The story behind L’Occitane

Pronounced “lox-ee-tahn” for those who have been wondering, L’Occitane is an international retailer of fragrances, body, face, and home products. In 1976, the company was founded in Provence, France by 23-year-old Olivier Baussan after he learned to use steam distillation to produce essential oil from wild rosemary and lavender. As L’Occitane experienced steady and consistent growth over the next 40 years, the brand began to achieve international recognition. While the very first official L’Occitane boutique was established in Volx, Provence, today more than 2,000 locations exist around the world. In this review, we’ll discuss some of the brand’s best selling products, key ingredients, L’Occitane reviews from real customers, and more. 

Is L’Occitane Skincare Worth The Money?

A common question about this brand is if the products are worth the cost.

In our opinion, L’Occitane products are worth the money, but there are other brands that deliver greater value.

One brand is Carrot & Stick, a clean skincare brand that perfectly balances the gentle nurturing of plants with the powerful results of innovative science.

Carrot & Stick intro bundles deliver great value for money because you can bundle 3 full-size products worth up to $240 for $88.

What are the best selling L’Occitane skincare products?

L’Occitane has a pretty impressive variety of skincare products to choose from. For example, the brand has facial skin care products such as makeup removers, cleansers, mists, eye care, exfoliators, serums, and more. L’Occitane is also well known for their bath and body care products, like French traditional soaps, shower oils, body scrubs, deodorants, foot care, and more. And let’s not forget about the L’Occitane hand care products, baby care products, and fragrances! In this review, we’re going to focus on three of the best selling L’Occitane skincare products. 

ALTERNATIVES: Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer. It’s overflowing with potent plant proteins, vitamins, peptides and amino-collagen. 

Immortelle Reset Eye Serum
An eye serum specifically designed to target dark circles. It feels more like an oil then serum, which is great for dry skin.

ALTERNATIVES:Carrot & Stick The Eye Serum. A blend of advanced peptides reduces the look of discoloration and rich moisturizers combat dryness.

L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream
The best selling L’Occitane skincare product is the Shea Butter Hand Cream. In fact, L’Occitane hand creams are sold every two seconds around the world! The Shea Butter Hand Cream is a creamy balm that includes 20% organic shea butter. It penetrates the skin quickly to protect, nourish, and moisturize hands.

L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil
When in contact with water, L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil transforms into a sheer, milky lotion that gently cleanses the body while simultaneously moisturizing skin. This L’Occitane shower oil is suitable for normal to dry skin. 

L’Occitane Immortelle Overnight Reset Oil-in-Serum
L’Occitane Immortelle Overnight Reset Oil-in-Serum is formulated for all ages and skin types, and is said to help smooth fine lines and promote youthful radiance. In fact, Immortelle Overnight Reset Oil-in-Serum is claimed to “reset your skin in just one night”. 

ALTERNATIVES: Carrot & Stick The Repair Serum. It contains 7 peptides for smoother, firmer looking skin.

What are the key L’Occitane skincare ingredients?

In order to know if the brand’s product claims hold true, we must evaluate the key ingredients used in L’Occitane skincare products. Let’s start with the L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream. 

As the name implies, L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream features shea butter as the key ingredient. Shea butter is a fat extracted from the nuts of the shea tree, which is native to Africa. The rich supply of triglycerides and fatty acids in shea butter help to replenish the skin’s natural barrier function. Since shea butter melts at body temperature, it is able to coat the skin and form an occlusive film. This film helps to prevent evaporation of the skin’s natural moisture and increases skin hydration by causing buildup of water in the stratum corneum (the uppermost layer of skin). Other beneficial ingredients in L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream include linseed extract, honey, sweet almond fruit extract, and coconut oil. 

The key ingredients in L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil include sweet almond oil and grape seed oil. The healthy fats in sweet almond almond oil help to maintain skin hydration by keeping the skin barrier intact. Sweet almond oil is also rich in vitamin E, which provides antioxidant protection and helps to reduce transepidermal water loss. Grape seed oil is lightweight, stable, and moisturizing. It has a high affinity with the structure of skin cells, and therefore is absorbed easily without leaving a greasy feeling behind. 

L’Occitane Immortelle Overnight Reset Oil-in-Serum includes the brand’s patented organic Immortelle essential oil, also known as Helichrysum italicum flower oil, which has antioxidant and anti-aging properties. Immortelle essential oil targets the loss of firmness and elasticity of the skin, and also provides protection against environmental aggressors. Other beneficial ingredients in the L’Occitane Immortelle Overnight Reset Oil-in-Serum include meadowfoam seed oil, acmella oleracea extract, and marjoram extract.

One thing to note about L’Occitane skincare products is that they all contain fragrance, some more heavily fragranced than others. For example, the L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil contains more fragrance than almond oil! We understand that consumers appreciate when products smell pleasant, but we’d like to point out that fragrance is not skin care. Fragrance ingredients (both natural and synthetic) are well known to cause skin sensitization, irritation, and damage.. Even if you don’t have a full blown reaction to the fragrance ingredients, the damage may still be occurring every day. Ultimately, this can cause mild problems for your skin in the short term and worse problems in the long term

Where is L’Occitane sold?

L’Occitane skincare products are sold on the brand’s website and its brick-and-mortar stores around the world. You can use the store locator on the brand’s website to find a L’Occitane boutique near you. L’Occitane skincare products are also sold through numerous third party online retailers, such as Sephora, Walmart, QVC, and more. 

What is the L’Occitane return policy?

The L’Occitane return policy states, “Purchases of Merchandise made through the L’Occitane website, usa.loccitane.com, can be returned by mail or at any of our retail locations, and must be unopened and in sellable condition.  Gently-used Merchandise may be returned for store credit only. You must present the original invoice provided to you via email when making any return. After 30 days, and up until 60 days following the date of purchase, we will only issue a store credit or even exchange for any unopened Merchandise in sellable condition.  Merchandise may not be returned or exchanged more than 60 days after its purchase date.”

Is L’Occitane cruelty free?

L’Occitane is not cruelty free. While L’Occitane does not conduct animal testing on their products or ingredients, they do test on animals when required to do so by law (such as in China). 

L’Occitane reviews

L’Occitane reviews on the brand’s website are overall very positive, with most products receiving four or five star ratings. L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream reviews mention that this product deeply moisturizes the skin without leaving any greasy or oily residue. However, there are some reviews from those with extremely dry skin on their hands who said this L’Occitane hand cream did not work well. 

L’Occitane reviews for the Almond Shower Oil mention that it helps the skin to feel smooth and is overall a very luxurious product. For example, one very positive review says, “This product is hands down the best cleansing oil I’ve ever used. When mixed with water, it transforms to a milky cleanser. It never leaves a residue. It’s great for shaving. The smell – AMAZING. I never get tired of this.” But once again, there are several reviews for this L’Occitane shower oil from those with extremely dry skin who did not find it to be effective. 

L’Occitane reviews for the Immortelle Overnight Reset Oil-in-Serum are mostly all five star reviews, which is pretty impressive. Those that love this serum report that it improves skin texture and reduces signs of aging. There are only a few negative L’Occitane reviews for this product from customers who simply did not see any results, even after using the product for a month. 

What are some alternatives to L’Occitane?

If you’re looking for skincare products to address the signs of aging, we recommend Carrot & Stick. Carrot & Stick maximizes the use of powerful ingredients and minimizes the use of superficial ones, resulting in advanced skincare solutions that help promote healthy, more youthful-looking skin.