Natural Beauty

Fresh from the South of France, L’Occitane’s beauty products celebrate the wonders of nature.

Provence, the South of France’s blissful paradise of lavender fields, vineyards and dramatic gorges, all drenched in the Mediterranean sun, has long motivated great artists and writers, including Cézanne and Van Gogh. Thirty-one years ago, the landscape was also the inspiration for L’Occitane, a sensuous, 100 per cent natural collection of products now at Luxury Avenue.

When he was just 23, Provence-born Olivier Baussan purchased a steam distiller and used it to produce pure essential oil from the wild rosemary that he harvested. He began to sell it at local markets, where this all-natural product became a top-seller and L’Occitane was born. Nowadays its indulgent ranges include lavender, olive, verbena and honey—all traditional beauty

ingredients of the Mediterranean, as well as immortelle—a flower from Corsica renowned for its youth-giving properties, and nourishing shea butter from Africa. Using the products is pure pleasure, whether you’re smoothing on Honey Body Balm or luxuriating in Lavender Harvest Foaming Bath.

Baussan wants his products to celebrate the Mediterranean culture and well-being. He says, “The sun, the products of the soil and a love of nature are

the essence of my Provence. It is this essence that I want to share with the world.”