Like a Bouqet of Sharpened Pencils: L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil

It all started one afternoon walking through the mall in San Francisco. It was right before the high school students were out, so it was a quiet afternoon and the salespeople still had the patience to indulge my window shopping behavior. I was feeling extra fancy having just had a kick-ass week at work and figured I'd do what other fancy people do; go into shops like William Sonoma and L'Occitane where the people are friendly and the music is always set to some old Judy Garland tune.

I was intrigued by the pretty yellow bottles of Almond soaps, and picked a bottle up ready to purchase the soap sight-unseen.  

"It's actually an oil," said the man who helped me in the store as I eagerly nodded as if I was already aware that a person can bathe successfully with an oil. This only made me want it more. So I bought the Huile De Douche, and just like in that You've Got Mail montage with nothing but the sounds of the street of New York, I too felt a slight buzz from feeling accomplished and purchased a $26 bottle of body oil — surely something fancy grown people do on a regular basis. 

I'm happy to report that years later, I still use this fancy oil as part of my own fancy grown-up winter ritual. It's a lovely experience that I recommend to all my readers who want to feel fancy and kick some winter dry skin to the curb, too. It has, what I like to describe, a "gentle almond smell" that stays on your skin after the shower. After a long day at work, it's a little bit of fancy-people comfort in your own shower. For those of you who have asked, the bottle lasts me a little over 3 months, which is just enough time to ring in 2014 smelly like a gentle almond.