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!
The ingredients
Water*, Glycerine*, Octydocecyl Myristate, Dicaprylyl Ether*, Pentylene Glycol, Hydrogenated Coconut Acid*, Arachidyl Alcohol*, Myristyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Althaea Officinalis Leaf/Root Extract*, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride*, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate*, Myristyl Glucoside*, Arachidyl Glucoside*, Carbomer, Ethylhexylglycerine, Sorbic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Cetyl Alcohol*, Behenyl Alcohol, Coco-Caprylate/Caprate, Xanthan Gum, Tocopherol*, Parfum.
Paraben- but not silicone-free; starred ingredients are of natural origin. I typed out that entire list off the packaging; that’s how much I adore you lot. (Quite a bit.)
