L'Occitane Subtle Violet Ultra Rich Body Cream And Lip Balm

Every year around the holidays L'Occitane releases a few limited edition scents and products in their shea butter range. The packaging is becoming prettier from year to year, making these little pots of deliciousness excellent gifts and stocking stuffers. I'm a huge fan of the entire shea butter line-- L'Occitane has me addicted to several of them. The 25% shea butter body cream is a limb-saving staple here. I always have a couple of tins in regular use, so the new Subtle Violet scent is a great addition. subtle is the key word here, as it's really light and barely perfumy. It absorbs easily (I do have very very dry skin on my body), does the work, and makes me happy.

L'Occitane Shea Butter Subtle Violet Organic Lip Balm (0.5oz) is a thick lip treatment that protects lips from the elements and hydrates them marvelously. It's excellent before bed, over a lipstick or mixed with a lip color. Not so much as a base, since the balm is very thick and has too much slip to put anything on top. You can also mix equal amounts of this L'Occitane balm and sugar granules to create a delicious moisturizing lip scrub. The scent and taste are, again, very subtle, and vanish almost right away.

Bottom Line: one can never have enough shea butter.

L'Occitane Subtle Violet Ultra Rich Body Cream ($22) and Lip Balm ($12) for Holiday 2013 are available in L'Occitane stores and online. The products for this review were sent by PR.