theNotice: a beauty blog

The collection: L’Occitane Shea Butter Fortune Flowers (LE) Collection

     ↳ The products: Shea Butter Lip Balm, Hand Cream, and Body Cream in…

          The scents: Date Bouquet, Rose Petals, and Mango Flower.

The Shea Butter Fortune Flowers collection draws inspiration from the West African ancestral traditions of basket weaving (for the packaging) and storytelling (for the scents,) focusing on the three African fortune flowers — rose, date, and mango.

While I’m actually not a huge fan of many L’Occitane fragrances, I think the scents in this collection are gorgeous: fresh, soft, and well-blended. The Mango Flower fragrance is particularly edible, and Rose Petals is stunning; delicate and soft without any being cloying or dusty in the least.

Shea Butter Lipbalm in Date Bouquet, $18.00 

100% natural, 55% organic, and 10% fair trade shea butter, this lip balm has a lot going for it, at least from a distance. That said, though, it’s actually my least favourite Fortune Flowers product out of the three I’ve tried, both in scent and formula (though neither was, per se, actually bad.)

Based in vegetable, castor, and sunflower seed oils, as well as the 10% shea base, this lip balm formula just doesn’t seem to give enough moisture for my lips. It goes on smoothly and feels lightweight, but it’s just not what I’m looking for: too slippery to use under lipsticks but not hydrating enough for a night treatment, I think I’d recommend this only as a bare-lip balm, and then only if you really liked the scent.

The verdict?

It’s not a bad product, but at $18 a tube, I’d skip this one. The lip balm gives decent moisture and wears comfortably, but like the Date Bouquet scent, it’s just good, you know? Whereas the rest of the collection is actually great.

Shea Butter Hand Cream in Rose Petals, $12.00        *Silicone-free! 

L’Occitane’s shea-based hand creams are by far their most iconic product, and for good reason. The formula is rich and hydrating, but it absorbs without an oily finish, and you don’t have to wait around for it to sink in.

Formulated with 20% fair trade shea butter, the Rose Petals Shea Butter Hand Cream leaves hands feeling soft and moisturized, and I absolutely love the scent — it’s light and slightly sweet, hitting just the right balance of both. Less sugary than your typical cherry blossom fragrance (for example), but without the metallic tang of cheap rosewater, it’s noticeable but far from overwhelming.

The verdict?

I find most rose scents too cloying, but I can’t get enough of this one. Uncharacteristically subtle for the brand, it’s the perfect “office drawer moisturizer,” a gorgeous midday pick-me-up for dry hands that won’t leave your hands greasy (and won’t fill up the whole floor with fragrance).

Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Cream in Mango Flower, $28.00

The verdict?

Each product has a mini “verdict” section, but I wanted to throw just a few more words at you before we finish up. While there have definitely been L’Occitane collections in the past that have really intrigued me, this is the first that really makes me go huh, okay, wow.

Gorgeous both in formulation and fragrance, it’s the one “fragrance” collection that you absolutely cannot miss this season — I kid you not. Be sure to pick up a few of the hand creams, and don’t miss the mouthwatering mango and feather-light rose scents.

Ingredients, additional photos, & more »

The product: L’Occitanne La Bonne Mère Gentle Cream with Milk

L’Occitane’s new La Bonne Mère collection pays homage to “the Good Mother,” the embodiment of kindness, generosity, and softness to the L’Occitane family. In Provence, the phrase «Oh Bonne Mère!» is used to express surprise, relief, and kindness, and remains an important influence on the soapmakers and scentmakers in Marseille.

Available in two scents, milk and honey, the product range covers a few basic face and body products. The collection launched this August, and the packaging is made from at least 95% renewable, plant-based plastic – so not only is the range pH-balanced and gentle enough for the whole family (aged 3 and up), it’s easy on the environment, too.

The scent: The La Bonne Mère Gentle Cream with Milk has a soft, powdery fragrance — less scented than many of L’Occitane’s other products, but still noticeable. With top notes of cotton flower, sweet heart notes, and a milky base enriched with white mallow milk, the products are meant to be calming and soothing.

I haven’t tried the Honey range, but it has top notes of almond blossom, heart notes of golden honey, and a base of linden and orange blossom, which sounds absolutely delicious.

The Gentle Cream: Intended for use on the hands, body, and face, the Gentle Cream is packaged in a portable 75ml tube. With an easy-to-use twist cap (I’m a sucker for products that don’t have finicky, separate lids), it’s brilliant for use as a hand cream — the rich, smooth formula sinks in quickly and leaves a soft, sweet-smelling finish.

My sister’s comment on the packaging? “Oh my god. That’s so smart; why isn’t everything made like that!” My thoughts exactly

The verdict?

I hesitate to recommend this one, but it’s not by any fault of the product — rather, L’Occitane has another hand cream launching this October that I’m even crazier about! (Which is nuts, because I thought I was crazy about this one up ’til a week or two ago.)

For a rich, milky-sweet cream that works brilliantly on the hands (both in formula and packaging), don’t miss the Bonne Mère Gentle Cream. And, hey: if you try it in Honey, let me know what you think of the fragrance!

Keep reading! »

Earlier this week, a good friend of mine (aka She of the Glorious Cheekbones, or “Xiao,” for short) asked me to tell her about the ingredients in the Tatcha Radiant Deep Brightening Serum. I’m no skincare expert, but I do end up doing a lot of skincare research just for interest’s sake, so I thought I’d share the breakdown with all of you, too.

To start off, here’s the full ingredients list: 

Water, Glycerine, Propanediol, Alcohol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Squalane (Olive Extract), Isocetyl Stearate, Inositol (Rice Bran), Phenoxyethanol, Oryza Stavia Germ Oil (Rice Bran), Polyglyceryl-2 Triisostearate, Polyglyceryl-10 Isostearate, Ethylhexylglycerine, Glyceryl Stearate, Behenyl Alcohol, Sericin (Silk), Arginine, Carbomer, Xanthan Gum, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Sodium Hyaluronate, Zizyphus Extract (Jujuba Fruit), Glycyrrhiza Glabra Root Extract (Licorice Root), Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract (Baical Skullcap), Ctearyl Alcohol, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Sorbitan Stearate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Red Algae Extract, Camellia Sinesis Leaf Extract (Green Tea), Fragrance.

[Italicized ingredients are of natural origin.]

What you need to know about ingredients lists

As I’m sure you all know, the FDA dictates that all ingredients be listed in order of predominance, with the notable exclusion of:

a) Any ingredients that are also drugs (eg. chemical sunscreens), which are listed first;

b) Colour additives, which can be listed at the end in any order;

c) “Trade secrets,” which can be listed as simply “and other ingredients,” and finally;

d) Any ingredient making up less than 1% of the finished product, which can be listed in any order amongst themselves.

Because of this, I’m going to focus on the first handful of ingredients, and touch on the rest only briefly — just in case you were wondering why I haven’t broken down all 32 ingredients for you!

The base

Water

Okay, this one’s obvious. Most skincare products do start out with water (aqua/eau, whatever you care to call it); starting out your product with water doesn’t make it a “cheap dilution.” Dilution? Well, yes, but it’s always nice not to burn your skin off with overly-concentrated ingredients!

Remember, when it comes to skincare, more isn’t always better. It’s all about a balance: you don’t want a product that’s too diluted, but you don’t want one that’s too concentrated, either.

Glycerine

Another common ingredient. My worry with glycerine is always that, while a good, cost-effective humectant (think of humectants as skin conditioning agents for locking in moisture), it can give a suffocating, sticky finish if you use too much — which I definitely find is the case with this serum. (I’d recommend starting off with just two or three small drops for your entire face if you want a soft finish, rather than a sticky one.)

Effective or not, I’m a little disappointed to see so much glycerine in a product that retails for $150 a bottle, to be honest — it’s hard to fork over that much when you know the largest components of a product are dirt-cheap!

Propanediol

Um, this is awkward.  1,2- or 1,3-propanediol? Anyhow; this is probably around as a humectant and/or viscosity-controlling agent; group it in as “supporting character” rather than “story arc.” There have been some concerns raised over this one with regards to skin irritation, so do keep an eye out for any unusual redness or sensitivity, especially in your eye area.

What’s with all the extracts? Keep reading »

A quick tutorial on adding natural-looking colour for everyone from the chronically ill to just the mildly hungover. (Hey, I’ve been both. And unfortunately, I can therefore guarentee that the same principles more or less apply.) (Think about that the next time you go out drinking. Man.)

Read it here.

Dug this one out of the archives. I’m not sure what possessed me to put together an eighteen-product assortment of lip balms, lip balms, and more lip balms, but… well.

Let’s just say I don’t regret it in the least.

Anything catch your eye?