If you haven’t been doing honey face masks at home, your skin has been missing out. Honey is literal skin food and an amazing natural ingredient for just about everything.

Why Honey is So Good for Skin

Honey naturally has therapeutic enzymes and antiseptic and antibacterial properties, but not all honey is created equal. The highest quality (and priciest) one is Manuka Honey, which has antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antioxidant properties.

Honey provides a number of skin benefits:

• kills acne causing bacteria
• soothes redness and irritated skin
• deeply moisturizes and hydrates dry skin
• gently exfoliates to reveal softer, supple skin
• balances the skin’s pH
• benefits all skin types (except if you’re allergic of course!)
• helps protect and heal minor wounds

What to look for

• Raw and unpasteurized so it’s retained its enzymes
• If it’s Manuka honey, check for the MGO (measures the specific antibacterial compound (methylglyoxal) in the honey) or UMF (a certification that guarantees MGO levels plus purity) to ensure it’s certified authentic.
• Medical-grade honey for the highest strength

I tried AUNU Manuka Mask

AUNU has taken the strongest and rarest Manuka honey in the world and turned it into luxurious skincare. They’re the only brand I found that uses Comvita Medihoney medical-grade Mānuka honey, which not only exceeds the minimum standards with MGO 357+ and UMF 12+ but also undergoes over 34 tests to ensure authenticity. Basically, it’s not your basic backyard beehive honey. Most honey masks in clean beauty use a limited percentage of honey, but AUNU Beauty’s Manuka Mask is made of 100% of their extremely rare honey. It’s got a beautiful, rich dark consistency and sticky salve like texture. I like using this right after a steam facial, so my skin can absorb all the wonderful enzymes and antioxidants and it looks so vibrant, clear and even-toned after. It’s also quite dense so I can apply it and leave it on all day while working without it dripping down on my clothes or laptop.

Price: $76 for 2.7oz
Honey type: Comvita Medihoney medical-grade Mānuka honey

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I tried May Lindstrom The Honey Mud

May Lindstrom’s The Honey Mud is my holy grail favorite honey mask in clean beauty. It’s an OG for a reason! The Honey Mud is skincare pudding and it helps cleanse, exfoliate and moisturize skin all at once. May uses raw organic honey and blends it with silver, white halloysite clay, and plant oils to create a luscious do-it-all multi-tasking mask. In the summer, when skin is producing more oil and there’s more likely to be traces of sunscreen, makeup and dirt remaining, this mask is a lifesaver. Each ingredient is so special, including the salicylic acid they use, which is extracted from wintergreen leaves and helps release impurities and debris from skin.

Price: $95 for 3.38oz
Honey type: raw organic honey

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I tried Leahlani Honey Exfoliator (budget!)

For raw Hawaiian honey that gives me glowy, soft and hydrated skin, I love Leahlani’s Honey Exfoliator. This is a weekly clarifying treatment with Hawaiian honey, blue tansy, noni fruit, hibiscus flower, mineral clays, and microdermabrasion crystals to deeply cleanse and exfoliate skin. It’s an amazing exfoliator and mask in one for dry skin, has the most vibrant burgundy hue from hibiscus and a rich gritty texture. It’s gentle but powerful, and my skin feels so supple and soft after using this honey exfoliator.

Price: $56 for 3.99oz
Honey type: organic raw Hawaiian honey

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use OBL for -15%

I tried Naturopathica Manuka Honey Cleansing Balm

Naturopathica is one of the few natural skincare lines in clean beauty that uses high-quality New Zealand honey with a unique manuka factor (UMF) of 16+. Their Manuka Honey Cleansing Balm is a luscious salve-like balm infused with plant butters and oils, a probiotic called Lactobacillus Ferment and royal jelly peptides. The honey only makes up a small percentage of the entire formula, but it’s still there! This might be a cleansing balm, but I highly recommend letting this sit on your skin for at least a few minutes and even combine a facial massage while you’re at it. You want to let all the ingredients have time to sink in for a moment, especially for the price point. I love how this hardworking balm melts on contact and removes a full face of makeup and sunscreen so easily.

Price: $74 for 2.8oz
Honey type: Manuka Honey with UMF 16+

I tried Mahalo The Petal Mask

Mahalo’s The Petal Mask is an OG honey mask in the clean beauty space and it is such a treat for skin. This is a super gentle clay honey mask with enzymes, BHAs and Mahalo’s in-house floral distillates. True to its name, it contains rose in all its forms including as a hydrosol, essential oil, absolute and even the actual petals. It’s great for controlling oil producing while also providing hydration benefits with low weight hyaluronic acid. I find it gentle enough to use multiple times a week as part of a skincare ritual or in-shower ritual and Mahalo even suggests using it daily. It has a gentle toning and hydrating effect for my dry skin.

Price: $105 for 3.38oz
Honey type: organic raw Hawaiian and manuka honey

I tried Malaya Organics Advanced Repair Mask Neem Honey Herbal Complex

This is hands down one of the strongest organic honey masks in clean beauty and it’s always always sold out sadly. I hesitated adding it to my list because I don’t want to recommend something that’s hard to get your hands on obviously, but it is that good. This is a super potent honey mask with tons of organic herbs that really helps decongest skin and clear out any and all impurities. It’s got Wild flower Neem Honey, colloidal silver, floral hydrosols, clays and 9 potent herbs including Nettle leaf, Alfalfa Leaf & Sprouts, Horsetail, Neem leaf, Plantain leaf, and Echinacea purpurea Root.

Price: $78 for 2oz
Honey type: Organic Raw Neem Flower Honey