars and amber bottles, honey was kept in clay and stone — a sacred substance bridging nourishment and medicine, matter and mystery.
Across centuries, honey has carried both myth and function. Ancient physicians called it liquid sunlight, believing it to hold the warmth of the sun. Monastic apothecaries tended hives within their gardens, gathering honey for tinctures, poultices, and unguents that soothed both body and mind.
In the Renaissance, honey became an essential base in salves and electuaries — remedies crafted to bring harmony to the body — healing from the inside and the outside alike. Apothecaries understood honey as a harmonizer: balancing moisture, preserving vitality, and carrying the essence of herbs deep into the body.
That same alchemy endures in Mel, our Honey Mask, a modern expression of honey’s ancient art.
From the Hive to the Jar
The raw honey we use in Mel is gathered from small-scale keepers who work in rhythm with their hives and land right here in the Willamette Valley. Each jar begins with this living honey, blended slowly with nutrient-dense butters of ucuuba and cupuaçu, oils of cranberry seed, argan, and hemp, and vivid botanicals like hibiscus, aronia, rose, and camu camu.
We infuse and blend by hand in small batches, preserving the natural enzymes, antioxidants, and floral notes that give Mel its radiance and vitality.
Nothing about this process is hurried. Like the bees, we follow rhythm and season.
The Element of Water
Mel belongs to the Water season, autumn, when the body turns inward and the skin calls for moisture, protection, and restoration. Honey, by nature, draws water to itself; it softens and seals, carrying trace warmth and nourishment even as the air cools.
When you smooth Mel onto your skin, you’re inviting that elemental balance: solar and lunar, fire remembered within water.
A Ritual of Light
Use Mel when your skin feels dry, tired, or dull. Warm a small amount between your fingertips and press it gently onto damp skin. Leave it on for 10–20 minutes, allowing the mask to soften and brighten as it mingles with your own warmth.
As you rinse it away, notice the texture of your skin — supple, luminous, at ease — and perhaps a little more attuned to the slower rhythm of the season.
Each jar of Mel holds a quiet lineage: the hum of bees, the presence of plants, the care of hands.
It is sunlight, remembered.