L'Occitane Archives - Page 4 of 8

Tried it, didn’t like it Vol 3: Popular skincare products I can’t get behind

July 8, 2015 Paris B 16 Comments

Amongst the plethora of skincare products that I try out or are gifted with, or buy, there are loads of good stuff. I share those good stuff with you vocally and often. But quite often as well, I run across duds. Not duds in the true sense of the product being a dud, but a dud for me because I wasn’t wow-ed by it the way I should be.

These, I don’t share often enough. But instead of dedicating a whinging post on one product (as much as I like whinging posts, I prefer writing happy ones, although some do deserve their own whinging post) I thought I’d pull together a bunch of products I don’t like, or more accurately, did not work for me, and share them all in one post. Tried them, didn’t like them so here they are! Incidentally, most of these appear to be quite popular products, so I’m clearly in the minority here!

I’ll share below why these didn’t work for me and if you’ve tried any of them, I’d love to hear your thoughts as to whether you liked them (and why I should) or if you didn’t like them. Just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it won’t for you! 🙂

The Tale of how Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Cream helped Lizard-Gal become Human again

March 2, 2015 Paris B 28 Comments

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a girl who, through neglect and the evil spell of “laziness”, found herself slowly morphing into a lizard.

It started at the furthest of her extremities, with the skin on her toes first drying out and flaking. But did she pay attention? Oh no! (If she had right then, there wouldn’t be a story to tell would there?)

The evil spell and gentle morph from human to scaly reptile slowly crept up the feet and legs, turning once smooth, soft skin into dry, hard, scales. Skin was stretched and shiny and lined through neglect. Things came to a head one day, when lizard-gal discovered a very dry and itchy patch of skin on her shin.

Thinking it was mere skin irritation or a bug bite, she gave it no mind, but scratch she did. Until one day, she looked down (finally!) and noticed the scales and the red, angry, bumpy, itchy, irritated patch of skin on her legs.

Panicking, she turned to Dr. Google, which told her it could be anything from psoriasis to cancer (Isn’t Dr. Google a consolation?) But more digging prompted a different diagnosis. It might just be skin that was too dry, which had cracked and allowed itself to be infected.

So Lizard-gal started oiling herself up like a salad daily, yet it didn’t stop the slow encroachment of scaly skin. Until one evening, her eye fell on an old gift which had been sitting on her bedside table for the longest time.

Now, the problem with Lizard-gal is that she hated using body lotions and body creams. Living in the tropics as she did, body creams and lotions tended to be sticky and to leave a greasy, oily film on the skin that could be very uncomfortable, especially on warm nights.

It didn’t help that the salve was called the L’Occitane Ultra Rich Body Cream Rich in Shea Butter, which conjured up images of butter on toast, and a sticky date pudding.

But desperate times called for desperate measures, if Lizard-gal was to stop the onslaught of the scales.

Splurge, don’t Save: Shower Oils can go very right… or just very wrong

January 12, 2015 Paris B 59 Comments

Very often, in my beauty experiments, I come across products that I consider similar in form or function and when I find them from different ends of the price spectrum, I share what I call a “Save and Splurge” post. Often, they’re products I like. It only makes sense to share things you like, and finding a good enough option to save money on is always a boon.

But today, I’d like to warn you instead that sometimes, a splurge is a lesser evil than a save option. Today we talk about shower oils.

Let me preface this by saying that I don’t have a lot of experience with shower oils. In fact, I don’t know of many brands that do shower oils, or a body cleansing oil that you can use in the shower. So, my experience may be limited to just one, the very excellent L’Occitane Shower Oil.

Shower oils are, as the name implies, an oil that you use in the shower in place of your shower gel or soap. It cleanses your skin without stripping it of its natural oils, keeps skin feeling moist and supple and contrary to popular belief, does not leave your skin feeling oily after use. Think of it like a cleansing oil for the body – it emulsifies upon contact with water and rinses off clean. I’m a huge huge fan of the Splurge option, but I was also introduced to a Save option not long ago, so here’s what I think of it.

Oh and if you know of other brands that do shower oils, please do let me know because I’m always up to try more!

New! L’Occitane Almond Body Collection gets an upgraded formula and new slimming care

May 16, 2014 Paris B 30 Comments

I’m not crazy about almonds if I’m to be perfectly honest. I don’t like that Asian favourite of Almond Jelly desserts (I’m not alone am I? 😛 ) and I don’t like the scent of almonds. But there’s one almond product I like and that’s the L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil. Mmm… Pity I’ve run out for now 🙁

As it turns out, L’Occitane is huge on almonds as their almond body collection shows. They’ve always been popular for their almond body creams and lotions which boast skin softening, moisturising, firming and toning effects. I’m told by friends that they swear by the Almond Supple Skin Oil and Almond Milk Concentrate when pregnant to prevent stretch marks.

Personally, I haven’t tried most of the Almond Collection from L’Occitane so it was interesting to get to know what’s new and upcoming from the collection in the coming months.

If you are a user of the Almond Collection products, you may be interested to know of what’s new and what’s upcoming and you could also tell me what you like from the range 😀

I tell stories on Instagram @parisbmws