There is simply no sweeter way to bring a smooth glow to your skin and hair than with glorious golden honey.

Here are some fabulous uses for this almost-magical substance, held in the highest esteem by wise ones—and savvy beauties—for millennia.

After all, honey is one of the oldest and most effective beauty aids ever. Discover a few ancient secrets, right here. They’re the bees’ best!

1. Honey Pat. This is the best way to bring a lively glow to your face and body while you moisturize and smooth. And it’s so much fun! Just bring one of those cute little honey-bears into the tub with you. Squeeze some honey anywhere on your skin and pat it with both hands. As you continue to pat your skin, the honey gets really sticky, and will pull up your skin gently with every pat. This is the BEST for circulation, and you’ll end up with a gorgeous glow. Rinse off the honey when you’ve had enough.

2. Honey Golden Bath. If you don’t have time to pat-and-glow, just add 1/4 cup or so of honey to your bath. Mmmm—sweet, silky, and luscious skin.

3. Honey Shiny Hair. Mix 1 teaspoon honey, a squeeze of fresh lemon, and 1 quart of warm water. After shampooing, simply pour through hair. Let your hair dry as you normally would; you don’t need to rinse it out.

4. Moisturizing Honey Mask. Mix 2 tablespoons honey and 2 teaspoons milk or cream. Smooth on face and allow to remain for 10 minutes, then rinse.

5. Honey-Apple Toner. This sweet alpha-hydroxy miracle will help to firm, smooth, and moisturize your skin. In a blender or food processor, combine 1 peeled, cored apple with a tablespoon of honey and pulse until smooth. Apply pulp gently to face and allow to remain for 15 minutes, then rinse.

6. Good-Enough-to-Eat Facial Cleansing Scrub. Combine 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon finely-ground almonds, 2 tablespoons dry oatmeal, and enough lemon juice to moisten. Massage mixture gently onto face, then rinse with warm water.

7. Honey Hair Conditioning Treatment. This great formula combines the benefits of honey and olive oil for lustrous, silky, healthy hair and scalp. Simply combine 1/2 cup honey and 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup olive oil (depending on the dryness of your hair and scalp). Saturate hair and scalp with this conditioner, then put on a shower cap and allow the conditioner to remain for 30 minutes before you shampoo and rinse as usual.

Historical Honey Beauty Secrets

• Madame du Barry, the infamous last mistress of Louis XV, used honey as a form of facial mask, lying down for a rest while the honey did its work.

• Cleopatra of Egypt regularly took honey and milk baths to maintain her youthful appearance.

• It was said that Queen Anne of England used a honey and oil concoction to keep her long hair lustrous, thick and shiny.

• It was claimed that another famous Englishwoman, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, used her own secret recipe for a honey water to keep her hair beautiful.

• Chinese women have a tradition of using a blend of honey and ground orange seeds to keep their skin blemish-free.