Hello Fabulous Fragrance Fiends,

Last weekend I was at Melbourne airport with Jin and had some time to kill so we dropped into the L’Occitane store there. I haven’t really paid much attention to L’Occitane since 1994 while at the Cannes Film Festival I grabbed some for my Mum and Sister and sent it back to Australia. Sadly, by the time I returned from living in the UK they had finished their bottles and hadn’t kept them so I could repurchase next time I was in Europe. Since then L’Occitane has arrived in Australia and has loads of stand alone stores in large cities, airports and also in department stores. Olivier Baussan founded the company in 1976 because he wanted to create a company that celebrates and preserves the traditions of his home region of France: Provence.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

From the L’Occitane site:
L’OCCITANE is anchored in Provence, where fragrant fields of lavender are a continual reminder of the region’s natural bounty. Each of our ranges is inspired by ingredients harvested from the south of France and the Mediterranean. Our products offer the many benefits of these ingredients, while translating the traditional savoir-faire of the regional artisans.
In the time of the Byzantine Empire, the south of France was a region called “Occitania”. The name “L’OCCITANE” is derived from this, meaning “woman of Occitania.” L’OCCITANE symbolizes this woman, her beauty and her relationship with nature.

L’Occitane: Divine Cream

Photo Stolen L’Occitane

So while we were there I spritzed one of their new La Collection de Grasse fragrances Vanilla and Narcisse and I liked it so much that I decided to get in touch with the L’Occitane crew here in Australia and ask for some review samples.

If a product or company can be judged in any way by the front line of people that you talk to on the phone then L’Occitane is a winner. Everyone I spoke to was thrilled that I would call, was interested, enjoyed their product and that I wanted to write about L’Occitane for the blog. We talked fragrance but the one thing they wanted me to try was Divine Cream, apparently the most talked about new product to hit the stores and gaining huge market share already. Sure they would send me some fragrance but even more they wanted me to try this amazing product that works better than anything else they’d tried. No, I didn’t have to write about it, yes they understand I do fragrance, please just try it and tell us how you like it. OK, guinea pig Portia into action.

Photo Stolen Alain C. Flickr

I don’t know if I’ve told you before but I take extremely poor care of my skin, spending so much time with a full face of TV make up and taking it off with grape seed/olive/baby oil, in the bath I am a soap and water cleaner of my face, shave with Gillette shave products, after shave balm by Nivea and that’s the extent of my beauty routine. I have been blessed with good skin and mostly small pores. What I thought I could do though is spread the product out through some of my friends and see their reactions to it too.

There will be four of us trialling for 2 weeks and I’ll give you weekly updates, sound good?

Katie: is my office helper/life organiser two days a week, has 2 lovely daughters and an Architect husband. I think she may be just under 30.

Kath: My BFF who works as an Executive Assistsant to the CEO and CFO of a business involved in English Language Studies at Macquarie University. Kath will be 40 next year.

Natasha: Another very close friend Natasha was my Tupperware manager and mentor. She coached me to being the No 1 Tupperware Demonstrator in Australia & New Zealand in 2007. Tash is a single Mum of three mostly grown up boys and is just over the 40 mark.

Portia: Me a Drag Queen, Homestay Provider and Perfume Blogger who is now 45.

You should go to L’Occitane and as for some samples so you can do the 2 week challenge too. I’d love to read what YOU all are thinking about L’Occitane Divine Cream too. At the end there will be a VERY SPECIAL PRIZE for a couple of people so get involved.

From L’Occitane site :
Divine anti-aging care fights the signs of aging, so you can face up the passing of time with absolute serenity.  The divine combination of organic Immortelle and Myrtle Essential Oils offers:
A complete regenerating care: Combined action to stimulate the production of collagens and improve skin microcirculation helps to reduce damage caused by time and restore substance and vitality.
A second youth: Myrtle essential oil stimulates within the skin, the action of the longevity protein- to help increase cellular vitality preserve the skin’s appearance.

Awarded the highest rated Anti-Aging Miracle Cream in the 2011 Anti-Aging Beauty Bible. Independently tested by a panel of women across the UK
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My question is, “Have any of you tried L’Occitane Divine Cream?” If so, how was it, did it give you better feeling and looking skin, would you purchase or repurchase? I do understand that this is a cream not surgery but did you feel that it had benefited you in any way?

Here are the most interesting to me of the Marie Clare video report on the L’Occitane Divine Cream. Enjoy.

Portia xx

I have started at #2 video because the first one was just a bit ad-ish.

#3 was about the jar that Divine Cream comes in and was boring so I have skipped it in favour of the process and studies

#5 is about sourcing and sustainability but was not in depth enough about either, sorry.