What Are Shower Oils Good For ? | Rituals, L'Alpage & L'Occitane


Hello my Bunnies,

Last week I was talking about my face cleansing oils (here) and today, to stick with the theme, I want to talk to you about my body cleansing oils.

A few years back, I tried the Dove and the Nivea in-shower moisturizers but didn't find them very convincing. I didn't really like their scent and one of them also made me terribly itchy.

I had sort of given up on the whole in-shower hydration idea until I discovered Lush Ro's Argan (which I talked about here) and it's truly amazing !

I was therefore happy to start experimenting with shower oils this winter and I'm now ready to talk about the ones I've tried.


I gave three of them a try: The first one I tried is the Rituals… Sakura Spring Foaming Shower Oil that I bought in a discovery set at Sephora.

I also tried the Mielicime Nourishing Shower Oil* from the Swiss brand L'Alpage.

And last but not least, the oh-so-famous Amande Shower Oil from L'Occitane which I got in my advent calendar.


I must say that though I have been trying to compare these oils in terms of efficiency I haven't been able to get any clear results.

Honestly, from what I've experienced in the shower and afterwards, there isn't much difference between the three.

They all feel very soft on the skin and turn into a rich lather once in contact with water. Meaning that they are very pleasant to use. The application is effortless as they glide on the skin and leave you feeling clean.

All three help with moisture but I want to warn you that if you have crocodile legs you shouldn't expect to be able to skip moisturiser once you get out of the shower.

I'd say that the good thing about shower oils is that when you leave the shower, your skin isn't drier than when you walked in as it can be the case with some shower gels.

These shower oils make sure that your skin gets out of the shower at least as moisturized as it was before and help counteract the effects of limestone and shower gel, which tend to dry out the skin.

Your skin therefore won't be more hydrated when you get out of the shower (anyway I don't think so, or ever so slightly more) but it won't be drier either, which is usually the case.

I have to say however that since I started using these, a little over a month ago, I have found that my skin was getting softer. It could be the weather, it could be what I'm eating, you never know, but I'm pretty sure that using shower oils instead of shower gels consistently for a month has made my skin softer than it was before and considering how pleasant they are to use I'd say that it'd be worth switching from your usual shower gel to a shower oil.


As for choosing between the three that I have … Well that's a pickle (anyone still uses this expression ? ^^) as they're all good at doing what they're supposed to.

Like I said, they all perform well and feel similar on the skin. So how should you choose if you don't want to buy all three. Here are a few tips:

All three packagings look good in my opinion but I have to say that the oil from Rituals wins in terms of packaging because of its pump. Indeed the pump makes it slightly easier to use and to control the amount of oil you're using. Though the other two are good, the pump is just slightly better.

The price could be another decisive argument. L'Alpage and L'Occitane are in the same price range (22.90 for 200ml and 25.- for 250ml) whereas Rituals is a bit cheaper (13.50 for 200ml) however slightly harder to find in Switzerland.

If you care about a brand's ethic then I would advise going for L'Alpage as they use as many natural ingredients as possible and more importantly are making a big effort to keep every step of the production local (read more about it here). In a world where everything we consume travels so much I find that this is important and should come into consideration at least every now and again.

Last but not least, you might care about the scent. If we all have different opinions on the matter, I can still give you mine. Out of the three, the one I like the most is L'Occitane because I find the Rituals one to be a tad too floral/strong/grown-up for my taste and though I like the scent of the L'Alpage one that's quite rich and sweet but I just like L'Occitane a bit better as it's sweet but very subtle.

If I had to choose now between the three, what would I do ? I would either go for l'Alpage, in winter, as I find the scent more appropriate for the season and am starting to care more and more about the ethic of the products I use, or I would pick from another range from Rituals as I do find the pump very convenient and it's cheaper than the other two but I don't particularly like the scent of this range.

Do you use shower oil ? What's your favourite one ?

x
Macha

*product sent by the brand for consideration

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