L’Occitane Ma Crème Nature – No April Fool’s...

A couple of months back, I was introduced to the first natural and certified organic skincare range for L’Occitane...namely the Ma Crème Nature, a moisturising cream formulated with 100% plant-based ingredients. If you’re wondering why I had the April Fool’s reference, it’s because this will be available in a few short days...April 1st.

I have to say, those that like DIY beauty and have a little bit of ‘mad scientist’ in them will like this – since it’s all natural, you actually have to make it yourself at home and store in the fridge! Got your attention yet? :D

Okay, so you don’t get actual olives in the box, but with Olive Tree Extract, Olive Water, Olive Oil and Olive butter (not to mention Shea Butter), I think you’ve got just about all the olive you can handle.

What you get in the pack is an empty 50ml jar, a bottle with the concentrated preparation of olive tree extract, a spatula, tiny whisk (which is oh-so-cute!) a sachet of plant oil preparation and a label – all you need to provide is distilled water (we used Spritzer instead) and a ball-point pen.

How to make it? Well, since it’s pretty hard to make AND take pictures at the same time, a friendly magazine journalist (I’m so sorry, I can’t for the life of me remember her name...*paiseh*) helped us out by being the ‘model’ for this. (WARNING: Following section is photo-heavy!)

First, fill the jar with the olive tree extract up to the marker indicated on the label...


Have a ball of a time shaking it until everything’s nicely mixed up!


Once done with that, squeeze the contents of the sachet into the empty 50ml jar.


Now here comes the slightly tricky bit – slowly pour the olive+water solution into the jar bit by bit, stirring constantly until it’s nice and smooth (sounds like making a cake, doesn’t it?)


Yup, you continue stirring even after you’re done with the water, just to make sure you’ve whisked out all the lumps – plus that whisk is so cute, you probably won’t want to put it down!


And voila! This is what you end up with...a 50ml jar of white liquidy cream!


You can expect the solution to be quite liquidy, but rest assured it will resemble more of a lotion-cream texture once it has been refrigerated. But wait, before you chuck it in the fridge, there’s one more thing to do...


Note down the batch number of the product, as well as the date you mixed up all these products – Ma Crème Nature should only be kept for 6 weeks following its preparation since it is free from preservatives.


If you’re like me and horrible with sticking on labels, don’t worry – the label’s repositionable. Just adjust it until it fits properly (just not too many times, or the label really won’t stick!)


...and you’re done! Stick it in the fridge for 12 hours before using, and keep it refrigerated.

Personally, I like the chill I get from using the cream directly from the fridge – it gives me a nice zing in the morning and wakes me up (not unlike splashing icy cold water on your face). My initial worry was that it would smell like olive oil, but there’s only a faint hint of a discernible smell...which try as hard as I might I still can’t associate to olive oil, so you can rest easy on that front.

Moisture factor-wise, it’s not a bad moisturiser overall, and doesn’t add much oil to my already oily skin – however, if your skin is extremely oily or extremely dry, I’d suggest you try this out first before buying. Each of the L’Occitane stores actually have samples of the Ma Crème Nature stored in its own tiny fridge. :D

And if you don’t have time for the step-by-step instructions above (or just want the cheat sheet!), here’s the easy 4-step way to making Ma Crème Nature...

Also, just because L’Occitane would like to limit waste from their cosmetic packaging, they’ve actually developed an eco-refill for the Ma Crème Nature, which contains pretty much everything except the 50ml jar, whisk and spatula. So do check it out, and let me know what you think of it yeah? :)


L'Occitane Ma Crème Nature retails at RM155 for the full pack (50ml) or RM118 for the eco-refill pack (also 50ml) and will be available at all L’Occitane boutiques from 1 April 2010.


Rating: 4 / 5
Value: $$