It’s officially that time of the year that fills me in equal parts with excitement & dread, aka SALE time! I’m not going to lie, I’ve spent too much money in the last couple of months so I’m trying to gain a little control over my finances. So I decided to wait out all the sales, & since I don’t possess enough restraint, that included not visiting a single mall this July.
But then I heard about the L’Occitane online sale & it seemed too good to resist. I must confess that I’ve never really been in one of their stores (because of the aforementioned self-restraint problem) but everything looks so pretty from the outside (such a cliché, but I really like the cute whimsical French aesthetic) Not everything’s on sale, but sale items are either 40% or 50% discounted, not too shabby right?

So I went ahead & bought two things: ◆ Relaxing Pillow Mist ◆Green Tea & Jasmine Solid Perfume.

As always, I’ll try & review them soon, but as far as first impressions go, I’m really liking the pillow mist. I’ve become slightly obsessed with sleep-related wellness products recently & this smells nice & works pretty well. The green tea & jasmine solid perfume I’m not so impressed with. It’s tiny (the size was mentioned on the website, I really should have looked closer & compared it to some other tinned products that I own). But it’s quite purse friendly (I don’t mean cost wise – at full price, this is definitely too expensive! I mean that it’s handy to carry around in my purse).
I wasn’t too familiar with what L’Occitane stocks here in their Indian stores but after ‘researching’ some of the collections on their website it’s become quite clear to me that they’re treating the country the way a lot of other brands do – to dump items from unsold collections. This does however work in your favor – if you happen to see a review for something that was a limited edition item from the last couple of years, you can go to your local store & they might still have it!
My package arrived in four (or five? I’m not completely sure) working days. The pillow mist came with a cracked lid. No biggie, right? Except that it doesn’t close properly at all, making it less than travel friendly (& I did buy it to use for travel!) The pillow mist was nicely wrapped in the box so I’m pretty sure they sent it to me with the lid cracked. And the solid bottom label of the solid perfume is quite messy & dirty. Neither of the items were sealed, so while they don’t look used I can’t say for sure & that makes me a bit uneasy. The solid perfume expired this December, which is rather quick too. Earlier this year, they sent someone who shopped from the sale an item that was clearly marked as ‘not for sale’ (details here).

On checking out, I could select three samples. I selected these three & I’m quite surprised that they sent two of each, instead of the one I was expecting.
Overall I can’t say I’m happy with this. Though I like what I got, the experience was slightly disappointing. So if you want to get something during the L’Occitane sale, it’s probably better to buy in store so you can see that they’re not giving you second rate stuff.

love,
Magali