Now, as you know, I’m not brand loyal to skin care products, and I’m always game to try a new moisturiser, as long as it’s reasonably priced, because I have to buy these things myself to serve your best interests in an honest and transparent manner. But this constant flight between brands means that I’m never really sure which product is having which effect, as I think one can only really see any benefit after about a month of use, which is, apparently, about the time the top layer of skin takes to renew itself visibly.

I am, however, a great fan of L’Occitane’s shower gels and body lotions, a result of my sojourn in Paris a few years ago and I’m thrilled that they have recently opened a new branch in Bromley because their online shop’s not that brilliant to be honest.

So, being on the verge of running out of Origins High Potency Night-a-mins night cream, and finding myself in said Bromley branch, I decided to give the Crème Divine a whirl. It is very highly rated by all sorts of people as an anti-ageing miracle cream, but regular readers will know that I am extremely sceptical about such claims so we’ll see how it goes.

The cream is really expensive for me, at £65 for a 50ml jar – as opposed to £32 for the Night-a-mins cream which I also like – and at that price it has its work cut out convincing me that it’s worth the extra dough but my initial impressions are very favourable. It comes in a translucent yellow glass jar, that calls to mind the everlasting immortelle flower, from which its active ingredients are said to be derived. The cream itself is pure white and very light. A little goes a long way and it’s important not to apply too much as, worn overnight, this can make the skin really quite oily in the morning. For this reason I would not wear Crème Divine under make up during the day. I have combination skin that is prone to shininess. The light bulb look is not for everyone.

Coincidentally, I finished my bottle of Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum at about the same time. Devoted students of skincare will be familiar with the concept that sera offer concentrated benefits for their users and get straight to the root of the skincare issue. That’s what the skincare counter reps say, anyway, so it must be true.

Everyone raves about the Advanced Night Repair but I hadn’t experienced much of a change in the state of my skin since buying it in the spring and, at £54 for 50ml, I wasn’t desperate to buy another bottle. Instead, I opted for L’Occitane’s own Extrait Divin which is, again, twice the price of its Estée Lauder counterpart. Cue a very sharp intake of breath. The serum is thicker in texture than its Estée Lauder counterpart, and looks more like a light ointment. A little goes a very long way indeed. It’s just as well, as it costs £67 for a 30ml bottle, which looks like a precious ancient mini-flacon in translucent yellow glass.

I like this one, though, and I like it a lot more than the Estée Lauder offering. Yes, it’s expensive, but one needs so little of it to cover the face and then finish with a tiny bit of Crème Divine. It is quite possible that I am using half as much of this as of the other stuff, so it’s clearly a case of swings and roundabouts. I’m not into miracle cures at all, but I must say that my face did look more plumped and smooth and feel a lot softer, especially after exfoliation. So the best thing I think, is to monitor my progress with this for the next couple of months and see whether the American or the French approach suits me better.

*not a sponsored post*

P.s.

Oh, and just by the way, L’Occitane, I really don’t like your Delice des Fleurs range. It smells of a Grandma’s drawer liners to me.

Share