little white truths

I just introduced this product in one of my larger samples posts, but the reality is that I've been using it on and off for the last month or so.

And while yes it's a smaller sample so I don't have a lot of product to play with, I don't need much each time (I use a shower puff) and the sample size is large enough that I have a good idea of the product already.

Long story short, I think it's a good gel that cleans without stripping my dry skin, but I don't like the scent and I wouldn't buy it for that reason. More on that below.

L'Occitane claims/product details:

• Made with essential oils, this soothing shower gel provides a true feeling of wellbeing 
• Made via a distillation process that captures the highest concentration of a plant’s benefits
• Transforms into a fine and delicate foam, which gently cleanses the skin without drying it out
• Its soothing aromatic scent is 100% natural
• Our new Aromachologie body care collection combines essential oils to offer beautiful products with proven wellbeing effectiveness
• RRP $31 AUD for 250ml

Verdict

While I do like the formula of this shower gel because it cleans without stripping my dry skin, I don't like the scent and for that reason I don't enjoy using it.

It's a standard shower gel in texture and it feels quite silky and smooth to the touch. While it does smell herbal, it has this odd after-scent that's sickly sweet and turns my stomach. It's one of those scents that gives me a headache if I smell it too close or too often.

What I like about this gel is that it's very smooth, silky and almost velvety in texture, and while it does lather up, it doesn't foam like crazy so I can tell that it doesn't contain any sulphates. I for one am happy about that because sulphates tend to dry out my already dry skin, but this product doesn't do that and instead leaves my skin feeling softly hydrated after use.

Indeed, I tested the pH this morning and it comes in at somewhere between a five and a six, so it's not too alkaline and for this reason it makes a good hand wash for me, since my hands are always dry and need something more gentle.

It also cleans well enough that when I use it as a hand wash in the kitchen, it effectively takes care of food scraps, oil, nappy cream dregs and also greasy sunscreen without issue. Any wash that can do this without stripping my skin gets two thumbs up in my books, and it should give you an idea of how effective it is as a plain old body wash.

Overall I do like the formula of this product but I can't live with the scent so I wouldn't buy it. Note that it's also quite expensive, and I don't tend to spend my money on body care because I prefer to save my pennies for facial skincare.

Nice formula, odd scent.