I’ve loved L’Occitane’s Divine skincare range for a while. The texture of the face and eye creams and the sera have always suited me very well, being neither too thick and heavy for my combination skin, nor too untrustworthily runny.
They’ve kept my skin in a generally good condition but there are certain times of the year when my face seems to need a little extra help. This often happens with the change of the seasons when the weather becomes breezier and there’s an unpleasant snap in the air. I walk the dogs every day, and wind and rain aren’t great for unprotected skin. I’ve recently realised that there’s another skin type apart from dry, oily combination and normal, whatever that is. My skin is dehydrated as well as being combo, and soon feels tight and looks dull and ashen if it’s not appeased with sufficiently hydrating moisturiser.
So imagine my excitement at this new addition to the Divine range. L’Huile de Jeunesse is a light textured, non-greasy oil, that can be used morning or night. Or indeed, both. It can be used in addition to the serum or instead of it but to get an proper impression of its effects, I stopped using the serum at night for a week. To be honest, my face still felt like it needed something even after I’d used the oil every night, despite looking generally smoother. Of course it’s difficult to tell the full benefits of a product after just 7 days’ use but who has the patience to wait three months before taking a view?
As for “Jeunesse” I simply don’t believe that the Elixir of Youth comes in a few drops every night available in your nearest major shopping centre. Good skin comes from years of careful treatment and decent genes. Sorry, but it’s as simple as that.
The oil contains all sorts of floral oils whose function I cannot immediately ascertain and it does feel very different from the serum, which is creamier on my skin, and I’d be inclined to use the oil at night under moisturiser and the serum by day. According to its manufacturers:
Consumer tests on 32 women during 4 weeks.
• Maintain skin’s youthful appearance
• Maintain a velvety skin all day (84%)
• Reduce the appearance of wrinkles (63%), for smoother looking skin (75%)
• Reveal skin’s radiance (85%).
I’m not sure 32 women is representative sample and it’s all subjective anyway. Even the gamine Audrey Hepburn aged in the end.
It does seem a little silly, however, to have to spread on the face oil then serum then moisturiser then suncream (in summer) then possibly primer then foundation then powder then blush. The oil is supposed to be non-comedogenic but I’d defy any skin not to become clogged and spotty under all that lot. Mine has been OK but make sure you invest in a decent cleanser, is what I would say.
The oil is packaged in the lovely yellow glass packaging but the pipette delivery system is a great improvement on the pump dispensers which are, however, far less likely to clog and stop working than they used to be. The pipette sucks up about four drops, which will cover your face and neck.
Of course one week is not really going to make a difference to skin condition so I’ll keep you posted on its progress. L’Occitane’s Divine range is not cheap at all, and who knows whether it works better than skincare systems that you’d buy in your supermarket but I love the immortelle fragrance, that makes me think of the sunny, fragrant part of southern France where I’d love to live, and I’m more than a little hooked on the brand.
p.s. I have found that this bottle lasted me six months using four drops on my face every night.
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