Save Bees and Look Pretty With Chantecaille's SS14 Palette

Have you heard of upmarket make-up brand Chantecaille?  Based in New York, the brand has a reputation for using natural botanical ingredients and supporting environmental causes.  The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is the latest recipient of the brand's support, and you can do your bit by purchasing this gorgeous Spring palette with a lovely set of wearable colours and absolutely divine little bees imprinted into the powders.

Here are the details:

- A refreshing eye and cheek palette that artfully fuses the natural beauty of the Bees’ habitat with the Spring 2014 runway trends - 5% of proceeds from the Save the Bees Palette will be donated to The Xerces Society to help protect bees and our environment - Palette features Honey, a glistening golden highlighter for both eyes and cheek, and Nectar Blush, a flattering warm coral-pink - Includes two new eye shades: Sky, an eye-opening sheer blue, and Beehive, a versatile grey beige - Paraben-free; Refillable

"The Bumblebee Conservation Trust was established because of serious concerns about the 'plight of the bumblebee'. In the last 80 years our bumblebee populations have crashed. Two species have become nationally extinct and several others have declined dramatically."

I like the look of the palette for a lot of reasons - I switched to using mainly organic skincare products without petrochemicals a year or two ago, and haven't always been able to do this for the make-up I purchase.  While this isn't certified organic, they do promise that all Chantecaille products 'are free of synthetic colors and fragrances, and do not contain any sulfate detergents, phthalates, nor petrochemicals'.  Also, I can get a guilty feeling about buying such decadent things, and the environmental link here sits a bit better with my conscience.  Finally, it's a family business headed by French matriach Sylvie Chantecaille.  I feel more assured by French products in general (they tend to really know what they're doing!) and it's good to have a woman at the helm.

Now the downside - I'm really sorry, it's £74!!!  I could never justify that.  I think I'm not the intended market!  Ah well, if you are poorer of pocket like me, you could always head over to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust website and make a small donation, or help out by joining their bee-watch programme!

Here in the UK, the palette is available at Harrods, Space NK, Liberty and Fenwick.

Do you try and help environmental issues when you buy products?  What do you think of palettes in general, do you buy them?