Give great gifts: L’Occitane and the Citrus Road

As we head into the festive season, we’re sharing our favourite gift ideas with you. This week: all the goodies from much-loved luxury French retailer L’Occitane.
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In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we’re sharing our favourite gift ideas with you. From luxurious and bling, to smaller stocking-fillers, let us show you how to “treat yo’self” and your loved ones this festive season.

First up is much-loved luxury French retailer L’Occitane, which can always be relied on for a fabulous, limited-edition Christmas range and a plethora of fab body and face products, as well as fragrances and home goodies.

Currency got to see its festive range up close and personal when the brand invited us to spend a lavish day with L’Occitane on the Rovos Rail to launch its new products – all inspired by the scents and flavours of Corsica’s iconic Citrus Road – as well as its exciting Christmas offering. With the influencers out in full force, and luxury in mind, it was all old-school train travel, bellowing steam and with Murder on the Orient Express vibe – minus a carefully planned offing, thankfully.

The limited-edition festive collection, bedecked in beautiful packaging featuring a broad coloured stripe, is inspired by the scents of Citrus Road. With its vibrant notes of kumquat, combawa, the floral zest of Rose Citron Meyer, and the comforting warmth of Almond Citron Luminciana, each fragrance is crafted to transport you to sun-drenched groves.

L’Occitane South Africa marketing manager Tarryn Shackleton says: “In terms of this year’s limited-edition Christmas range, the holiday scents are French and citrussy. That’s what I love about our theme of ‘Citrus Road’, because I feel like it just translates so well to South Africa and our warmer weather. It’s just so refreshing for summer, and the textures are light and whipped and absorb quickly.”

Gifts from little to large

Also worth a mention is the brand’s 2024 festive packaging – a très stylish “toile de Jouy”, a traditional French-style illustration featuring a train travelling through magical Provence, France.

But what do we suggest you buy? For a smaller prezzie the “ornament” gift boxes will set you back R230; they come in a few scents and include three small products. From there, L’Occitane offers an extensive range of luxe gifts hitting several price points (up to just over R5,000) plus free gift wrapping.

Esihle Siwela carries the L’Occitane advent calendar. Image supplied

The advent calendars of your dreams

But let’s face it, for anyone who knows the brand well, the white whale of L’Occitane gifting is without a doubt, the OTT advent calendar. The Luxury Beauty advent calendar, priced at a cool R3,400, in a festive luggage-like box, offers a daily dose of fun that includes 27 iconic items, six of them full-size, ranging from skincare, to body, shower and hand care, as well as haircare and fragrances.

If that’s a bit too pricey, for R1,850 you can get the Classic Beauty Advent Calendar, which includes 24 treasures.

Both are dream gifts for the person who has everything but wants more.

Skincare delights

As a side note and additional gift suggestion for anyone wanting to rather focus on their skin’s health this Crimbo, L’Occitane also has an extensive skincare range. We hear the Immortelle Overnight Reset Oil-in-Serum is a must-try, and for all the retinol queens and kings, the Immortelle Divine Youth Oil contains a super extract that acts as a naturally derived alternative to retinol that nourishes skin and defies the visible signs of ageing.

If you aren’t sure what to use, L’Occitane offers a free skin-analysis service at its stores using a new magnifying skin scanner. Focusing on skin type, elasticity, pores, wrinkles and pigmentation, it compares your skin to others in your age range. The results, and seeing your skin magnified, are interesting, if not somewhat scary, but they do allow the in-store team to build your perfect skin routine.

za.loccitane.com, @loccitane_sa

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Jo Buitendach

If it happened in Hollywood, design or pop culture, Jo Buitendach knows about it. Having had an award-winning career in tourism, Jo took the plunge and became a journalist. She now writes for a variety of leading publications on a broad range of subjects including pop culture, art, Joburg, jewellery, history, cultural issues and local design.

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