Back in January, Queen Camilla gave a “royal warrant” to her longtime facialist, Deborah Mitchell. Mitchell has been taking care of Camilla’s skin for years, which really does not speak well of Mitchell, you know? Camilla has always been notorious for her terrible skincare, personal hygiene, style and personality. After Mitchell received her royal warrant, she gave one of the most absurd interviews I’ve ever read, sycophantically praising Camilla as a “beautiful person” with “incredibly young skin.” Well, Mitchell is going to ride this royal warrant until the wheels come off, because she’s given another interview to People Mag.
Queen Camilla’s favorite beauty product has plenty of buzz. The royal, who has been a client of the celebrity facialist Deborah Mitchell for over two decades, once received her usual order of products from the beauty expert’s bee venom range, oblivious that her favorite face cream actually contained honey from her own bees.
“One day, I decided to surprise her, and I used some of her own honey to make her Bee Venom products and gave it back to her!” reveals Mitchell to PEOPLE. “The Queen actually sells her honey for charity at Fortnum and Mason, and it is delicious. She loves her bees!”
The Gold Bee Venom Mask is an organic cream that tightens, firms and lifts thanks to the patented ingredient: organic Abeetoxin derived from milking bees to extract their healing venom. The anti-aging product, described as a natural alternative to Botox, was created around the same time that Mitchell started seeing Camilla as a client. In fact, Camilla was one of Mitchell’s first-ever clients to try the bee venom products. She loved them so much that she has used them ever since.
“When she first had the Bee Venom Facial, she absolutely loved it and it’s still her favorite,” says Mitchell, who is primarily based in Shropshire but travels all over the world to treat her famous clients.
The $475 product, which works on tightening and lifting the facial muscles, has healing properties that make it ideal for mature, blemished, eczema-prone or dry skin. Containing the world’s rarest bee venom, only 500 are made annually.
“We don’t let customers buy multiple pots at a time, and even the Queen sticks to the rules very rigidly as she knows how special it is. And that’s why it is the most expensive product in the range,” she says. “Gold Bee Venom contains royal jelly and natural antibiotics as well. It’s more of a skin cure; it’s very healing. Every time you put it onto your skin, it thinks it’s been stung. It literally makes your skin go back in time. We have our own clinical studies, and we are very proud of the results,” reveals the 59-year-old businesswoman.
I admire Mitchell’s hustle, even if I question the “science” behind anything involving bee venom. I actually feel a bit sorry for her, that Camilla is her most famous client and an example of Mitchell’s most expensive work. “Gold Bee Venom contains royal jelly and natural antibiotics as well. It’s more of a skin cure; it’s very healing. Every time you put it onto your skin, it thinks it’s been stung.” I’ve been stung by bees before and it’s not healing or curing. But whatever – Camilla is paying $475 a pop for this. It’s like the Emperor’s New Clothes, or in this case, the Empress’s New Facelift. “Yes, ma’am, you look twenty years younger, you have youthful skin, we swear!”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
