I don't generally review bodylotions and scrubs, because there isn't much to review about them. They smell of x, they are colour y, and they moisturize/exfoliate your skin. Not much to show or tell you about them, and I never use google to look for reviews of these products either, so you probably don't either. However, sometimes a line so completely wins your heart that you just want to tell everyone about it. The latest offerings by l'Occitane did just that: the limited edition honey + shea butter Melting Honey line, and their collaboration with patisserie chef Pierre Hermé which resulted in, among others, a stunning Jasmin themed Christmas collection.
First up: the Melting Honey exfoliating sugars, ultra soft cream, and hand cream. Just look at how pretty those packages are! I love the design, the line has a summery colour palette yet its brightly colours honey comb pattern totally smacks of Christmas for some reason.
The hand cream is amazing, like all of the l'Occitane hand creams I've tried yet. I can't live without a tube of handcream in my handbag during the cold months, because I get hangnails like crazy and I can never stop picking at them, resulting in damaged skin and infections. The only thing that keeps the hangnails at bay, is obsessively using hand cream, and always having small nail clippers in my vicinity. Nail clippers are BEST at cutting off hangnails completely, eliminating the need to pick and pull them away which always results in tearing the skin further. I also seem to notice that my nails are stronger if I consistently moisturize the roots of my nails, less prone to splitting. And everytime I move my hands, I get a whiff of heavenly honey fragrance. This one retails at €7.50 for 30ml.
The Melting Honey soft cream has been my go-to body lotion ever since I received it, and I've been very impressed by how the smell stays throughout the day after applying in the morning. I also really enjoy how the honey fragrance mixes with my own Prada Candy perfume, which smells of caramel. Gourmande goodness! The soft cream melts into the skin and leaves it thoroughly moisturized without leaving a greasy film. The Melting Honey soft cream already seems to be sold out online, but you might get lucky at your local l'Occitane store. This one retails at €19 for 100ml.
The exfolating sugars (or sugar scrub) are also completely divine. I don't take baths often (I'm more of a shower gal myself), but the winter cold makes me yearn for a hot bath now and then. And a bath isn't complete without a good book, a moisturizing facial mask, and a good scrub to get all that dead skin off. Removing dead skin makes moisturizers much more effective because they can get straight to the actual skin instead of being soaked up by dead cells. This one contains 5% shea butter, and hydrates while scrubbing. Love love love! The l'Occitane exfoliating sugars retail at €21 for 175g.
Finally, there is the Pierre Hermé eau de toilette in Jasmin Immortelle Neroli. Again, the design of the packaging is stunning, the type of elegant luxury that will look oh so good underneath the Christmas tree.
As I mentioned above, Pierre Hermé is a patisserie chef, and working with a patisserie chef on a line of fragrances is basically the best idea ever if you ask me. He conceived three different scents: Pamplemousse Rhubarb (ermagerd yes), Miel Mandarine (mandarine honey, omg kill me now I need it), and this Jasmin Immortelle Neroli. I've always been a sucker for jasmin based fragrances, in my opinion there is no white floral that combines delicate with sultry like jasmin does.
Apart from jasmine, this fragrance also contains notes of pink pepper, lemon, orange blossom, amber, white wood and musk. A beautiful balance of natural notes: floral, fruity and woody. The combination is soft, delicate and feminine, but fresh and open rather than cloyingly sweet. I absolutely love combining the Jasmin eau de toilette with my melting honey soft cream, as the combination of floral and honey is absolutely divine. This beautiful product retails at €55 for 75ml. If you want to get that smell on your body for a lower price, you can also go for a bar of soap (€3.50), shower gel (€14.50) or moisturizing body milk (€23). The Pierre Hermé products are all limited edition.
The l'Occitane Christmas products are affordable little nuggets of holiday luxury. If you want to gift a set rather than a single product, a beautifully illustrated metal box containing a bar of soap, a tube of hand cream and some lipbalm retails at €20, while this box of eau de toilette, shower gel, hand cream and a bar of soap can be yours for €59 (great deal, as the eau de toilette on its own will set you back €55).
Beautiful products which I'm sure you'll fall in love with! Now bring on Christmas, please, I can't wait.
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