BeeSeal product reviews

We recently went for a trip to the snow and my husband decided to use his boots on the mountain. We used BeeSeal on them prior to going. This was a good test on the waterproofing of this product. The wax provides a good seal and he didn't notice any damage to his boots.

I have now dug out all of my daughter's old bobux leather shoes. They are looking a little ratty from when she was learning to walk. I used the BeeSeal on them. It goes on really smoothly, and the difference it made was noticeable right away. Although it can't replace the lost colour on the toes, the leather was in much better condition. Softer and more flexible.

I did wonder what the other ingredients might be, and this is not listed on the pottle. But it definitely smells like bee's wax and honey. The smell is delicious! I also wasn't sure what to apply this with. I used a paper towel in the end, as my husband had put away his shoe polishing kit. It was easy to apply and the one pottle will go a LONG way. You need so little of it.

Totally in love with this stuff... and with good reason, I think. You see, many years ago I discovered I was blowing away nearly all my cash on pair after pair after pair of shoes. Too many childhood years spent barefoot has led to very wide feet. Affordable shoes these days are just not designed to take that kind of stress pushing out sideways, so they split. There goes another $60 wasted. My best record was a pair of $80 shoes that lasted me 5 months before the side seams blew out.

Then, on a holiday in Sydney, I came across a shoe store selling "Redbacks" heavy duty work boots for au$65. A bit of mental maths gave me the price in NZ dollars as around $80. I figured if I could find a pair that were comfortable, and they lasted longer than 6 months, I was up on the deal. So I bought a pair and figured I would be hunting for more within a year. nearly 3 years later I retired the boots... because a cobbler had restitched the outer side seam of both boots and done it badly, they were now too tight! So, they got gifted to a mate in need with smaller feet, and I placed an order for my next pair.

Since then, leather boots is all I will buy... so when I was wandering around Fieldays in 2011 and passed the tent that had this stuff up for sale, and they offered to do show me the difference their product could make I simply had to try. The results were amazing, but I wanted to see the long-term results - how would it stand up after a week, a month, an year? The answer was: AMAZINGLY well! My boots have never leaked a drop since that first application. On top of that, the current boots are now into their 4th year of wear and showing no signs of splitting! The protective and conditioning powers of this natural product. However, a year down the track my tub is long empty, so it was no wonder I approached them at the 2012 Fieldays to get some to review. The picture shows you the difference after just one application - the 'before' is on the right, the 'after' is on the left.

Application is simple - the first time I saw it done they used a paintbrush! Personally, I use a boot brush and apply it generously, giving it a good rub in then a buff. No nugget, no sprays, nothing else. Just BeeSeal. Really, for 'natural colour' boots, there's nothing more you need. I give the boots a good coat every second month during most of the year, with a coat at the start of every month over wet/Winter months... and I ALWAYS give it a coat every 2 days in the week leading up to a trip down to Mount Ruapehu for family snow fun!

Overall, if you wear leather goods and you want them to last and look their best, this is the stuff to have on hand. It can be ordered via their online store, or at Fieldays (if you want to buy in bulk at a better price!) Personally, I won;t use anything else. Have I tried it on wood? No... to me, it is far too important to keep my boots at their best.

I am not sure what is in this as there are no "ingredients" listed on the pottle. It does however smell very 'bees waxy'.

A little goes a long way with this stuff so you will get a lot of value from your $19.00 pot.

I went a little crazy and smeared this over almost all our wooden surfaces that had marks. I then spent ages trying to wipe it off as it left a very sticky residue. On the wood trim around our kitchen bench it has actually left it looking quite nice. This had lost all of its finish from years of being wiped so I am pretty happy with how it looks now. Our varnished wooden furniture however not so good. The wax darkened the wood and it is noticeable where I put it. It will however provide a protective seal where the varnish has been scratched so its not all bad.

Next up was hubbies work boots which were looking pretty worn out. I followed the instructions but perhaps didn't take seriously enough that it would "darken" the leather. I finished one boot and was pretty happy with the result until Miss four said "Mummy why are daddy's shoes a different colour"? Needless to say I pretty quickly did the other boot and am hoping Hubby won't notice the colour change from a tan to dark brown...!!

The boots do look a lot nicer now and hopefully are more protected as well.

I will in future, however, keep this product away from anything light and perhaps always test on an inconspicuous spot first before going crazy with it! Perhaps more telling however is that I won't be using this on any of my own shoes and will stick to my leather conditioners and waterproof sprays.