InStyle is giving away a L’Occitane Shampoo & Conditioner duo free with its latest edition. What’s more, it has slashed the magazine’s cover price from £3.90 to £2.50. Pretty good, eh?
I’m a massive L’Occitane fan. The hair duo bundled with InStyle is the award-winning ‘5 essential oils’ Repairing shampoo and conditioner for dry and damaged hair, part of the brand’s Aromachologie line.
Having just returned from a rather long holiday in Spain, where my hair was blasted daily by unforgiving strong sun, salty sea water and swimming pool chlorine, a bit of essential oil therapy is exactly what it needs right now (although 3 Aveda products worked their magic on my hair this holiday – a post on that shortly). So this L’Occitane freebie couldn’t be better timed!
L’Occitane 5 Essential Oils Repairing Shampoo (50ml) and Conditioner (50ml) – review
Shampoo:
As with virtually all L’Occitane products, the aroma here is to die for. It’s a delicate and captivating floral. It’s punchy without being overpowering. The essential oil blend is ylang-ylang, sweet orange, lavender, geranium and angelica. There’s plant-derived amino acids in the mix to help repair hair fibres, and sweet almond oil and vitamin B5 to help smooth, soften and protect the fibres.
The shampoo is clear in colour and pours like runny honey - I so hate gloopy shampoos (cheap and nasty). The foaming agent is Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, which is gentle to skin, even in high concentrations. Big thumbs up L’Occitane. Its refusal to use suspect ingredients like Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (which incidentally was originally developed as an industrial cleaning agent) is one reason why I love this brand so much.
Conditioner:
The conditioner scores equally highly with me. It’s light peach in colour, is rich in texture and has that same enchanting aroma. I love the way this makes my hair feel after I’ve left it on for a few moments and rinsed under warm shower water. My damp hair feels ultra-smooth and conditioned. A blast with the hair dryer later (on as cool a setting as I can get away with) and my hair feels pampered and a big step towards being fully restored.
I’m not in the least surprised that the shampoo and conditioner are Beauty Bible winners. The shampoo also won a ‘Best of Beauty’ Red magazine award last year.
A full 500ml bottle of the shampoo costs £21.50 and the conditioner £22.50. You can buy them here. Worth mentioning is that inside InStyle is a 15% off at L’Occitane voucher. A penny saved is a penny earned!
