L'Occitane Shea Hand and Foot Cream

I think I was an alligator in my last life. How else would I explain my horribly dry skin? My hands and feet are always dry and parched, even in the midst of the hot and sticky summer. While away on vacation in 100% humidity, I still couldn't be without a hand cream, isn't that just crazy or what? What I'm saying is - get ready for an onslaught of L'Occitane reviews :D

I started with just 2 small tubes, 1 of L'Occitane Shea Hand Cream and 1 of L'Occitane Shea Foot Cream. I've seen L'Occitane stuff before, but they were always expensive and doesn't really interest me. L'Occitane is a lot more commercialized than they'd like to think. Just slapping on the label "Made in France" and the products somehow commands the prices they do? I don't think so. Still, those damn tempting promotions suckered me into buying. Sigh...I'm so...weak. And plus nothing else was working, so I totally, completely, caved. After the hand and foot cream came a bunch of stuff, the majority of which are from sets (a great way of trying a different variety of stuff, no?). But I'm going to start with just the hand and foot cream for now.

I tried the L'Occitane Shea Foot Cream first, using it nightly before going to bed. It absorbed quickly and moisturizing. And it had this minty sinus clearing herbal scent, which is really kind of strange - did they expect me to sniff my feet or something? Normally, hand creams would have that smell, not foot creams. I wasn't impressed with this foot cream, to be honest. I guess I'm just really jaded with my dry skin so I didn't expect much to begin with. It was moisturizing, but it was kind of a temporary fix and the next morning, my feet were back to being rough and dry again. I thought shea butter had some healing property and is meant to treat severe dry skin? And 15% shea butter is a good amount too! Oh well...a temporary fix is better than no fix. After I finish this small tube though, I'll probably move on to something else.



The L'Occitane Shea Hand Cream is better. For one thing, I like the scent much, MUCH, better. It's not a minty sinus soothing herbal scent, and I'm not exactly in favor on those scent anyway. Instead, it's a lovely and relaxing powdery milk scent, just like the L'Occitane Shea Extra Gentle Soap Milk. If you ever pass by a L'Occitane boutique, stop by and smell that soap. I keep a couple of the soaps in my linen closet, and the whole closet smells like it!

Anyways, back to the hand cream. It has a better texture than the foot cream, absorbing very quickly and not greasy at all. The down side is that it is also a temporary fix and my hand returns to its rough state the next morning. They don't want to heal my severely dry hand because then want me to keep using it, buying more when I run out, is that it? So the moral to the story is: this will work for now, and it will definitely work for the cooler spring and fall. But for the winter, I will need something more moisturizing that will leave lasting results, at least results that will last longer than just one night.