What is the difference with the L'Occitane soaps?

I am looking at the soaps and I can see that they do Bonne Mere soaps and Shea soaps. Could anyone tell me the difference between them please.

Also are they any good? What are the smells like?

thanks

Flamingo said:

I am looking at the soaps and I can see that they do Bonne Mere soaps and Shea soaps. Could anyone tell me the difference between them please.

Also are they any good? What are the smells like?

thanks

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The Shea soaps are more milky. The BM are Marseilles soaps. Both divine.

Hi Flamingo, I haven't tried the bonne mere soaps but :heart: the milk soap. It seems quite expensive but lasts for ages and lathers up immediately. The smell is fresh but not zingy - my OH uses it without complaint. We use bars for the shower and also use the lavender liquid soap in kitchen and loos. The pump dispensers make it easy to use and economical.
Debenhams sell the milk soap if you're near to one.

I love the shea soaps best, they last ages and are very gentle
they do an assortmant of fragrances on qvc

I used to use the l'occitane soaps, and they are lovely BUT we had a french market locally and I bought some 'marseille soap' (which is the generic name for the type of hard soap that l'occitane sell), and I must admit it is as good, and about 1/5th price.

I just googled 'marseille soap uk' and there are several uk suppliers - and it comes in a bigger variety of fragrances...

l'occitane soaps are really devine. love both as the fragrances are quite different from the shea to bonne mere.

if i had to choose i actually slightly prefer the bonne mere soaps as i find them less drying than the she butter soaps.also there is a wider range of smells. the honeysuckle and the linden are soft florals that i like the best.

both lather very nicely but the shea one to me has a thicker richer foam.
the smells are a lot stronger in the shea range. the milk is my fave but i love them all.
a cheap everyday way to get the l'occitane experience coupled with the she body lotion.
enjoy! :up2:

Jellybaby thanks for that, I hadn't even thought about googling for marseille soap. Looks like some great fragrances out there and ones I would like better than the l'occitane ones.

if you can get hold of it l'occitane did a marsailles soap in olive with lavender. absolutely gorgeous and they do a white bar which is also 500g which last an eternity however you just dont want to stop lathering them.
anather fave was the lavender cube with seeds a real stunner. non available on qvc but available direct from l'occitane . they are doing some freebies liquid sopa free and low order value with free shipping.

I'm currently using the verbena bonne mere soap and its lovely. Leaves my hands lovely and moisturised. Going into the winter months I'm certainly using less hand cream than usual.

Boffy they put the free postage up from £25 to £59 yesterday, I was *gutted* as I had a shopping basket which contained about £35 worth of stuff with free postage and then got up to finish off the order the next day and no more free postage

Katyd, I haven't smelled verbena yet, what does it smell of and is it strong? I can't use over powering fragrances as I get headaches from them.

Flamingo said:

Katyd, I haven't smelled verbena yet, what does it smell of and is it strong? I can't use over powering fragrances as I get headaches from them.

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Oooh its lovely, its citrus so a little lemonylike but not too strong at all, more of a freshness

I haven't tried them myself yet, but another forum member (apologies, can't just remember who) posted this link recently:
http://www.frenchsoaps.co.uk/display_range.asp?r=Artisan&id=66998830 and recommended them. They have a huge selection.

sorry to hear that flamingo l'occitane can be a bit quick to remove their offers a bit like hide n seek!
maybe worth waiting for the sale i got vanilla,cherry blossom and lavender for £1 each. the next day i went to buy more they were bundling them up so you had to buy several. still got a lovely stash though.
bicester l'occitane is good they do 6 bonne mere for £12 and the bay is good .

I use the BM soaps in the shower every day and love them. I buy them in bulk about once every 9 months and they last and last.

I love all the L'occitane soaps and theirs is the only bar i can use without coming out in a rash, even dove soaps bring me out in rashes, I dont know what manufacturers put in bars of soap, but whatever it is it isn't in L'occitanes.

I love both the shea butter and BM but I really do not know technically what the difference is.

Pick-a-Lily said:

I haven't tried them myself yet, but another forum member (apologies, can't just remember who) posted this link recently:
http://www.frenchsoaps.co.uk/display_range.asp?r=Artisan&id=66998830 and recommended them. They have a huge selection.

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What a fab site, thanks for that. :flower:

Boffy they put the free postage up from £25 to £59 yesterday, I was *gutted* as I had a shopping basket which contained about £35 worth of stuff with free postage and then got up to finish off the order the next day and no more free postage

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I'm glad you wrote that cos I thought I was going mad. I ummed and arrhed with my order but didn't place it until next day. Sure enough the p&p came up and I went back and checked the website as I could have sworn it said £25 and over was free. I thought I must have misread it. Still, I got the free verbena liquid soap and the discounted lavender ones with the refills, so still pleased with my deal.

Must remember that for next time :taphead:

I got a lavender Bon Mere soap in a TSV and was a bit disappointed at the lack of scent. Having said that, the quality is excellent, and I definately need less hand cream.

if you want a stronger scent the shea lavender is amazing.