Recently, our blog readers submitted questions to Oliver Baussan, founder of L'OCCITANE. Here are his responses:


Q: I was wondering where L'Occitane gets the inspiration for its products' packaging. I am thinking in particular of the Shea Butter Hand Cream or the "boxes" some lotions come in. They are so unique (and great!) and I am curious to know if it is somehow linked to your French heritage.

Olivier: I try to make a poetic narrative before imagining the shape of each bottle or tube and the label of each product. Some of my favorites are the cherry blossoms that fly in the first winds of spring on the Cherry Blossom Eau de Toilette, the immortal sun illuminating the blue sea for Immortelle skincare, the African light and the rawness of the materials for the Shea Butter products, a trip to Provence marked in a book of memories with a sprig of lavender on our Lavender range, and the old boxes of calissons traditional candy from Aix with the gold and green-gray color that inspired the Almond packaging. There is a different story for every range and that is why there is such diversity in it all.



Q: I know that you have a special love of Provence and Corsica, but besides these two places, what is your favorite spot in the world?

Olivier: I love Venice not only because it is romantic but because of the fatal gift of beauty!



Q: What are the L’Occitane products that you couldn’t live without on a day-to-day basis?

Olivier: I confess that the product I take everywhere is the Shea Butter Hand Cream. Then I like the Verbena Eau de Toilette for its freshness and almost pungent rusticity of the packaging.



Q: Besides being a huge fan of your products, I am even happier to support a company that has put its efforts into recognizing such wonderful humanitarian causes. I am wondering if there is a reason you chose to help the visually impaired. This cause is one I hold near to my heart as well, as it has touched those I love. I am also passionate about helping the environment and commend you for your efforts empowering less fortunate women in the world. With help from people and companies such as L'Occitane, I believe every goal is attainable and everything is possible.

Olivier: The approach of L'Occitane for 34 years has been the same: Be considerate of others, respect differences, allow that those who are left on the side of life can access what others often selfishly share - the beauty of the world. Braille labels on our products is a hand outstretched and generous to those who require it, but it is also addressed to those who never have time to open their eyes!



Q: From the humble roots of the Lavender bush to the global enterprise that L'Occitane has become, how do you keep your perspective on what is true in life?

Olivier: To forget my roots would betray my beliefs. I appreciate modesty because it still allows for true emotion.

Hi Everyone,

We are pleased to announce the ten winners of our Holiday Scavenger Hunt! Each winner will be receiving a $250 L'OCCITANE gift card. Congratulations!

Martha Jamison
Mai Amis
Nelia Ponte
Joseph Campbell
Tracy Seet
Scott McIntosh
Marcia Dedeaux
Amy Lechko
Shirley Younger
Denisse Moncada

Thanks to everyone for participating in a very memorable contest!

Thanks to everyone for participating. There were some truly wonderful and heartfelt responses. Happy holidays to you all!

In celebration of the launch of our holiday boutique, we're going to get this holiday season kicked off with a little contest! Actually, it could be a big contest, but it's up to you to spread the word!

L'OCCITANE wants to know about the most memorable holiday gift you have received. Tell us what it was and why it was so very memorable in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

When you enter a comment, you are automatically entered to win a new L'OCCITANE holiday gift set. Based on the number of comments we get, we'll increase the number of gift sets we're giving away! But don't delay, this contest will be closed for entries on November 16th.

Only one comment entry will be considered per contestant.

Interested? Good! We think you'll love the new gift sets we're giving away:

Shea Vanilla Caress Set
($54 Retail Value)

This set includes:
- Shea Vanilla Body Cream 6.7 oz
- Shea Vanilla Hand Cream 1 oz
- Shea Vanilla Shower Gel 2.5 oz

Verbena Refreshing Hands Set
($49 Retail Value)
This set includes:
- Verbena Shea Soap 3.5 oz
- Verbena Cooling Hand Cream Gel 2.5 oz
- Verbena Liquid Soap 16.9 fl.oz

Sweet Cherry Temptations Set
($54 Retail Value)

This set includes:
- Sweet Cherry Body Cream 6.7 oz
- Sweet Cherry Hand Cream 1 oz
- Sweet Cherry Shower Gel 2.5 fl.oz

Lavender Bodycare Gift Set
($79 Retail Value)

This set includes:
- Lavender Shower Gel 8.4 fl.oz
- Lavender Body Lotion 8.4 fl.oz
- Lavender Hand Cream 2.5 oz
- 10 Mini Lavender Soaps with seeds

Hand Cream Bouquet
($60 Retail Value)

This set includes:
- Acacia Shea Hand Cream 1 oz
- Frangipani Shea Hand Cream 1 oz
- Rosebud Shea Hand Cream 1 oz
- Ylang Ylang Shea Hand Cream 1 oz
- 2 Shea Hand Creams 1 oz each

Want to know what else were offering for holiday. Our holiday gift boutique is now live with more sets to be added soon!

Official Rules: No purchase necessary. A purchase does not increase your chance of winning. Valid comments entered on the L’OCCITANE Natural Beauty Blog between 11/04/2009 thru 11/16/2009 will be automatically entered to win. To be valid, a comment must have the type a gift and the reason as to why it was memorable for the contestant to be officially entered.  Winners will be chosen at random based on the total number of entries. Winners will receive one of the five holiday gift sets above chosen at L'OCCITANE's discretion. One entry per person. In order to be eligible for the Sweepstakes you must be 18 years of age or older at the time of entry. Contest open to US residents only. Void where prohibited. Employees of and their immediate family members (parents, children, siblings or spouse of any of the foregoing, regardless of where they live), or persons living in same household, whether related or not, of L’OCCITANE are not eligible to participate.

Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

4 ¼ cups of milk
½ cup of sugar
3.5 oz. of round rice
1 tsp of vanilla

Directions:

1. Boil the milk with the sugar, add the opened vanilla bean in a large pan
2. Boil 3 glasses of water in another small pan & pour the rice (only one minute)
3. Sewer the rice & rinse with cold water
4. Pour the pre-cooked rice in the boiling milk, mix with a wooden spoon
5. Let it cook at low boil & continue using the wooden spoon
6. Let it cook for 1 hour (until the complete absorption of the milk
7. Before removing the vanilla bean, scrap the grains into the mixture
8. Pour the mixture into a caramelized bowl Enjoy cold or warm (this preparation can be store into an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator)

Secret for a successful recipe:
Gentle & long cooking

Almond Cookies

Ingredients:

7/8 cup of powdered sugar
½ cup of flour
¼ cup of butter
2 egg whites
1.4 oz. of slivered almonds
½ large spoon of heavy cream

Directions:
1. Pre heat the oven to 350F
2. Soften the butter
3. Mix together the egg whites with the sugar until getting a foamy mixture. Then add the butter, the heavy cream & ½ of the almonds
4. Make small piles on a buttered baking sheet; flatten these with the back of a wet spoon; sprinkle with the remaining almonds
5. Bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes or until the center of the cookie is light yellow and the edge light brown
6. Remove the cookies from the oven; place them on a rolling pin. Let them cool down.

Almond & Cherry Crumble

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients (for 6 people):
2.2 pounds of black cherries
5/8 cup of flour
5/8 cup of powdered almond
2.4 oz. of slivered almonds
7/8 cup of powdered sugar
1/3 cup of butter

Directions:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 410 F. Butter generously the baking pan
2. Cut the cherries in ½, remove the stones & put the fruits in the dish
3. In a large bowl, pour the flour, the sugar, the powdered almond, the slivered almonds & the butter previously cut into pieces
4. Stir the mixture with your hands in order to get a coarse paste. Pour the mixture on the cherries & bake for 30 minutes.
5. Serve warm or cold

SEE MORE PROVENCAL RECIPIES!

Many successful businesses recognize the need for social responsibility, and L’Occitane is one of them.  Giving back to the community is a key objective of the L’Occitane Foundation, through its continuous efforts in three fields of action:  supporting the visually impaired, economic emancipation of women in developing countries, and the preservation of the knowledge of nature.
 

Every holiday season the L’Occitane Foundation collaborates with Burkina Faso soap factories to offer a product sold exclusively to raise funds in its stores worldwide.  Each year 100% of the proceeds are donated to ORBIS, a global non-profit organization whose mission is to eliminate avoidable blindness.  It may surprise you to know that 75% of blindness is either preventable or treatable. That’s an amazing number!

Last holiday, our boutiques sold the Animal Soap Sets, collecting 163,000 Euros (about $240,000 US Dollars today).  These funds contributed to ORBIS’ efforts in Bangladesh – to train local staff, conduct over 20,000 eye exams, 600 eye operations, and even help set up an eye care hospital.

This holiday we hope to raise even more! L’Occitane boutiques will offer a Moments In Africa Soap Set, to raise money for the same cause.  The soaps exemplify the beautiful craft of soap making in Burkina Faso.  All the soaps are made by the women of Burkina Faso, using local soap recipe’s and ingredients, including shea butter. These soaps contain over 70% shea butter!  If you are a L’Occitane customer, you know how important shea butter is in our products.

On each bar of soap are stamped images representing moments in life in Burkina Faso: a harvest morning in Boromo, a wedding day in Leo, or children playing in Koudougou.  Even the design of the box was inspired by African bogolan fabrics, making this a truly authentic gift.

L’Occitane’s collaboration with the soap factories has not only helped develop the business of the women in Burkina Faso, but has also allowed Burkina Faso to be part of the Foundation’s global initiative to fight blindness. 

~ Anna

Olivier Baussan, founder of L'OCCITANE, will be doing a Q&A with us on this blog!

Do you have a question for Olivier? If so, please let us know in the comments section below. Comments must be left in the comments section of this blog post to be considered.

Please note: It may not be possible to get an answer to each question asked. We'll do our best to get as many questions answered as possible. Thanks for your understanding.

Immortelle is a legendary flower in the Mediterranean region.  Its Greek name is Helichrysum, which is “Helios” for “sun” and “Chrysos” for “gold”, because its flowers look like small gold suns that never fade.  It is with this essential oil that L’OCCITANE has developed its anti-aging skincare, which has been patented for its effectiveness. 

Just south of Provence lies the island of Corsica, where L’Occitane harvests its Immortelle.  Until 2003, Immortelle flowers had only grown in the wild, but the picking of the flower was beginning to damage the Corsican landscape.  L’OCCITANE found Stephan Francisci, a Corsican native, who was trained in agriculture and owns the land where the Immortelle for L’OCCITANE is harvested.  Together, L’OCCITANE and Stephan decided to cultivate the plant in order to preserve this remarkable flower.

Unlike many manufacturers, L’OCCITANE has personal relationships with all of its farmers and ingredient producers.  Because of this we were able to visit with Stephan to ask him some questions about Immortelle and Corsica.  You’ll find our conversation below.  Also, check out the short video about the harvesting of video of Immortelle, where you’ll be able to see the magnificence of Stephan’s land and the Corsican landscape.

How did you get into harvesting immortelle?
SF: I am a Corsican native and from a young age was fascinated by agriculture.  I went to an agriculture school and specialized in arboriculture because in Corsica the production of clementines is very important.  After my training, I was very fortunate to be able to buy a small piece of land where I cultivated my interest in aromatic plans, in particular immortelle.  When I first got into farming, immortelle was only found in the wild.  The market for it grew from year to year and the natural reserves were running dry.  It was from this that we conceived the idea to cultivate the plant.  With the help of Mr. Keyserlingk, a distiller from the Plaine Orientale region of Corsica, and with L’OCCITANE, we decided to cultivate this plan in order to preserve this remarkable flower.

How do you harvest immortelle?
SF: Immortelle flowers begin to grow at the beginning of the spring and by June the flower has bloomed and is ready for harvest.  The harvest is mechanized and we use the same machines that are used in the harvesting of lavender.  The immortelle is cut, put into containers and immediately transported to the distillery.

How much immortelle has to be harvested in order to distill the essential oil for use in L’OCCITANE’s products?

The growing, harvesting and distilling of Immortelle is very much a labor of love. We are thankful to have such dedicated team producing this "precious" ingredient for us.

~ Christine

Natural Beauty.....Are there any online resources?

The internet holds a wealth of knowledge, but can often be overwhelming.   Finding resources and information for a specific topic or interest can be cumbersome and time consuming. 

A prime example is natural beauty information; interest in the topic is growing at a rapid speed. Yet it is still difficult to find the most timely information and resources in a quick and easy manner. More often than not it takes a whole day to search for that elusive tidbit, when it really should take a matter of minutes. Indeed there are some great resources on the internet helping to guide our efforts to learn, use and share natural beauty information and products.  But where are they?

We have combed the internet and found some of the online resources to save you from endlessly searching. 

Pretty By Nature
A Splendidcity favorite blog, features eco-smart beauty product reviews among other eco-friendly products. The reviews range from mineral make-up to toxin-free nail polish, always written with an honest and informative point of view.  To narrow down all the archives to natural beauty simply select the tag for natural beauty. Splendidcity.com also has an extensive list of other blogs that have some great information. Visit Splendidcity.com for a list of the featured and most popular blogs.

Organic Beauty View
A great blog that speaks to organic & natural beauty. The site delivers a daily scoop on the latest trends, stylish brands, cool products and savvy intel from the modern side of organic & natural beauty.  Topics range from bath & body care to make-up tips and product reviews.

The Green Beauty Guide
A spin off of the book The Green Beauty Guide: Your Essential Resource to Organic and Natural Skin Care, Hair Care, Makeup, and Fragrances, author Julie Gabriel provides daily tidbits on all things natural beauty, ranging from homemade skin care to diet & nutrition advice to beauty product reviews. A great resource online and in print. 

The Natural Beauty Workshop
A natural skin and body care blog created by FromNatureWithLove.com, a wholesale supplier of natural and complementary ingredients used in beauty products and home fragrance products. Through the blog, valuable resources including insightful articles, inspirational recipes, detailed ingredient profiles and other news are shared.
Have questions on the L'OCCITANE approach towards organic beauty products? You can learn more here.

~Amy

Olive Oil: We see it everywhere. It’s in our beauty products, in the food we eat, in the stories we hear that are passed down through the generations on how to stay young forever.  Magazine journalists love it, bloggers write about it, TV style specialists rave about, and the list goes on. So why is Olive Oil one of the best beauty secrets of all time?

Since the days of Ancient Greece Olive oil has been used for more than food by the people of the Mediterranean people. Homer called it ‘liquid gold’ as it had been a source of medicinal, magical, domestic, religious usages and endless fascinations. Grecian athletes even rubbed Olive oil on their bodies to accentuate its beauty. In Roman times, the women anointed their hair with Olive oil to keep it silky and supple. While in the Provencal region people used the oil to nourish and soften their skin.

The Olive Tree is truly an incredible creation of nature. Throughout the Mediterranean basin, you can find olive trees that are a thousand years old – witnesses to the history of this region. The Tree survives the harshest of winters, the wettest of springs, and the driest of summers. This tree truly embodies the history of the Mediterranean, a vegetal emblem of a culture and an art for life. It is a symbol of strength and vitality.

Good quality olive oil contains valuable vitamins, nutrients, and is loaded with 4 different antioxidants.  Antioxidants neutralize damaging free radicals that can lead to skin aging and skin cancer. Olive oil is also a nourishing and softening oil rich in Vitamin E which works great as skin moisturizer, in part because it contains linoleic acid, a compound not made by the body, but which prevents water from evaporating.

At L’OCCITANE we mostly supply our Olive Oil from the Moulin du Luberon located in Volx, which is Ecocert certified & Haute-Provence AOC controlled-origin – which is a quality gaurantee. This label certifies security and traceability for the consumer.

Here are a few fun sites to vist:

Nudo. Adopt an olive tree in Italy. Great gift idea!

Olivier & Co. L'Occitane's sister company, specializing in Mediterranean food stuffs.

~ Lana