L'Occitane Immortelle 28 Day Divine Renewal Program

Considering how long this post is supposed to be, I belatedly realized that I should have taken a lot more pictures of the actual product. Well, fair warning before you proceed: you'll just have to be okay with a wall of descriptive text.

Let's begin my review of the brand new L'Occitane Immortelle 28 Day Divine Renewal Program with this picture of myself sans makeup (except for shaded-in eyebrows, because that is my hamartia). Little pimply spots aside, I think my skin is as good as it can ever get. I took this photo two days after strictly adhering to the program for 28 days.

The Immortelle 28 Day Divine Renewal Program is meant for use during the nighttime, so I stuck to my regular ritual in the morning (mostly Tatcha) and tried my best to only use the included oils at night. Even though the pamphlet said the oil could be used alone or under your regular moisturizer, I embarked on this experiment determined to only use the oils, to experience an unadulterated effect.

The program is split into four weeks, each week containing seven vials of oil for each night's use. The oil is housed in a detachable packet (not only useful for differentiation but also for travel). To open, you snap the top of the packet to reveal a little spout, then squeeze the oil out onto your palm. This has a bit of a learning curve, because the first few times I pressed too hard and some of the precious oil squirted onto my apartment floor. That said, I do like the way this is packaged, since it ensures that we use the exact recommended amount of product each day. After all, a pea or dime-sized amount is a subjective description.

The scent of the oil remains the same throughout the four weeks. If you've ever had the pleasure of sniffing the Divine Oil, this is basically a concentrated version. The pamphlet includes specific instructions on how to apply to oil, but each day's routine begins with warming up the oil between your palms and holding it up to your face and breathing in thrice. This part of the program is what I miss the most, as the Immortelle scent works wonders in soothing and calming me down after a long day.

Week 1 - Gentle Exfoliation
I felt the most obvious and immediate effects of the oil in Week 1. Before I started on the first vial, I had flaky, gritty skin on my chin (it literally felt like sandpaper). Within first application, I noticed that it felt smoother, and by day 3 it was completely gone. My skin was completely smooth!

Week 2 - Hydration and Nutrition
We enter hazy territory in the following weeks, because the effects that the program purports to deliver are less clear (how am I supposed to know if my skin feels more nutritious and balanced?). Sadly, my gritty chin resurfaced at the start of Week 2, and a giant pimple formed on Day 3. I also suffered an allergic reaction to a pimple-curing product I used. I do not think the program caused any of these symptoms, but it's worth noting that while it didn't make my skin worse, it was not necessarily the antidote to irritated skin either. Now, I know Week 2 sounded bad, but apart from those few problem spots the rest of my skin basically still looked like the photo above.

Week 3 - Balance
Week 3 was when I realized that I should heed L'Occitane's advice and use the program as a supplement to my regular nighttime routine rather than treat it as a be-all and end-all to skincare. The oil alone simply was not enough to combat the harsh reality that is winter in the Northeast. I experienced surface dehydration throughout the end of Week 2 and Week 3, which was remedied by layering a moisturizer over the oil.

Week 4 - Renewal
I felt both relief and sadness at the end of the program. On one hand, I like trying new things on my face (a fundamental beauty blogger requirement) and had to put off testing a whole bunch of products because I committed to 28 days of using just one oil; on the other hand, I've grown to enjoy the routine of pouring the oil into my hands and smelling it before I apply it to my face. Whatever skin woes I experienced in Week 2 and 3 (more likely caused by hormones and weather rather than this program), by the end of Week 4 I had even, glowing skin.

At $130, this is much more affordable than other four-week programs I know (Guerlain's The Cure Treatment is a whopping $1,550). I've never tried the latter, but I cannot imagine that its effects can be so drastic that it warrants the price point. The L'Occitane program is much more palatable to the bank account, and is a nice supplement to your regular skincare routine with subtle results. I think it will most benefit those who find it hard to stick to a dedicated regimen.

The L'Occitane Immortelle 28 Day Divine Renewal Program is available beginning February 18 (my birthday!). In celebration, I am giving it away to one lucky winner. Please enter the sweepstakes through the Rafflecopter widget below and I will pick a winner one week from now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Full disclosure: This entry contains sample product(s) sent by the brand for editorial consideration. This entry also contains affiliate links.

A Gift Guide I Can Vouch For

Have you noticed the extraordinary amount of pressure to shop recently? My inbox (both Messy Wands and personal) has been inundated by brands advertising holiday gifts and paraphernalia, all persistently nudging me to get them before it's "too late." Never mind the fact that it's still one whole month before Christmas! I always find the end of the year rushing toward me too quickly, maybe this is why.

That said, we are days away from Thanksgiving and the anxiety-inducing Black Friday – Racked has listed 150+ sales and counting on this handy page. Clearly, other publications/blogs will be much better resources for you in terms of scoring deals, so I will not attempt to replicate that. Instead, I created this little gift guide of products I've personally used and loved and would recommend to everyone I know. May it be a guide to you when thinking of gifts for the women in your life.

1. Tatcha Deep Hydration Lifting Mask, $28 each / $95 for a box of 4
What sort of praises have I not sung about this mask? If I had to choose one Tatcha product to gift, this spa-in-a-packet would be it. My general philosophy about gift giving is to buy things that others usually won't buy for themselves, and the mask's hefty price point is unfortunately a deterrent to most. However, if anything is well worth the splurge, this is.

Tatcha Friends & Family Sale: 20% off everything at tatcha.com with code FF2014, valid from 11/28-12/8.

2. Rituals Zensation Foaming Shower Gel Sensation, $15
My favorite part of showering is the suds. I remember spending ages in the bathroom as a child, with the door locked, mischievously soaping up every surface and sliding across them with glee. Needless to say, my mother was not amused. Rituals is a new-to-the-US Dutch brand that offers home and body cosmetics with beautiful packaging at a surprisingly low price point. This shower gel transforms into a rich foam when it comes into contact with water. I like it for the clean scent and ease of use, and for allowing me to indulge in my favorite childhood pastime as an adult.

Rituals Black Friday Sale: 50% off select products at rituals.com, valid from 11/28-12/1.

3. Shu Uemura Art of Hair Cleansing Oil Shampoo, $57
I've been clamoring to repurchase this ever since I pumped out the last drop. This shampoo is particularly effective in removing product from hair, and the claim that it doesn't "strip the natural oils" of your scalp is true, since I occasionally skipped conditioning without ill effects. I was devastated to find that the brand no longer offered discounts during Black Friday. Instead, they bundled up complementary products into gift sets. I'm sorely tempted by the Cleansing Oil Gift Set (with shampoo and conditioner and a travel-sized Essence Absolue), but cannot justify it since I've cut down my hair washing to twice a week and still have multiple shampoo/conditioners to go through.

4. Alterna Bamboo Smooth Moisture Masque, $26
I'm always pleasantly surprised when hair treatments (shampoo and conditioner excluded) actually work. Many volumizing/smoothing/repairing treatments I've tried didn't make a difference, but I am happy to report that this Alterna mask bucks the norm. After suffering from severe tangling all week, I applied this mask during my last shower and emerged with hair that was so soft, my hair brush practically slipped through it.

5. L'Occitane 13 Desserts of Provence, $69
Here's an advent calendar that will make the ultimate stocking stuffer (or make it easy for you to stuff those stockings). The 13 products in this gift set reads like a L'Occitane "best hits" list. If nothing, it'll make your next trip very easy to pack for.

L'Occitane Black Friday deal: Receive a free gift of three 10ml hand creams with any purchase at usa.loccitane.com on 11/28.

6. RMS Beauty Glowing Gift Set, $120
I have long held that RMS Beauty is superior to other natural brands when it comes to makeup. While most brands flounder by delivering products with subpar pigmentation, RMS Beauty shocks by serving up bright, nuanced shades. I swatched the whole collection a couple of years ago, but since then they've added a couple of products to their lineup. If you want to try the brand, I think this gift set is an excellent introduction. It features four of their bestsellers: Living Luminizer (one of the best highlighters I own), Un-Cover Up (I am shade #22), Lip2Cheek (Promise and Modest are my favorites) and Cream Eye Shadow. Bonus: you get to customize your own set with the shades you want.

7. Jo Malone Red Roses Scent Surround Diffuser, $85
It's a treat to return home to the scent of Jo Malone Red Roses ("a voluptuous blend of seven of the world's most exquisite roses"). This diffuser is strong enough to perfume my bedroom and then some, for I smell it even from the corridor of my apartment. It's been three months since I placed the reeds in and the bottle is still half full. This six-month investment is one that I'm very willing to make.

8. Maison Francis Kurkdjian Aqua Universalis, $175
When my mother asked me to get her a "nice, light fragrance," I sent her a bottle of Aqua Universalis. I will not assault your imagination with my poor description of scent (objectively, the notes include bergamot and Sicilian lemon, lily of the valley and sweet mock orange, as well as musky wood) but as proof of endorsement, I've been wearing this nonstop for the past six months.

9. Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray, $42
I wish I could spray this on my hair everyday. Without fail, it gives my hair ridiculous volume and life and bounce. And the heavenly smell! It's no wonder that the brains behind Oribe decided to bottle their signature scent into perfume form.

L'Occitane Aromachologie Relaxing Massage Body Oil

I didn't realize it was October until my landlord gently reminded me to pass her the rent check a couple of days ago, and then amidst my frantic searching for the checkbook (I moved in to my new apartment a month ago – things are still stacked haphazardly, as you may expect), it struck. How is it that there's only two months left to the end of the year?

What a year (or ten months) it has been too. I feel like I developed grit this year, as in (almost literally) learning how to grit my teeth and expand my patience quotient, both in my personal and professional life. For now, I hope that by working hard and staying true to myself, one day I'll be able to put myself in better circumstances and surround myself with better people.

In the meantime, I've found a gem that makes the everyday much more bearable.

If you've ever been to a massage parlor, you'll know that they each have their own particular brand of massage oil. It's usually non-absorbent and dries down to a slight tackiness. As much as I enjoyed having the sore muscles and kinks rubbed out, I always left the table desperate for a shower.

But not so with L'Occitane's Aromachologie Relaxing Massage Body Oil! I first used this to massage a muscle strain, and realized immediately that it's of a superior quality. Throughout the massage it remained fluid – I didn't feel like I had to keep adding oil to the skin – and was a pleasure to use. The rosemary and lavender essential oils also added a layer of relaxation to the entire experience. Finally – and this was the best part – when I was done, I didn't feel like I had to rid my hands of the oil. It just absorbed right into the skin!

The Aromachologie collection is newly launched for fall and harkens back to L'Occitane's very first products. Personally, it's my favorite L'Occitane launch to date. The Relaxing Massage Body Oil retails for $34 and is available at usa.loccitane.com.

Full disclosure: This entry contains sample products sent by the brand for editorial consideration. This entry also contains affiliate links.

It takes a village...

... or what feels like every single product I own to heal a sunburn. Woe the hidden curse of great, warm weather. (Before you admonish, yes I was wearing sunscreen. No idea how I was only burned on my forehead and not everywhere else.)

I have never been sunburned till one month ago, when the flaky, peeling skin on my forehead gave me the biggest scare of my life. Understandably, I became frantic when something's wrong with my skin, so imagine what I was like when my skin ended up having problems for one whole month. To add fuel to fire, my cheeks suddenly started sprouting little red spots (I suspect it was another reaction to being under the sun).

I could have gone to a dermatologist, but I'm a crazy beauty blogger at heart, and I wanted to test everything in the market before throwing in the towel. Amazingly, my experiment worked. My face is almost completely back to normal now after using only products you can buy in a store. It's still drier than before (my face is no longer an oil slick, shocking!), but I'll take it for now.

Daytime Care

L'Occitane Immortelle Divine Oil (launching September 2014) – This is a new product in the Immortelle range. Made from the fragrant Immortelle flowers (I smelled the actual flower during the PR event and wish I could make tea out of it), this oil absorbs quickly into the skin to provide an instant moisture boost. I had this on my office desk and applied it liberally onto my forehead to combat the peeling.

Korres Yoghurt Cooling Gel – When I asked for help on Twitter, three separate people suggested this to me for sunburn relief. On application, my skin sighed in relief. It's like I placed a cool cucumber on my forehead. Because sunburned skin requires more TLC, I actually brought my bottle wherever I went and applied it every hour or so (layering it over the L'Occitane oil) the first few days to stave off the return of peeling skin.

Aloe Vera Gel – My intern at work was shocked to find that I didn't have any aloe vera gel at home, which considering its superior moisturizing properties should really be the first defense for sunburned skin. This was also one of the things I layered on my forehead.

Nighttime Treatment

Tatcha Indigo Soothing Renewal Treatment – When all my efforts managed to alleviate but not cure the problem, a friend of mine suggested using an anti-inflammatory cream. I was excited to tackle my skin issues from a different angle, and also because it meant finally testing this Tatcha cream. I applied it on my forehead and on the little bumps on my cheeks and the symptoms lessened considerably in a couple of days. Note: you should only use this cream at night as the high concentration of Indigo extract leaves a blue tinge on your skin (don't worry, it'll wash off both your face and your pillowcase).

Tatcha Deep Hydration Revitalizing Eye Mask & Lifting Face Mask (not pictured) – No re-hydration effort would be complete without a mask, and Tatcha's are hands down, the best. I've always wished the effects of the mask could be permanent, because my skin is never better than after 15 minutes with a Tatcha mask.

La Prairie Cellular Swiss Ice Crystal Cream (not pictured) – I used the heaviest cream in my arsenal to rebuild my skin's moisture barrier. Normally, this would be saved for winter but it worked fabulously in this case to return my skin to normal. Very, very decadent.

Tatcha Revitalizing Eye Cream (not pictured) – Similar in concept to the La Prairie cream, I used the Tatcha eye cream to soothe the spots on my cheeks, to great results.

What products do you use to combat sunburned skin?

Full disclosure: This entry contains sample products sent by the brand for editorial consideration. This entry also contains affiliate links.

L'Occitane Au Brésil – Jenipapo Collection

I feel like there's truly no better time to introduce a few delightfully-smelling sun protection products from L'Occitane. Coming from a football-crazed (no, we do not call it soccer) country, it's almost odd to be met with absolute ambivalence toward the sport from some of my American friends. Fortunately, I work for a multi-national company, so taking two hours off at 12pm to watch the Germany/Portugal game is not so much a privilege but a necessity.

To celebrate the World Cup, L'Occitane created a couple of special collections, one of them being the Jenipapo line. The Jenipapo tree can be found in Brazil, and is the source of the floral-fruity fragrance infused in the Jenipapo range of products. Again, forgive my horrible scent associations, but when I use these products, I think of tropical flowers and having punch by the beach.

Out of the three products above, my favorite is the Jenipapo Lip Balm SPF 25, mostly because I realized that I neglect my lips when it comes to sun protection (who wants to eat sunscreen?). My boyfriend, who never fails to surprise me, has taken possession of the Jenipapo Face Veil SPF 30 and insists on bringing it along when we have to spend time under the sun. In his own words, the sunscreen smells good and spreads easily, and the bottle is small enough for travel. We'll make a blogger out of him yet.

While fragrant, I am hesitant to recommend the Jenipapo Oil SPF 15 as a sun protection product. For body, I usually use a minimum of SPF 30 (just because having to reapply every 2 hours is hassle enough) and since having a bad case of tan after using spray sunscreen, I no longer trust sun products that I cannot see. However, the oil has its uses – it's the easiest way to rehydrate skin (and make it sexy shiny!) at the beach, especially when your skin is already overladen with sunscreen. Trust me, you'll be glad you have it after a few hours under the sun.

The L'Occitane Jenipapo Collection ($12-30) can be found on usa.loccitane.com.

Full disclosure: This entry contains sample products sent by PR or the manufacturer for editorial consideration. This entry also contains affiliate links.