L'Occitane Immortelle Divine Cream

Now I could be writing about any old cream here, because I have no photograph of this product. Why? Well for a start at £60 odd a pot I cannot afford this, but I bought a some sachets from ebay and decanted them into a pot and in my rush to hide my purchase from my OH I hid them in the bin and then could not stomach searching through bits of risotto and fruit corners to find the damn things.

However I do have a photograph of the product decanted into my little pot.

And a photo to show the texture

I wanted to try this after its high reviews in the Anti-Aging Beauty Bible, and with the inexorable march towards winter and cooler temperatures I wanted to see if this product could go onto The List - y'know, the one which contains all those high end skin care products which are just out of one's price range. I really think that searching for a good moisturiser is a bit like house hunting, one always finds a great house which is just that little bit too expensive, just a bit out of one's price range, so that one ends up settling for the slightly cheaper but less satisfactory.

I managed to secure 7 sachets, which decanted into a pot gave me 7mls, enough to make a informed opinion on smell, texture, slip or massagebility, absorbability, residue, and feeling on skin. But not enough to enable me to decide if it has an effect on my skin.

So smell - urrrhhhggghh sweet floral, I hate it (thank goodness I did not give into the ezpayments on QVC recently). Smell is so personal and I am sure that for some this will be beautiful, light and fresh, a bit herbal - to me it is all pervading, sharp-sweet, a bit like that awful taste of salt and sugar mixed together. Mercifully it does not last and by the time I have applied it has gone.

Texture/slip/massageability - this is suprisingly light in texture, almost gel like, but not a watery gel. This can be massaged into the skin and that is a bonus for me, it feels rich without being greasy.

Absorbability/residue/feeling on skin - really lovely for me at any rate. I like a moisturiser to be massaged in but not disappear without a trace, for despite having a skin which is clinging to the oiliness of my youth, I do like a moisturiser which has a richness to it, and this does, but it is not heavy.

So would I leave hints about this to my OH? Cough whenever I pass a L'Occitane shop? Wave the page of aforementioned Anti-Aging Beauty Bible frantically to and fro? No, for me smell is everything, and this reminds me of my reaction to the doubtless wonderful Pro Collagen Marine Cream by Elemis, love the texture, cannot abide the smell which reminds me of Christian Dior's Poison, and I lived through the '80s when everyone wore it, that and Beverly Hills Giorgio *shudders*.