Burt’s Bees Tingling Treats are the Bee’s Knees!

Before you get too far into this review, I should disclaim that I’m a big fan of Burt’s Bees. From their position on using recycled materials, to the natural (and paraben-free) ingredients, to the widespread availability of the products (not too many natural and paraben-free lines can be found at your local drugstore), and the company’s commitment to social responsibility, I am definitely on “Team Burt.” To be fair, I’m not crazy about their lip shimmers (too shimmery) and hand salves (too sticky), but otherwise I’m a huge fan.

So I was really excited to get their Tingling Treats Gift Set ($20) in the mail the other day. Tingling Treats contains:

• Beeswax Lip Balm (.15 oz. tube)
• Fabulously Fresh Peppermint & Rosemary Body Bar (4 oz. Bar)
• Fabulously Fresh Peppermint & Rosemary Body Wash (12 fl. oz.)
• Peppermint Foot Lotion (3.38 oz. Tube)

The kit contains all standard-sized products – no dinky half-size promotional gift sets for these guys! All of the products in the gift set feature Peppermint Oil. Burt’s website says Peppermint “is valued for its cooling, pain relieving, and antiseptic effects,” but Peppermint can also be good for nausea and headaches.

The Fabulously Fresh Peppermint & Rosemary Body Wash is a new introduction to Burt’s line of products. It is a sulfate-free and plant-based “cleaning complex” that is meant to be gentle on your skin and, of course, smell fabulously refreshing. I found it to be light on suds (but plant-based cleansers are often less lathery than their synthetic counterparts) but it still did a good job of cleaning. The smell is more candy-cane peppermint than herbal peppermint, but for those of you who find straight peppermint too bracing, this is perfect.

The other three products in the lineup are not new to Burt’s, but they’re all standup products. I think Burt’s lip balm is one of the best out there. It’s just a straight lip conditioner: no shine, no color, and no fruity flavor. Burt’s lip balm is a great unisex product. The soap is a good all-natural soap with a little bit of exfoliative grit to it; I like keeping a bar in the kitchen because the peppermint helps to mask unpleasant food odors. Finally, the peppermint foot lotion is a wonderfully rich foot cream that feels just a bit tingly going on. A friend sent me some while I was pregnant and, every now and then (if I laid the guilt on thick enough), my husband would give me a peppermint foot lotion foot massage – just remembering those massages now relaxes me!

The Tingling Treats gift set would make a great whole gift or, since all of the products are standard-sized, buy it and then break the set up into a few different gifts. Tingling Treats gift set and other Burt’s Bees products can be found at: www.burtsbees.com