L'occitane Amande Supple Skin Oil Mini-Review and the Summer Lemmings Board

Sample size on left, full size on right.

There once was a woman from Pennsylvania who moved to the Great White Frozen North. Though she brought plenty of coats and blankets to survive the bitter cold, she thought little of the damage the bitter chill would do to her already-dry-and-sensitive skin. By the time November rolled around, the woman was desperate for relief. She tried lotion after cream after gel, but she always came up short...until she decided to test out some readily-available, "raw" moisturizer options.

That woman was me, and I readily admit that I coated my hair in coconut oil and greased my body up with raw shea butter on the daily to survive North Dakota's winters. Most nights, I crawled in to bed all shiny and slimy like a little seal pup. It sounds disgusting, but it definitely prevented lizard skin and and an itchy scalp.

I like to think that I have a better handle on things these days; namely, I've learned to take better care of my skin and to look more in to oils. Enter this lovely sample bottle of L'occitane Amanda Supple Skin Oil, a 100 point perk from Sephora. It took me almost 3 months to try the stuff, but now? I'm in love with it.

The sample size is 0.5oz and comes in a plastic bottle with a screw-top lid. The full-size product is 3.4oz and comes in a glass bottle with a pump. I'm not wild about the glass bottle--I'm REALLY clumsy and I know I'd drop it on the bathroom floor--but the pump is a great addition.

The full size is also $42. Eek.

However: I have found that a little goes a long way with this product. I've used my sample almost a dozen times now, applying a small amount to my entire body from the neck down, and it's more than half full. Not bad!

I first tried using the Amande Supple Skin Oil on its lonesome, smoothing a small amount over my entire body immediately after showering. This worked pretty well--the oil smelt nice, moisturized my skin, and wasn't heavy--but I wasn't exactly blown away. "For $42 a bottle," I thought, "I need to be wowed."

Then I started some of the oil to my regular body lotion and applying that mixture to my skin. I don't know why, but adding it to another product? AMAZING. It makes every moisturizer I try it with easier to spread, twice as moisturizing, and again, very very lovely-smelling. My skin feels incredibly soft and plump, and while I have a definite "healthy glow" after application, I don't feel greasy in the slightest.

I'm even more impressed by how smooth this oil makes my freshly-shaved legs feel. 1tsp body lotion + a few drops of this oil = utter, unbelievable perfection. Hell, I could star in one of those "who wears short shorts" commercials, I am THAT in love with how this stuff makes my legs look and feel.

There's no denying that L'occitane's Amande Supple Skin Oil is expensive, especially for a product that works best as a mixer and is relatively easy to dupe. But if it's in your budget, it's definitely worth a try. As for me, I'm going to stretch this sample as far as I can. Knowing me? I'll make it last til Christmas.

Now, on to the lemmings!

1. Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipsticks in Ballet (shown), Raven, Empress, and Canvas, $28 at Sephora.com -- Slowly but surely, this has become one of my all-time favorite lipstick formulations. Easy to apply, super-pigmented, and the very definition of long-lasting: the three shades I own are all incredible, and I hope to one day own more.

2. RMS Beauty Cream Eye Shadow in Lunar, $28 at RMSBeauty.com -- As I've gotten older, I've become more and more obsessed with sharp lip lines and lazy eye looks. Cream eyeshadows are my go-tos because they don't require a brush and tend to look more complex than powders. I've been impressed with the RMS products I've tried so far, and the shade range for the cream eye shadows is right up my alley.

3. NARS Sheer Glow foundation in Siberia, $45 at Sephora.com -- You would think receiving a rancid bottle of this stuff would turn me off, but...nah. I'm still on the hunt. This is one of the most popular foundations on the market, and the fact that it's pale, yellow, and boasts medium-variable coverage makes it particularly tempting.

4. Nivea Creme (European/"Made in Germany" formulation), $11.50 at SmallFlower.com -- My incredibly limited (ie, non-existent) beauty budget of the moment has reminded me of some of my most-loved budget buys. I used to love applying this cream to my dry feet, elbows, and nose, but somewhere along the line I got distracted by newer, fancier products. Then I tried the $1 Nivea Creme tins available in the US (made in Mexico), and...it just felt waxier and less moisturizing. I thought I was seeing things until I posted on a few forums and checked Cosdna--the formulations are definitely different.) This puppy is on my "Top Priorities" list!

5. Benefit They're Real! Push-Up Liner, $24 at Ulta.com -- Like I said: I'm generally lazy with my eye makeup. But if there's one thing I've always appreciated, it's a great flicked eye liner. Benefit's highly anticipated Push-Up Liner has gotten some mixed reviews so far, but BeHonestBeauty gives me hope.

Winter Favorites

I've been dealing with some freak breakouts and plenty of dryness this past winter, not to mention odd shifts at a very dirty workplace that necessitates endless hand washing. Hence, most of my makeup looks have revolved around getting my glow back without using particularly obtrusive cosmetics. I've also rediscovered some old loves and stumbled across some fantastic new products!

One of those new products is CoverGirl Clump Crusher mascara ($7, drugstores). I continue to be stunned by how much volume and separation this mascara provides; it's definitely one of my new favorite mascaras! I also fell in love with the MAC Lustre Drops in Pink Rebel ($19.50, MAC, limited edition). I thought these would be too dark and too bronze for my uber-pale skin, but they actually make a fantastic highlight over my neutral and warm blushes. I can mix a drop in to more matte foundations to soften up the finish.

A lovely MakeupAlley user was kind enough to send me a Lipstick Queen Jean Queen lipstick ($18, Nordstrom), and it almost immediately became my Holy Grail "everyday pink" color. Other pieces of MUA swap perfection: the Shu Uemura Hard 9 Formula brow pencil in Seal Brown ($23, ShuUemura.com), which I just wrote a straight-out rave for, and the L'occitane Hand Cream ($10, Nordstrom), which saves my constantly-washed hands from cracking at work.

I've rediscovered great products like the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Primer ($42, Nordstrom), which really does make all of my foundations look far more natural and glide on like a dream. Another fantastic primer is my Elizabeth Arden Lip Fix ($21.50, ElizabethArden.com), which helps hold my bold lipsticks in place. Makeup Forever Uplights ($29, Sephora) are some of the most underrated highlighters out there! A little of this soft, super-blendable gel formula goes a very long way. (The shade shown here is #11, a very natural and dewy highlight with hints of pink.) And last, but most certainly not least, I've rediscovered my love for Cargo Catalina powder blush ($30, DermStore.com). Talk about a product that doesn't get the love it deserves! I don't care for most powder blushes on my skin, but Cargo's formula is GLORIOUS: soft, but not powdery; pigmented, but blendable; comfortable, but long-lasting. Catalina in particular is a bright, pastel pink that's perfect for fair skin tones.

Swap-and-Sale Haul

Just figured I'd show off some new stuff I've received via swaps, awesome sales, and good friends!

My incredibly sweet boyfriend got me a Sephora gift card from Christmas, so I decided to try one new product and one faithful favorite. Ye Olde Faithful in this instance was the Makeup Forever Uplight in #11, which is super-duper gorgeous and surprisingly natural. The gel formula is light weight, and it gives my skin a soft, dewy glow. The newbie is the Eyeko duo, which includes their skinny brush mascara and liquid eyeliner. The eyeliner is pretty good, but the mascara hasn't wowed me yet--I find it a bit difficult to deal with. Regardless, I'll keep using it.

I also got another tube of the Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Intensive Moisturizing Body Treatment. This has quickly become my absolute FAVORITE body moisturizer, but it doesn't last as long as a tub of Haus of Gloi Pumpkin Butter, so I'm replacing my empty tube (see below) for now and hoping I can hold off til spring!

SpaceNK.com has been having some fantastic sales on Vincent Longo products, which they are apparently liquidating from their warehouses. I tried--and loved--the Liquid Canvas Dew Finish foundation, which unfortunately doesn't come in a shade light enough for me. I also fell instantly in love with the Water Canvas blush in Swan Lake...

...so I went a little crazy and ordered a bunch more. Hey, don't give me that look; I got a few for you guys, too!

The blushes are Morning Tender, Aqua Crimson, and Forever Flush, and the highlighter is Lucky Light. I can't wait to try these! I truly love the texture. For $3, I also got a "micro" brow pencil in Blonde, and it is indeed micro! SO THIN! I can draw each individual brow hair in with this baby, no doubt. Luckily, it comes with a sharpener that fits the teeny tiny thing

I've also done some swapping and couponing. I added the Jack Black lip balm to my Sephora cart because I got some extra savings via a coupon; this is definitely one of my all-time favorite balms! The Maybelline One by One mascara is also a coupon purchase. (By the way: are you guys interested in mascara reviews? They're tricky to do, but I HAVE been trying a 4 or 5 new formulas...) I had some great swap partners, which resulted in a 1oz tube of L'occitane hand cream (which I'm learning to love!), the NARS cream blush in Cactus Flower, and a tube of MAC Lustre Drops in Pink Rebel. The Smoky Eyes eyeliner pencil was ordered directly from Elizabeth Arden.

And some freebies and swap extras! I gotta tell you, I'm starting to dig the travel-size/deluxe sample size items. They're fantastic for plane rides.

And of course, some empties. :) I've actually got ONE MORE night's use in that Elizabeth Arden body cream tube, but after that, it's on to the next bottle. And I've gone through about 3 packs of those facial wipes over the past 2 months; they're super-cheap wipes from the dollar store that I just use to clean up eyeshadow fallout and to wipe swatches off the back of my hand.