L’Occitane Arlesienne ~ #Review & #2014ChristmasGiftGuide

If you want to know - there are only 52 days or 7 more weekends left until Christmas.  This will be the official start of my 2014 Christmas Gift Guide.  I have been working hard over the past few months trying to gather some gift giving ideas.  Stay tune for great ideas and a few giveaways along the way.                        xoxo ~ Cecilia

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Halloween has just past and I have attended L’Occitane event showing their 2014 Christmas collection back in August. It maybe a bit early to think about Christmas but for some people they think about it all year round. Once school have started, the rest of the year goes by pretty fast because I am so busy trying to keep my head a float.   L’Occitane is one of my personal favourites and I bet many women would love to receive their latest collection for Christmas. Check out, Arlesienne, and don’t forget to add to your Christmas List.

During the event they display many items and gift sets they will be selling for Christmas but the most important was the Arlesienne collection where some products will be permanent and some would be only a Limited Edition.

Arlesienne is a fictional character that is described or mentioned but never appears. This fragrance is collaboration between Olivier Baussan, Founder of L’Occitane en Provence and Christian Lacroix, French Designer. Arlesienne is the L’Occitance woman: A luminous, mysterious woman from the South. She symbolizes this women that you may never meet that every man has somewhere in his head.

There is so much more to this woman from the South than the ties she shares with L’Occitane. Her very character, rooted in the ground, in the stonework of Arles, is what spurred the desire of L’Occitane and the creation of this fragrance – signature of the perfumer in Provence.

Boldly, without nostalgia, she reflects tradition. Her costume is not just a piece of fabric, but an indication of someone who is quite unique. It is original, special, worn against the skin. For her admirers, she is an ideal of beauty, which is embodied by the Venus of Arles – a marble sculpture discovered in 1651, during the excavation of Roman ruins near the Roman theatre of Arles.

The Arlesienne is like no other. She arouses creativity and inspires artists (Van Gogh, Picasso, Leo Lelee, Mistral, Bizet...). She is the silent, markedly absent heroine of a play by Daudet in three acts, in which she is constantly referred to yet never appears.

It has a floral scent made of three key ingredients – saffron from Provence – rose from Grasse – violet from Provence. The floral scent has a peppery and spicy notes – I notice some sandalwood in the fragrance too. You won’t be surprised by how much I love the hand cream in this scent. I love the body oil which works amazing on my body. It dries quickly and leaves my skin hydrated and making my skin smell heavenly. It could be used on both the body and the hair. It would be a must have during the Fall and Winter months when the air is so dry. The shower cream makes my shower experience enjoyable and leaving a faint scent on my skin behind.  I love the scent and I wear this fragrance all the time.  This would be ideal Christmas gift for the women who loves fragrances.

Arlesienne collection will be in stores and online in October, just before the crazy Christmas season starts.

*Disclosure - The product in this review was provided to me free of cost for the purpose of conducting this review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation.