Review: L’Occitane’s Shea Whipped Body Care Line & Arlesienne Body Oil

You may have seen on Instagram, the gorgeous gift that one of my friends bought me – a box packed full of new L’Occitane goodies!

I was super duper excited to try out L’Occitane’s new Shea Whipped body products and the scented Arlesienne body oil, which just looks so darn pretty! I think more luxurious body care products are a great gift for friends, especially if you know that on a daily basis they use more ‘basic’ products (like shower gel and soaps from brands readily available from the supermarket). Because we use such body care products daily, it can feel like a bit of a splurge to buy a soap for $20. L’Occitane’s body care products definitely fit into that more ‘luxe’ category and I love that they are still made in France!  So how do these products fair? 🙂

Shea Whipped Body Cream – “The Shea Whipped Body Cream combines the nourishing properties of a balm with the lightness of a mousse, to help nourish and protect the skin. This whipped formula, made with 10% shea butter, gently melts into the skin when applied, leaving skin supple and comfortable. Shea Butter is an ideal beauty ingredient, used by women in Sub-saharan Africa to help nourish and protect their skin and hair. Since the 1980’s, L’OCCITANE uses shea butter from Burkina Faso, harvested in a sustainable and fair trade partnership with the women who produce it.”

Containing 10% pure shea, honey, rosemary leaf extract and sunflower seed oil, this body cream has a very different texture to the standard body cream or body butter. It looks and feels like mousse – like the chocolate variety, except that this product is white and not for consumption 😛 I thought that because of the texture, the cream would be light on hydration, but it isn’t. It’s like an air-rated body butter – it’s very rich and moisturising, but it’s light in texture, which really messes with you lol I was surprised that the tin only holds 125ml of product, but as it is so concentrated perhaps that makes sense. I love using it on my legs post shaving – it feels soothing and leaves a protective layer on top of the skin (but it isn’t oily or sticky). Because of the texture, at first it may seem that the cream isn’t sinking into the skin, but it does (and perhaps your using to much if this is happening) – after a moment or two, the cream absorbs wonderfully and easily into the skin. I also love the tin packaging. There’s something old school about it. I’m definitely going to hold onto it even once I’ve used up the body cream!

Shea Whipped Shower Foam – “Delightfully creamy, this shower foam with its unique whipped texture wraps the body in a soft cushion while gently cleansing the skin. Enriched with shea, it leaves skin feeling supple and comfortable.”

I’ve used facial cleansing foams before, but never a body shower foam. It makes sense that you could use one on your body if you can use them on your face! I was a little worried that it could be drying on the skin, but it’s silky, moisturising and quite creamy once rubbed into your skin. It doesn’t have a scent per se – it’s the same scent that the she body creams have, so it isn’t strongly perfumed or different from the rest of the line.

Shea Whipped Hand Cream – “The Shea Whipped Hand Cream has a playful yet smooth texture. Made with a high concentration of shea butter (25%), it helps to nourish, protect and soften the skin.”

If you love the original L’Occitane Shea Butter hand cream, you will also love this version. The texture is very similar to that of the Shea Whipped Body Cream, except that it has a higher concentration of shea butter in its formula. The little 30ml tubes of hand cream are the cutest and are so easy to carry around in your handbag, but I would like a giant 100ml of this stuff 😛 I think L’Occitane hand creams are so famous and popular because they don’t leave a sticky residue behind. They are almost dry to the touch once rubbed into your hands. Sometimes I like the silky residue left on my skin, but the hand cream is very practical, especially when out and about.

Shea Ultra Rich Lip Balm– “The Shea Ultra Rich Lip Balm helps to repair, nourish and protect dry lips, leaving a supple and soft sensation. This convenient tube format is perfect for your handbag or your bedside table.”

The Shea Whipped line doesn’t contain any lip products, but the regular Shea Butter line does, so my friend was kind enough to include one of their super popular lip balms in my present. This lip balm contains 10% shea butter and comes in the form of a wind up stick. It’s smooth, not to thick but moisturising. Lanolips Lip Ointment used to annoy me because you had to squeeze it out of a tube – and if it was cold, the lip ointment would go hard and it was so tough trying to squeeze that thing out. Plus is was also suuuper sticky. With this lip balm, you don’t have any of those problems and it also doesn’t disappear from your lips after 2 minutes. My lips feel comfortable and most importantly, hydrated.

This particular lip balm doesn’t have a taste or scent (perhaps it very lightly smells like the rest of the shea butter line – but it’s much much more subtle). It would be a great ‘primer’ under lipstick as it isn’t to thick or sticky. It does have some slip to it, but that makes it a comfortable lip balm. Love!

Arlesienne Body Oil – “This light, translucent body oil sublimes hair and body and envelops them with a sensual and delicate veil. It reveals the vibrant scent of the Arlésienne fragrance: bouquet of rose, sweet violet and saffron. 

The elegant and gracious woman of Arles – the Arlésienne – is embodied in this feminine fusion of three flowers. Elusive and mysterious, she leaves in her wake a unique trail that lingers wherever she goes. Made with extracts of rose from Grasse, sweet violet, and saffron from Provence. Do not use on the face.”

I looove body oils, so my friend hit the nail on the head with this one 🙂 This particular body oil was released right before Christmas along with the scent Arlesienne and a few other other products. The body oil is perfumed with the Arlesienne scent, which is quite floral (I can smell the rose and violet without a doubt). The saffron adds just a little bit of depth, but otherwise it’s a decisive floral scent. This would be the perfect gift for someone who doesn’t like to use perfumes because they are to strong. On it’s own, you could definitely forgo using a perfume and let this body oil shine. You can also use this oil in your hair, so it would be a lovely hair perfume. Anyone with a fondness for floral scents would love this!

The oil itself is quite light. I wouldn’t call it a dry oil, but it’s light and leaves a soft sheen on the skin. It took me forever to find the ingredient list for this oil (thank you L’occitane Finland!) but finally, here it is:

INGREDIENTS : OCTYLDODECANOL – CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE – HELIANTHUS ANNUUS (SUNFLOWER) SEED OIL – COCO-CAPRYLATE/ CAPRATE – PARFUM/FRAGRANCE – AQUA/WATER – GLYCERIN -CROCUS SATIVUS FLOWER EXTRACT – ROSA CENTIFOLIA FLOWER EXTRACT – VIOLA ODORATA LEAF EXTRACT – VIOLA ODORATA EXTRACT – SODIUM BENZOATE – POTASSIUM SORBATE – TOCOPHEROL – ALPHA-ISOMETHYL IONONE – LIMONENE – CITRONELLOL – COUMARIN – LINALOOL – METHYL 2-OCTYNOATE – CITRAL – GERANIOL.

Capric triglyceride as my avid readers would know, is a component of coconut oil’s fatty acids. It gives the oil a light silky feel (and is very often used in facial moisturisers and skincare products). Coco-Caprylate is an ester derived from coconut fatty acids (but with a slightly different chemical structure to capric triglyceride) and it’s often used as an emulsifier and emollient (and along with glycerin, which is also in the ingredient list, makes the oil extra moisturising – tick!). I’m really surprised to see the saffron extract (crocus sativus) is quite high in the ingredient list. This would be an extract from the flower itself (saffron is picked from inside the flower) and hence isn’t as overwhelming as the spice itself. Together with rose and violet extract, the oil is wonderfully perfumed.

I also really appreciate the packaging for this body oil. I love that even the gold cap is engraved with L’Occitane’s logo. The graphic on the front of the oil is bright and quite modern, while the back on the bottle doesn’t have a logo/sticker, but the glass is imprinted with the floral motive.

So out of all of my goodies, which are my faves? That’s super hard, because none of these products are duds, but as some of these goodies are limited edition I would suggest you run and try the Whipped Body Cream and the Arlesienne Body Oil. The lip balm is also a new fav! Oh – and my gorgeous friend also included two little samples in my package –

I reviewed the Milk Concentrate back in the early days of Beauty Bee (here) and I would love to get another jar of the stuff as it’s lovely! The Ultra Rich Cream (for the body) I haven’t tried yet. It contains 25% shea butter so it’ll be super moisturising!

Do you have any favourite products from L’Occitane? Let me know if you have any recommendations! Do you give body care products as gifts to friends and family? Do you enjoy receiving such gifts?

Let’s keep in touch! Until next time beauties,

Beauty Bee~

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