immortelle divine creme reviews
“L’Occitane’s Divine Cream is like a little pot of sunshine – literally. I look forward to applying it morning and night. The cream has a richness that makes it perfect for bed-time use yet it is light enough to apply as a day-time moisturiser. It helps, too, that the scent is so heavenly – you are immediately transported to Provence as you breathe in all the heady floral, woody smells associated with the South of France.
L’Occitane’s Divine Cream: tried and tested by HELLO!
In today’s selfie-obsessed age, when it comes to skincare, we are all after the holy grail of flawless looking skin – free from imperfections, smooth and radiant. With or without make-up, there’s nothing more confidence-boosting than not having to use a filter.
Thankfully, help has arrived from luxury beauty brand L’Occitane, who have created an innovative skincare range including the Divine Cream. With its smooth texture, the Divine Cream melts deliciously into the skin, giving a sensation of supreme comfort. To visibly correct all signs of ageing, for beautiful, younger-looking skin.
The cream’s key ingredient Immortelle is known as the everlasting flower: it never fades, even after it has been picked. Its organic essential oil is rich in active molecules with unique anti-ageing properties. The Divine cream is also made up of Marsh Clover, Myrtle, Honey, Bellis Perennis, Hyaluronic Acid, Evening Primrose Oil and Camelina oil – all working together to visibly reduce wrinkles and reveal the skin’s radiance.
HELLO! Fashion Monthly‘s Editor, Juliet Herd, tried and tested the Divine Cream from the range and reveals how it has changed her skincare routine.
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Click here to find out which L’Occitane moisturiser will work best for you
“In the past, my skincare routine has been a bit haphazard. I will happily try new products but often don’t think enough about whether they are suitable for my skin and if they are actually achieving any visible results.
“L’Occitane’s Divine Cream is like a little pot of sunshine – literally. I look forward to applying it morning and night. The cream has a richness that makes it perfect for bed-time use yet it is light enough to apply as a day-time moisturiser. It helps, too, that the scent is so heavenly – you are immediately transported to Provence as you breathe in all the heady floral, woody smells associated with the South of France.
“As I’ve got older, I’ve increasingly noticed a lack of elasticity and dryness in my skin, and it is a relief to find a product that combines both science and natural plant extracts to tackle these issues as well as wrinkles and loss of firmness.
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“The Divine Cream contains the legendary Corsican immortelle flower (fittingly, the Latin name Helichrysum means golden sun!), which is especially harvested for L’Occitane on the island of Corisca and is the only variety in the world that contains an effective high concentration of neryl acetate. Neryl acetate is the key molecule in immortelle essential oil used in the Divine cream. It boosts microcirculation, collagen production and protects from free radicals. The natural anti-ageing properties of the plant are enhanced by a complex of 7 active ingredients, which target the heart of skin cells and combats metabolic and replicative cellular ageing.
“I’ve noticed a new radiance and softness to my skin. It also feels plumper and fine lines have faded, producing a more even complexion. The Divine Cream definitely agrees with my combination skin, too, as I am less prone to unsightly break-outs. It’s my new secret weapon!”
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L’Occitane Divine Cream, 50ml, £74. Available at loccitane.com
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Most Popular Product: Immortelle Divine Youth Oil, Almond Milk Concentrate
Immortelle Divine Youth Oil
This is the perfect partner for a jade roller. L’Occitane’s oil contains immortelle (an antioxidant powerhouse flower from Corsica) to battle environmental damage and give skin that healthy sheen we’re all after. Use it at the end of your skincare routine to lock in all the moisture and hydration from your previous skincare steps, or add in a few drops to your foundation for a super glowy look.
L’Occitane released Immortelle DIVINE New Ultimate Skincare back in September 2013, and I had the pleasure of sampling the Divine Cream Ultimate Youth Care ($106.00 50 ml). There are 4 products that were specifically created to target issues regarding the skin’s anti-aging process.
Review, Ingredients: L’Occitane Shea Flowers Of Love Lip Balm, Hand Cream, Ultra Rich Body Cream, Immortelle Divine Ultimate Anti-Aging Skincare
Shea butter‘s protective and nourishing properties make for a desirable ingredient. This truly exceptional element leaves the skin comfortable, soft and supple.
Debuting just last week, L’Occitane adds a touch of winter cheer by using shea butter as a main ingredient and combining it with three seductive scents in its limited-edition collection. Shea Flowers of Love features the new scents Rose Tenderness, Passionate Jasmine and Subtle Violet (sampled, pictured).
The Sweetest Kiss Lip Balm 15 ml ($12.00), The Smoothest Caress Hand Cream 30 ml ($12.00; sampled/pictured), The Greatest Love of All Hand Cream 150 ml ($28.00), The Softest Embrace Ultra Rich Body Cream 100 ml ($22.00; sampled/pictured) and * The Strongest Commitment Solidarity Soap 50g ($3.00) are all included in this limited-edition collection.
* L’Occitane is committed to supporting the visually impaired and 100% of profits from the sale of the Rose Tenderness Solidarity Soap will finance eye health projects run by NGOs in developing countries with the support of the L’Occitane Foundation. Now there’s the spirit of giving!
L’Occitane released Immortelle DIVINE New Ultimate Skincare back in September 2013, and I had the pleasure of sampling the Divine Cream Ultimate Youth Care ($106.00 50 ml). There are 4 products that were specifically created to target issues regarding the skin’s anti-aging process.
There are 5 patents pending, as this new formula contains the Corsican Immortelle Flower which when used internally increased activity of the gene that protects cells and codes. Used externally, it boosted activity of the gene coding for key enzymes responsible for the elimination of photoproducts, which cause the acceleration of cell mutation and skin aging.
The actual flower itself never fades once picked. In 2004, with the aim of guaranteeing the traceability of the flower, L’Occitane set up an organic cultivation program for Immortelle in Corsica! Now over 3 billion immortelle flowers are harvested every year for L’Occitane.
The new collection includes Divine Lotion 200 ml ($54.00), Divine Extract 30 ml ($116.00 – New Formula), Divine Cream 50 ml (sampled, $106.00 – New Formula) and Divine Eyes 15 ml ($70.00 – New Formula).
L’Occitane already revealed and patented the anti-aging properties of the flower, but it turns out that the legendary flower still holds many secrets to make known in a new formulated compound, which L’Occitane protects in its 5th patent…
Only time will tell if my skin feels more supple, radiant and nourished. I can tell you that the texture feels delightful when blended into my skin; no greasy residue or tackiness is felt after application. I fell for L’Occitane after trying their BB Cream and continue to be a fan of their products.
Are you beauties fans of shea butter? How do you feel about the immortelle flower’s effect on the skin’s aging process?
– Nicole Gordon Levine
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Anyway! L’Occitane is a brand founded by a one Olivier Baussan, at the age of 23 as an essential oil merchant. He started distilling Rosemary, and then branched to lavender and built the L’Occitane brand on natural essential oils. They do a lot of charity outreach work, their Shea Butter is sustainably farmed in Burkina Faso in partnership with the local people and they treat their staff and customers really freaking well. They’re the only brand in the UK that I know is really liberal with samples. That being said, I find their products massively overpriced. But when you’re buying L’Occitane, you’re not really buying the products, you’re buying the brand, the luxury and the experience of it all.
Review | L’Occitane Crème Divine
This is an old review that’s been sitting in my draft for two years. So I thought, why not publish it?
Did you know that beauty brands have flagship products? Because, I had no idea. This product is such a big deal to L’Occitane, this is reportedly their number one selling product. Since it comes so highly recommended, is so expensive and I received one for free, I thought it would be a great idea to give my impressions of it so you don’t have to spend £72 just to see what all the fuss is all about.
Disclaimer, I know am not the primary target audience for the Divine Cream due to my age. But as I was given this to test on my skin as past of my staff allowance from when I worked at L’Occitane , why the hell not give it a go?
About the Brand
Like I said in my intro, I received this product as part of my staff allowance. Each month, we’d receive the newest product so we could try it out and give our honest opinions to the customers. This was September’s allocation, and if I’m being totally honest, most of the customers weren’t interested in hearing my opinion. The women who purchased this product were much older, and one flat out told me that she really didn’t see how our experiences with the product could be compared. Awkz.
Anyway! L’Occitane is a brand founded by a one Olivier Baussan, at the age of 23 as an essential oil merchant. He started distilling Rosemary, and then branched to lavender and built the L’Occitane brand on natural essential oils. They do a lot of charity outreach work, their Shea Butter is sustainably farmed in Burkina Faso in partnership with the local people and they treat their staff and customers really freaking well. They’re the only brand in the UK that I know is really liberal with samples. That being said, I find their products massively overpriced. But when you’re buying L’Occitane, you’re not really buying the products, you’re buying the brand, the luxury and the experience of it all.
Packaging
Before I say anything about the actual cream, I just want to geek out a little bit about the packaging first. It is hands down the most beautiful tub I’ve ever had on my shelf. It really does feel like a precious item sitting there in the gold box, holding it feels really nice too as it has a weight to it that makes it feel important. Everything about it feels well made, important and luxurious. It could come across as being a little ostentatious or tacky because there really is a lot of gold and yellow, but I think the quality of the materials of the box, the lettering and the tub itself negate that.
Ingredients
Water, C12, 15 Alkyl Benzoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glycerin, Evening Primrose Oil, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Corn Starch Modified, Dimethicone, Cetearyl Alcohol, PEG- 100 Stearate, Camelina Sativa Seed Oil, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Cetyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetyl Palmitate, Stearic Acid, Fragrance, Sodium Citrate, Helichrysum Italicum Extract, Borago Officinalis Seed Oil, Myrtus Communis Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil, Rosemary Leaf Extract, Butylene Glycol, Parsley Extract, Sucrose Palmitate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Tocopheryl Acetate, Benzoic Acid, Echium Lypcosis Fruit Oil, Retinyl Palmitate, Glyceryl Linoleate, Phenoxyethanol, Polysorbate 60, Sorbitan Isostearate, Dehydroacetic Acid, Magnesium Aspartate, Zinc Gluconate, Hydrolyzed Viola Tricolor Extract, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide, Copper Gluconate, Linalool, Limonene, Benzyl Salicylate, Geraniol, Citral
(Note; I don’t have the box anymore, so these are the ingredients that I pulled from the web)
My experience
The Divine Cream is a day and a night cream which makes the hefty pricetag seem a little less heavy, except when you look at the ingredients, not really. I found that I could only use it as part of my night time routine, just because it was so thick. I have oily/combination skin and wearing the Divine cream during the day time just made my skin feel heavy, oily and generally unhappy. It felt like I’d been coated with a thin oil spray and I did not enjoy it at all. Unsurprising, as it’s got all the oils possible in there! You only need to use a small amount, I think the recommended amount is of a 5 pence piece, but I found that I need to use a even less. It comes with a little spoon to help you measure out how much you need, pictured above is how much I use on my face. I use a little more if I’m covering my face and neck area.
It also was very very fragranced, almost overwhelmingly so.
The side of the box lists all these benefits and while I was deeply skeptical of all its claims, I very interested to see if I would notice any visible difference. So does it work? Eh? Not really. As pretty as the packaging is, I don’t really rate it. Again, I’m not the target audience, and many many women came in to buy this exclusively, claiming it made their skin amazing. I’m skeptical that it really is that awesome, and more inclined to believe that it’s getting into a routine and using a moisturiser is where they saw all the changes. Yes there are some good ingredients there, but nothing to me that really justifies the price tag.
The Divine Cream is currently £72 direct from L’occitane, but I know it can be cheaper on home shopping channels and at times in their outlet stores. If you’re really curious, I would look for sample tubs in their travel sets or gifts with purchase (they add it in often).
But really, I’d give it a huge miss because it really doesn’t do everything it says it does. You’re buying into the luxury of it and if that’s what you want, then power to you!
Although this moisturizer has its share of impressive beneficial ingredients, the amount of synthetic and natural fragrance ingredients is cause for concern because they are irritants, as are some of the plant extracts and the myrtle oil. According to the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, myrtle oil used topically can cause “bronchial spasm, asthma-like attacks, or respiratory failure in infants and children.” Granted, this isn’t a product for kids, but why bother including such a problematic, unimpressive ingredient that doesn’t have any research showing it has any benefit for skin? The jar packaging issue isn’t even worth going into detail about because this is just a really bad, overly expensive product.
Divine Cream
The only thing divine about this product is the price (at least from the company’s point of view), and that’s assuming that divinity is correlated somehow with a high price tag. Labeling this product as “complete regenerating skin care” is so far off the mark you can’t even see the target. More to the point, if this is a “complete regenerating” product, then what are all of the other Immortelle products for? Is this their best option for being “immortelle”? Also, because it doesn’t contain sunscreen, it assuredly is not a complete option for daytime!
Although this moisturizer has its share of impressive beneficial ingredients, the amount of synthetic and natural fragrance ingredients is cause for concern because they are irritants, as are some of the plant extracts and the myrtle oil. According to the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, myrtle oil used topically can cause “bronchial spasm, asthma-like attacks, or respiratory failure in infants and children.” Granted, this isn’t a product for kids, but why bother including such a problematic, unimpressive ingredient that doesn’t have any research showing it has any benefit for skin? The jar packaging issue isn’t even worth going into detail about because this is just a really bad, overly expensive product.
The divine combination of organic Immortelle and Myrtle essential oils offers complete regenerating skin care. This combined action stimulates the production of collagen and improves skin microcirculation, which helps reduce damage caused by time and restore substance and vitality.
L’Occitane At-A-Glance
Strenghts: Provides complete ingredient lists for some of its products on company website; a good cleanser.
Weaknesses: Expensive; many products are heavily fragranced or contain irritating fragrance chemicals; jar packaging is prevalent, which won’t keep ingredients stable; the products are not all natural in the least.
There has been intense reader interest in the L’Occitane line, and we can only surmise it’s because this French company’s image and marketing campaign have been casting their intended spell on consumers looking for natural products. Reading information about the company and its earnest beginnings, we would be sucked in, too; that is, if we didn’t know how full of holes and fabrication this line is (far more silliness than substance, that’s for sure)! What is particularly guileful is how many unnatural ingredients they include in all their products. In fact, they use more of these in their products than most of the other product lines that claim to be natural.
L’Occitane is named for an ancient province that used to be in the south of France. It sprang from an idea by founder Olivier Baussan, a native of France, who wanted to re-create regional traditions of manufacturing products to enhance a person’s well-being. With that goal in mind, he began selling distilled rosemary oil, then branched into soap-making, and eventually came across shea butter, the perennial staple emollient found in numerous products in numerous lines.
L’Occitane does include shea butter in many of its productsthey even offer a tin of 100% pure shea butter. Is this a good reason to seek out L’Occitane products? Is shea butter so special for skin? Not really. Shea butter does not have any remarkable qualities for skin that put it a notch above many other natural emollientsolive oil, among many others, cocoa butter, and a number of fatty acids (linoleic acid, triglycerides) come to mind. Shea butter is rich in fatty acids also and is a good ingredient for dry to very dry skin, but lots of products contain it and you can buy pure shea butter for $4 at the drugstore, so there’s no need to set your sights on L’Occitane if you’re curious to try it.
Getting back to the founder: it seems he believes that skin care involves a blend of research, aromatherapy, and phytotherapy. We don’t know what, if any, research was done to determine what skin truly needs to look and feel its optimal best. However, it’s evident by L’Occitane’s formulas that Baussan and his team spent far more time making their products smell good, because overall these products contain plant extracts that, more often than not, either have no benefit, limited benefit, or compromised efficacy because of the irritation factor. The sense of getting back to nature to enhance well-being is pleasant to ponder, but it doesn’t automatically make for great or even OK skin care. Not only do L’Occitane formulas fall flat, but they’re also not all that natural.
Shopping this line for skin-care products is to wander into a world of fragrance excess. Aroma reigns supreme, while bona fide good-for-skin ingredients are either completely absent, comprise only a tiny amount of a product’s formula, or will see their efficacy suffer due to jar packaging.
L’Occitane’s skin-care routines consist of good cleansers but mostly problematic to average scrubs, there are no AHA or BHA products, and nothing to address the needs of acne-prone skin. The sunscreens are a mixed bag, with some containing the right UVA-protecting ingredients and others not listing any active ingredients, making them unreliable and astray of worldwide SPF regulations.
As usual, there are some good products to consider if you don’t mind L’Occitane’s higher price point. Overall, you’re better off shopping this line for their gift sets and home fragrance products, which are great for your nose but not for skin care. Creating a skin-care routine exclusively from L’Occitane’s selection is a guarantee that, in a best-case scenario, your skin will be left needing a lot more; worst-case scenario, your skin will be irritated, but your nose will be happy.
One more thing: L’Occitane loves to mention the natural ingredients and complexes it has patented for their products. Patents sound impressive, but as we have mentioned before, they are not proof of efficacy or superiority. The only thing a patent means is that the company has devised a means to show a formula or ingredient as unique in some way in relation to their claim, but again, that has nothing do with efficacy or, in the case of a cosmetics company, whether the ingredient is helpful or harmful to skin.
What’s worth complimenting is the company’s support of worthy charities and its encouragement of sustainable farming and of local farming throughout the regions where they obtain certain ingredients. All of that is commendable, but in light of the formulas, relatively hypocritical. You would be far better off donating to those causes directly than spending your beauty dollars on this line.
For more information about L’Occitane, call (888) 623-2880 or visit www.loccitane.com.
About the Experts
The Beautypedia team consists of skin care and makeup experts personally trained by the original Cosmetics Cop and best-selling beauty author, Paula Begoun. We’re fascinated by skin care and makeup products and thrilled when they meet or exceed our expectations, but we’re also disappointed when they fail to perform as claimed, are wildly overpriced, or contain ingredients scientific research has proven can hurt skin.
Our mission has always been to help you find the best products for your skin, no matter your budget or preferences. Beautypedia’s thorough and insightful reviews cut through the hype and provide reliable recommendations for all ages, skin types, and skin tones.
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