Once winter hits, it's over for my skin if I don't use the right products. While failing to moisturize at all is a huge red flag, I also sometimes find that certain moisturizers leave me looking and feeling ashy in the morning. So ashy, in fact, that I can play tic-tac-toe on my legs—the telltale sign that I'm not doing enough in the hydration department.
Recently, though, I decided to try a suite of bodycare items from cult-favorite French brand L'Occitane to see if they could do the trick. Being the curious beauty editor that I am, I finally decided to give the brand's TikTok-viral almond collection a go because many of my favorite creators won't stop raving about it. Spoiler alert: They were on to something—this collection is a savior for parched winter skin.
I try a lot of bodycare items, and some of them have left me underwhelmed, but not these. Not only do they give you baby-soft skin, but they also smell incredible. So incredible, even, that you can skip adding a fragrance on top if you like a light, subtly delicious scent. The rise of "skinimalism" lately has paved the way for collections like this, and trust me, these are the perfect staples for days you want to do the most without using 10 different things. If you haven't tried this collection yet but have also considered it due to all the positive reviews, keep scrolling. I'm sharing all my thoughts on it below and a few of my other L'Occitane favorites.
Normally, I don't really like body moisturizers that are heavily fragranced, because they can be a bit much. I also try to keep a routine that's on the cleaner side when it comes to ingredients, and having a lot of fragrance in a moisturizer isn't always great. This L'Occitane moisturizer, however, strikes the perfect balance. While it does have a light almond fragrance to it, it's not overpowering, and it doesn't ever irritate my skin.
The hydration it offers is also completely unmatched. It's silky, smooth, and ultra moisturizing right out of the pot thanks to a hefty dose of almond oil and almond milk sourced from almonds grown in Provence. I can't get enough of how this feels on my skin. The light, airy, almost-whipped texture just melts into my skin after a shower, leaving it smooth as a baby's bottom. Although the sweet, almondy scent is light, it does also stick around for a bit, which I love. Whenever my skin is feeling extra dry, I like to pair this with the brand's body oil to really lock in that extra hydration.
This oil is so luxurious, smooth, and hydrating that it can be used on its own or with the brand's bodycare for extra-dry skin. Like the body cream, it's packed with sweet almond oil that's meant to firm, moisturize, and even improve the look of stretch marks. Like the body cream, the scent on this is gorgeous—it has a light almond scent with a hint of vanilla. During winter, the body cream and oil duo will be all I wear, from now on TBH. To take it a step further, I like to pair it with a perfume with almond notes like Dior's Hypnotic Poison ($98).
This was the product I was most excited to try from the line—especially since Love Island: USA star Leah Kateb told me she loves it, and we have the same taste in bodycare. I'd never tried a shower oil before and, let me tell you, I've been missing out. I initially thought that a shower oil functioned more like a dry oil that you use in the shower, but I was wrong. It's more like an oil-rich bodywash. This felt so soft and silky on my skin while still providing the perfect amount of lather. It truly offers the best of both worlds. Besides its star ingredient, almond oil, this formula also contains omega-rich grape-seed oil for extra glide and softness.
While I did love this, the sweet almond scent that I loved in the body cream and oil didn't translate as well to the shower oil IMO. It didn't smell quite as good as the other products in the line, but despite that, it's still an amazing product, and I couldn't believe how soft my skin felt after getting out of the shower.
To really seal in the scent of the body cream and oil, you can top with the brand's almond fragrance mist. To me, this is what a sophisticated and effortlessly cool French person would smell like. If you're into gourmand scents, you'll immediately fall in love with the warm, sweet notes of vanilla and almond. Notes of bergamot also ground it, giving it an earthy undertone that's totally irresistible.
More L'Occitane Products I Love
I do really love the almond line, but I think this body cream is my all-time favorite from the brand. This one has more of a light floral scent to it, but it's incredibly gorgeous and has me sniffing my skin long after I've applied it. The brand also really means it when it calls this an "ultra-rich" body cream. It features a whopping 25% shea butter composition along with glycerin and sunflower seed oil to deeply hydrate skin. There's nothing better for the winter season—between this and the brand's almond collection, my skin will never be dry again this season.
This lotion from the brand's shea butter collection is a very close second to the body cream. In addition to a 15% concentration of shea butter, it features calendula flower extract, which soothes redness, irritation, and dryness. Even though it has a lighter texture than the cream, it's still incredibly hydrating and makes a great option in winter. I'm also just obsessed with the light, floral, and creamy scent—it smells like a fancy hotel-room lotion that, ahem, I definitely wouldn't steal from the room.
The brand's hand cream is now a must for my bag. If I open my bag while out and find that I don't have one with me, I'm immediately disappointed. It provides all the same magic the lotion or cream does, but specifically for dry hands. I wash my hands a lot and during the colder months; it's a nightmare. The flakiness and sand paper feeling is too real, but this solves the issue in a flash.
This body cleanser's texture is more like a rich shower lotion or cream rather than an oil. It definitely takes some getting used to if you've mostly used sudsy bodywashes in the past, but like the brand's other products, it makes your skin feel incredibly soft. The almond scent also translates a bit better than with the shower oil.
While this is a shower cream, it still has a gentle lather to it that I really love. Besides the almond line, the shea butter line is my ultimate favorite and will be winter skincare staples for me moving forward.