Saturday 3 March 2012

Review: L'Occitane Limited Edition Shea Africa Collection

This month, L'Occitane Australia will release a brand new limited edition set of hand and ultra rich body creams with new scents and new packaging designs. 

Introducing... the Shea Africa Collection! L'Occitane has taken a step away from their simplistic packaging and moved towards traditional African prints and motifs. These traditional prints swirl into the origin of shea butter, the core ingredient of L'Occitane's hand creams, an extract which is derived from the nut of West African Shea Tree. Shea butter has become a very popular ingredient in the cosmetics industry that L'Occitane decided to share the origins of shea butter by producing the limited edition hand and body cream line.


There are three scents to the limited edition line which were inspired by indigenous florals from Africa. They are:

Desert Rose (from Morocco)- musk rose with a subtle sweet kick
Cocoa Flower (from the Ivory Coast)- deep and intense, but not overpowering, cocoa aroma   
Hibiscus Flower (from Egypt)- sweet citrus scent




Shea Butter Hand Cream: The shea butter hand creams are L'Occitane's most favourite and coveted product. The hand cream is enriched with shea butter (25%) and nourishes and soothes the skin. These hand creams are so gentle and non-irritating to the skin that they work effectively to soften my skin whilst absorbing quickly without leaving a greasy trail. An interesting fact about shea butter is that it is a solid at room temperature and melts at body temperature. This is the reason why these hand creams easily penetrate the skin. I love using this hand cream in the morning and before I go to bed as not only do my hands feel great, they also smell alluring. All three scents are lovely, however, my favourite scent is Cocoa Flower as it's such a divine scent! These limited edition hand creams are available in 30ml  (A$12) and 150ml (A$39) sizes which makes them a must have for your handbag!




Ultra Rich Body Cream: Upon first inspection of L'Occitane's Ultra Rich Body Cream (A$32/100ml), I had a feeling this cream would be just as rich in texture as the title of the body cream is named. When I applied this body cream onto my skin I realised that looks can be deceiving! Ultra Rich Body Cream has a very smooth and not to thin, not too thick consistency. The body cream is actually rich in shea butter as it contains 25% of this amazing ingredient and this is what makes my dry skin turn into smooth luxuriously feeling skin. This body cream spreads easily and after massaging the product onto my skin for a few seconds, the white opaque cream disappears leaving my skin looking moisturised and hydrated. My skin did feel a  tiny bit sticky after awhile, so I prefer to apply this body cream after showering and before bed, so that my skin could get a little pampering before the next day. The Ultra Rich Body Cream is also available in the limited edition scents: Dessert Rose, Cocoa Flower and Hibiscus Flower, so make sure you drop by your nearests L'Occitane counter to experience these limited edition scents!

What do you think of L'Occitane's new limited edition Africa Collection line? Which traditional print do you fancy?

xx Rose

Products were provided for consideration only. This review is 100% based on my own thoughts and opinions. I am not affiliated with L'Occitane and did not receive remuneration to post this product review.

4 comments:

  1. I absolutely love these hand creams. I actually managed to get the cocoa flower as a freebie with a UK magazine a few months ago :)

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    1. What a great freebie! Glad you got the chance to try one of these limited edition hand creams!

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  2. I think I want to sample all three... they sound delicious :)

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    1. Oh yes, they definitely are delicious!

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