L’Occitane is a bath & beauty company from southern France that was started in 1976. They have a good following and has been around for some time now. Anything French to me is worth checking out. But I have not tried any of their products because everything is so expensive! Once in a while I do like to spurge on beauty products just to see if I’m missing out on anything.
Luxurious L’Occitane Boutique. Photo by L’Occitane.
So I tried the Amande (Almond) Shower line. It includes the Amande Delicious paste, Amande soap, and Amande Shower Oil. I have only tried the shower oil and the paste. I like the paste as it’s in a jar and has ground almonds in it. It works like a body scrub and leaves your skin soft and smooth. It has a nice almond floral scent too. Most floral scents are too much for me and could trigger a headache, but this one was on the lighter side.
The shower oil was more like a cream that takes forever to rinse off. I didn’t use the shower oil with a puff, but applied it with my hand. There weren’t any bubbles at all. The fun thing about showers for me is the bubbles, even small ones. I then decided to use it as  shaving cream for my legs. This worked great as the almond oil created a smooth glide and is very moisturizing.
The shower oil did leave my skin very moisturized but it did not give me a completely clean feeling, unlike bar soap. Overall, I am not really impressed by this shower set despite the great reviews at Sephora. And it’s really pricey at $22 for a 8.4 oz bottle.
I think you can find much more moisturizing handmade soap that’s also great for showers and shaving too. Not to mention much cheaper then this shower oil. For example, I like using my rice bran handmade soap for shaving as well as a facial cleanser. And I like that handmade soap creates good bubbles, has natural moisturizing glycerin, is better for your skin and environment, contains less ingredients, and rinses off nice and clean. I recommend you give handmade soap a try if you haven’t already. And skip this shower oil.
Update 3/9/09: I also used this as a shampoo. And it leaves my hair smelling very nice & soft, must be the almond oil. Not much bubbles, but did leave my hair clean and soft - no conditioner necessary!
Update 3/15/09: I have finally tried the almond soap and it is great. It looks really cute, like a large green almond. I also like the pieces of almond grounds for the extra scrubbing effect. The scent is nice and light (just like the rest of the Amande line). It is moisturizing and leaves your skin soft and clean.
