An Evening with... L'Occitane

Last week I was invited for a personal tour of the new refurbished L'Occitane store in Glasgow.

For the people not too familiar with Glasgow, the store is right in the city centre, on Buchanan street and just outside the gorgeous Princes Square.

Stepping inside you're transported into a sensorial rustic haven, that you could easily find in the south of France. I'm no stranger to visiting the store myself and it was a beautiful space even before, but now it has these extra chicness touches. The wood and metal accents of the shelves marry beautifully with the terracotta flooring and the piece-de-resistance is definitely the chandelier - made from Rose Eau de Toilette bottles!

Thomas, the store manager, is the most genuine and knowledgeable person and he walked me through their star skincare products, their new scents and also pampered me with a much needed hand massage.

Fist, we started with skincare: the Immortelle Milk Make Up Remover is the perfect first step for your evening routine; it removes any trace of make up and impurities, gentle enough for the eyes too and can be used with or without water, depending on your preference.
Then the Immortelle Divine Lotion and I was totally blown away! I've been using this product for a couple of months and I can feel the different it has made to my skin... but today I could also see it! When Thomas applied it to my left hand and then I compared it with my other hand, the difference was incredible! The skin was so much brighter, smoother and any sign of redness GONE!!! Currently, I have been using it in the evenings, but this baby is going to be upgraded to twice a day for sure!!!
The Immortelle Divine Cream is another star product that also won the 2013 Harper's Bazaar Award for Best Anti-Aging Cream; it has been totally reformulated, 5 years in the making and contains 7 essential oils. It's ideal for day, night and for the neck area too.
To really step up your routine, you can add the Immortelle Divine Extract before the cream, which is your serum of choice; it's a 5 patents, high formulation that helps preserve firmness and regeneration of the cells.
Finally, we can't forget about the Immortelle Divine Eyes, which is effective yet gentle for the delicate eye area; this balm targets all concerns, like dark circles, puffiness, fine lines and tone up the skin too.

Then, we moved to my hand massage: Thomas used all the products from The Secret to Beautiful Hands which is a new introduction for the Holidays 2013.
First, we soaked my digits in Almond Supple Skin Oil to soften the skin and cuticles; I kinda of feel I'm preaching to the choir here... who doesn't know and love this product already??!
Onto the gift set - It contains 1 Minute Hand Scrub that can be used twice a week to get rid of dead skin cells and nourish, thanks to its oily base (shea, sweet almond and grapeseed oils).
 There's also a full size 75ml Shea Butter Hand Cream  - which comes with a metal Magic Key - and a tube of Hand & Cuticle Cream; the latter is a concentrated 30% Shea Butter version that can be used everyday to strengthen nails and cuticles and then as a treatment, once a week.

Finally, we chatted about the new fragrances which I'm pleased to say they are part of the permanent collection!
Fleur d'Or & Acacia for her, marries mimosa from Grasse and acacia from the Mediterranean; it's surprisingly floral but the musky and warm notes of the Acacia wood, makes it suitable for winter months too. The scented candle will be definitely coming home with me veeeery soon! :)
Cedre & Oranger is the scent for him; the woody notes of the cedar makes it a timeless masculine fragrance but with a fresh twist, coming from the citrus notes.

This is the perfect time of the year to discover the brand because there are many gift sets with fantastic value for money, starting from under 20 pounds. If you want to treat yourself or a loved one, the whole team is extremely helpful and welcoming and I heartily invite you to pay them a visit, during a Christmas shopping trip.

Massive thank you to Sophie and L'Occitane for making it happen and Thomas for his warmness and generous present.