L'Occitane Honey Foaming Gel

May I say my favorite type of soap is honey-based. It makes skin so soft and sweet-smelling without the bothersome cloy. And boy was I glad to be surprised with L'Occitane's Honey Foaming Gel (thank you 大 姐). Of course my joy escalated when I saw the teddy bear on the bottle (part of the Shea Honey Collection). Two of my favorite things in a body product!

It comes in a generously-sized 250ml bottle. The cap is the press type, so it is quite convenient to maneuver in the shower. 

The caramel liquid-gel truly is a gentle wash. A dollop can whip up a good amount of soapy concoction. The smell is divine and it lingers quite a bit throughout the day. The best part is it leaves the skin clean and soft.  

Ingredients above. It would be nice if L'Occitane came up with more honey-themed products. It does a whole lot of benefit for the skin and is always a treat to those who like honey/milk-based beauty products. 

L'Occitane Hand Cream Collection

It was in Changi Airport on the way back to Manila when I saw this Hand Cream Collection. I had been sniffing along L'Occitane's shelves, one of which was dedicated to hand creams. The selection was mostly travel exclusives in boxes of 3 or 4 of the same scent, and I finally settled on this one because of the variety and beautiful tin.

The colorful swirls and the see-through pane of plastic are doubly appealing.

There are four 1oz (appx. 30ml) tube-type hand creams, each featuring a different scent and texture.

Shea Butter, Rose, Lavande, and Pivoine Flora. A real sampling treat for my nighttime hand treatment!

The Shea Butter Hand Cream is one of L'Occitane's classic hand creams. It contains 20% pure shea butter and is intended for dry skin. Its texture is thick and while moisturizing, oddly did not moisturize my hands as well as the others. Each time I applied the Rose Velvet Hand Cream, it instantly filled the air with the divine smell of roses -- this one's a concoction of Grasse, Bulgarian, Moroccan, and Turkish species. The cream has a light pink texture and made my hands soft and smooth in the morning.

The ingredients list above for Shea Butter and Rose.

Lavande has the lightest texture among the four choices, and surprisingly it offers better moisturization for me than Shea Butter. The scent is pure lavender that I am not so attached to, however it can be quite addicting because I truly felt more relaxed the more I breathed in the lavender scent on my hands. Among the four variants, I would choose a full-sized Lavande for purpose and practicality. Pivoine Flora (Peony) is another floral concoction enriched with grape seed oil and shea butter. I am not so fond of the scent. Its hydration properties is just about the same as Lavande's.

Above: Lavande; below: Pivoine Flora.

Overall, L'Occitane's Hand Cream Collection didn't just provide a visual delight, but also a sensory experience with real results.

L'Occitane Extra-Gentle Milk Soap

Not to be left behind, the Extra-Gentle Milk Soap from L'Occitane was part of last post's collection.

This came in a smaller size (50g) and was intended as a hand soap, but I opted to use it as a body soap.

 View from the side.

Opening . . .

This Milk soap comes off whiter than the the Verbena, which has a creamy yellow tinge to it. The texture is smooth, rich, second to none. The scent is very delicate and unobtrusive. It cleans really well and I would say moisturizes the skin better than Verbena soap. Between the two, I enjoy using the Milk soap more.

The ingredients list above.

L'Occitane Bath and Shower Series

One of the highlights (at least for me) of staying in hotels is partaking of their complimentary bath amenities . . . especially if they are from L'Occitane!

Pictured above is the evidence of hoarding. I brought home their Shampoo and Conditioner with 3 Essential Oils, Verbena Shower Gel, Verbena Body Lotion, and Verbena Extra-Gentle Soap.

All of them except the soap come in perfectly travel-sized 50ml bottles. I've been using the shampoo for over two months now and have had very good results with it. I can't say anything about the conditioner since I haven't used it (rarely use conditioner).

This tandem is made of three essential oils namely from angelica, lavender, and geranium. The shampoo's scent delivers its blurb on "soothing, repairing, and stimulating properties." Whiffs of calming lavender swirl through the bath when I lather the shampoo on, accompanied by the energizing crisp scents of angelica and geranium. The concentrated plant-based aroma smells very natural, as if the extracts were picked fresh from the plants and infused straight to the bottles. After use, my hair is really softer, shinier, and "repaired." The strands look fuller and moisturized and generally healthier.

The ingredients list. I didn't experience any irritation from the shampoo.

The aluminum cap is very nice to look at and easy to open and close. A round rubber helps keep the products securely covered.

Both body gel and lotion are from the Verbena series which smell like sweet oranges and green tea to me. (Verbena is actually a flowering plant.) The scents are perfectly blended without being annoyingly sweet or cloyingly strong as some bath products go.

The lotion is enriched with grape seed oil, aside from the obvious Verbena extracts. I would classify the consistency as medium rich, as I find it too sticky to use every day in Manila's weather. It works twice or thrice a week perfectly. I put this on my arms and legs when they are feeling dry and looking dull and see good results right away. The shower gel is very friendly to use -- it cleans well and does not irritate my skin. When toweling off, I notice my skin is not as dry as when I use conventional soaps. There seems to be a supple quality to my after-bath skin every time I use this. Also, a few squirts of this gel go a long way to foam up a bath puff. I must mention the scent is absolutely divine.

Ingredients for Verbena Body Lotion and Body Gel above.

I couldn't not try this Verbena Extra-Gentle Soap. Not when it is packaged so nicely in beautiful brown parchment with stamped-on design prints.

It is a hefty 100g bar, square-shaped and around two inches thick. The soap is even wrapped with a white cardboard type paper to protect and keep it in place. I noticed the soap's concentration when it started emulsifying slightly upon contact with my hands.

It has the same citrus-y sweet scent as the other Verbena products. I think the main thing that differentiates this L'Occitane soap from common bar soaps is its smooth "slip" and presence of many nourishing extracts and emollients. It is made of many great ingredients such as shea butter, glycerin, May Chang/mountain pepper extracts, vitamin E, rosemary leaf extracts, and sunflower seed oil. It's hard to ask my drugstore soap to beat that. It cleans the skin very well but does not strip it of moisture. It lathers properly and lasts me about 10 days.

Overall, a very satisfying set from a brand that incorporates more natural than chemically-produced ingredients.