I went to a Christmas event at my local L'Occitane store one evening earlier this week. I paid £10 for the ticket to this event and the reason I decided to go was because for the £10 you get a goody bag containing various products worth about £40 to £50 in total, so now I have quite a few new items from L'Occitane to try out. If you do want to buy stuff from L'Occitane for Christmas presents etc these events are also quite worth it as they give an extra 20% off on the evening. The one I went to was advertised in Marie Claire so keep a look out for ones being advertised if you are interested!

L'Occitane is a popular French company that makes natural beauty products. I don't buy their products too often but I do tend to receive a few as gifts and I do like this company.

I was really pleased to receive this almond shower oil in my goodie bag, as almond is a scent which I tend to really love and I do regularly use a few almond products but had never tried any of the ones from L'Occitane. Shower oil was something new for me as I use normal shower gels and creams. I was quite interested to see how the oil would be, as oils are known for being great at moisturising and softening the skin, but I was afraid it might be too greasy.

When I first used it I squeezed a few drops onto my shower puff and it created a small amount of lather when under the water of the shower. However it was quite hard to transfer the lather from the puff onto my body and there was not enough of it. I was a bit disappointed with that. However, the problem was that I was doing it wrong! You really shouldn't use a shower puff with this, as I discovered. On the bottle it tells you to massage it into your skin and it will lather up on contact with water. This is really the better way to do it. I tried again with a few drops of the oil straight on to an area of skin, then rubbed it in and found that it felt so nice, soft and silky, and did foam up a bit. This can then be repeated on all areas until you're finished. Even though I was applying more drops to each area as I went, the total amount used was still quite small as just a drop or two goes quite a long way as it is very fluid and can be rubbed out over a larger area.

The scent of this is lovely, really sweet, nutty and comforting. It is a true almond scent and does not really smell fake or plasticky. The scent lingers on the skin after showering and can be detected even hours later, but it is subtle so it is not something people will notice from afar.

Using this feels quite indulgent and I definitely would not see it as an every day shower product, but more of a treat. It would definitely be a good one to use to wind down after a long day. It leaves my skin feeling really soft and moisturised. You don't really need to use a body lotion with this if you dont have time, as it really does such a good job of moisturising on its own.

This costs £16.50 for the full size 250 ml, which I do think is quite expensive. The full size bottle will last for ages and would make a lovely treat but I would not make it a regular purchase at that price, personally. For now I will enjoy using the one I got in my bargain goodie bag.