I love the L’Occitane stores. I love the experience of walking inside, the packaging, the scents. Many of the ingredients – honey, shea butter, essentials oils – appeal to my skincare philosophy; the packaging’s aesthetic speaks to me; the products are high-quality; and it’s a globally responsible brand that uses fair trade shea butter.
Yet L’Occitane uses parabens in many of their skincare products. For years, their hand cream was a staple, but then I started my paraben-free quest, and so bye bye hand cream.
Imagine my excitement when my co-worker mentioned to me that they have an Almond Shower Oil – lately I have been on a bit of an almond kick (probably kicked off by discovering Carol’s Daughter Almond Cookie line last summer). So I was all excited to check out said Almond shower oil — I was imagining lots of skin-loving oils like jojoba and almond, with maybe a touch of almond fragrance oil and coco-betaine to make the oil foam in the shower (coconut-based foaming ingredient in lots of Burt’s Bees products).
So I waltz into Sephora that night and pick up the tester — and almost choke — no lovely almond scent — just the strong chemical scent of commercial soap. Sure enough, the product contains Laureth Sulfates as the first ingredient.
Sigh — someday I will find a L’Occitane product I can use.
General Disclosures & Disclaimers
