Comfort. A hot shower. The scent of almonds. A silky oil. Sometimes, the simple pleasures are best. (Better than leftover Christmas chocolates, anyways.)

What is it?

best shower oil
L’OOcitane’s Almond shower oil in the refill packaging.

The L’Occitane Shower Oil is a golden oil that you apply to wet skin, lather up and rinse off. It smells divine – if you like warm, sweet almond scents, that is, and leaves skin soft and silky. In summer, I don’t need any extra cream or lotion when I’ve dried off, but in winter, my dry shins demand a little bit more moisture.

(Pro tip: the Shower Oil is excellent for shaving!)

Nevertheless, despite L’Occitane stressing everywhere that this is suitable for sensitive skin, it’s really not. If you have a look at the ingredients, you’ll see that fragrance is quite high on the list, even listed before almond oil (grape seed oil makes up the bulk of the formula). Then, there’re a lot of sensitising fragrances like limonene, geraniol etc. So, sensitive skin people: beware.

L’Occitane and sustainability

sustainable skincare brands
Reducing plastic waste by offering refills – commendable! (Also, cheaper for the consumer.)

I still like it for the sensory experience, and also like L’Occitane’s approach to sustainability. L’Occitane takes its responsibilities seriously, and it shows. First, look at my pics: Isn’t it great that L’Occitane sells a lot of refills? Both sustainable and cost-effective for the general consumer. (I often don’t refill the original bottle of the shower oil, because I find its cap seriously annoying and hard to open with oily hands – I use little Muji flip top bottles instead and also take that with me to the pool – much easier to have a quick shower with the Almond Shower Oil than shower AND apply body lotion in the changing room!)

Reducing plastic waste and supporting communities

L'Occitane and sustainability
The refill packaging is made from recycled plastic bottles and contains significantly less material than regular bottles.

But back to sustainability. L’Occitane supports communal projects in their supplier’s countries – they do support fair trade in countries like Burkina Faso (where there shea butter comes from) and Morocco (argan and orange blossoms). There’re also advocates for reducing one’s carbon footprint and promoting biodiversity.

While they do sell in China (and thusly missing their ‘we do not test on animals’ claim – yes, the Chinese government facilitates the tests, but I’m so sick of the semantics all beauty brands employ to cling to their cruelty-free badge – which they don’t, truly.), they don’t use any micro-plastics in their products and also don’t use palm oil.

All in all, I’m rather happy with the product itself and the company’s business practices – sure, nothing is perfect, but don’t let the perfect be an enemy of the good – a sentence I’m striving to keep in mind in 2019, too.

Get the regular bottle (250ml/ 8.4oz.) at Sephora for $25, or the refill (500ml/ 16.9oz.) for $34 at L’Occitane US.

Please note that this review is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods, or money, for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.