L’Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream Ticks All The Right Boxes… But…

Ah I’m a tardy one, it would appear. Better late than never I guess 🙂 Thanks to the reminder from reader Coraline and Yukaeshi on Twitter, I got a swift kick up my @$$ to buck up and deliver my thoughts on the L’Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream.

L’Occitane for me has always been more about bath and body products. Lovely smelling body washes and shampoos grab my nose everytime but skincare? I don’t quite associate L’Occitane with skincare. I know they have some, but they just fly under my radar. Their DIY Ma Creme cream last year was absolutely fascinating, but nothing that prompted me to sit up and say “Oh I think I shall head to L’Occitane to check out some facial skincare”

Well, the new Angelica range of skincare might just do that for me. I have already purchased the full sized toner (which I will tell you about later today – it deserves a post of its own 🙂 ) and if my wandering eye doesn’t … erm… wander, then I might repurchase that in time to come.

Just quickly, the Angelica skincare range from L’Occitane isn’t named after a lovely lady. Its named after a plant – Angelica. Among the Chinese, you might be familiar with angelica root already, commonly known as “dong kwai” and used in herbal soups to promote blood circulation 🙂 The Angelica plant has an ability to draw water from deep in the ground and grow up to 2 meters in a few days. It was discovered that the Angelica water and Angelica essential oil was effective for skin hydration and to improve skin elasticity so you get hydrated and stronger skin in one.

So, very nice, you’re thinking. But what about the Angelica Hydration Cream? Is it all that?

Well, actually its a nice face cream. When I open the bottle and pop the foil protective sheet, a very fresh scent rises up to my nose. Its the smell of green. Its like you took a bunch of parsley and held it up to your nose. It smells fresh and green. Incidentally, I have to mention that the bottle is frosted glass. I love glass bottles for skincare. Yes yes, I know they don’t travel well and butterfingers won’t like it but I adore glass bottles. So packaging wise, its scored a point there.

I however deduct points for using a tall bottle because when you’re about halfway down the bottle as I am, it gets hard to stick your fingers in. I prefer tubs for creams and bottles for lotions. It just makes sense.

Texture wise, the cream feels like an emulsion. Its not heavy and thick, but it isn’t like a runny lotion either. Its a happy medium between the two and it absorbs very quickly into the skin without feeling oily or sticky. That green scent does linger a little on the skin though and is quite strong.

The Hydration Cream promises to immediately plump up the skin and leave it smoother and more luminous. I can vouch for the first. Upon application, my skin does always feel nicely hydrated and plumper and naturally, once its hydrated, it will feel smoother too. But I cannot say if it left my skin looking more luminous. That’s a hard gauge. I don’t know how to gauge luminosity to be honest, and if life’s throwing me curve balls at the time, luminosity will be at a natural low.

I’ve tried using it day and night, but I tend to prefer it for the day. Its light enough for me to use in the day, delivering enough moisture yet not making my skin oily or greasy. But at night, it didn’t quite cut it. I felt it was too light for use at night, if you sleep in an air-conditioned room or have slightly drier skin. For those with oily skin, there is a milky lotion option.

Its a nice cream that ticks all the right boxes – its light, absorbs quickly, hydrates skin and is a really nice cream. But for me it lacks that certain je ne sais quoi. Perhaps its just not ticking my boxes.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but L’Occitane boxes have braille on them. Interesting wot? 🙂

Also, whilst the Angelica Water and Essential Oil are from organic sources, this product isn’t an organic product per se. For those who’d like to see the ingredients, here is the ingredient list

The L’Occitane Angelica skincare range is a new addition and has been available since August 2011. Have you gone to take a look? Or perhaps you have tried any of the products in the range and would like to share your thoughts? I will tell you about the toner later today, and I also picked up the sunscreen, but you’ll have to wait for that one 🙂

Paris B

L’Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream retails at RM165/50ml at all L’Occitane stores