Almond Bath Shower Ingredient Review (Loccitane)

Hi good morning guys. If you have been following us in social media; you would know by now that we will be having a product that we will ‘tiru’ as closely.

The product most asked was the loccitane almond shower oil. And so last week i purchased it, and after using it for close to a week; lets see whats exactly inside and how one can make something similar thats cost effective; using ingredients easily available in Malaysia.

I would like to mention here; that im not a fan of the scent; so ill be changing it in my dupe. 

But if you wanted the exact same scent; we do sell them. Its called the SoapLab’s Skin Safe Almond Fragrance Oil. Its phthlate free and its specifically formulated for sensitive and problematic skin. Therefore if you have eczema/ psoriasis; you can use this scent.

Now lets go straight to the ingredient list;

From their website:

VITIS VINIFERA (GRAPE) SEED OIL** - TIPA-LAURETH SULFATE - LAURETH-3 - CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE** - PARFUM/FRAGRANCE - COCAMIDE MEA - PROPYLENE GLYCOL - SORBITAN OLEATE - PRUNUS AMYGDALUS DULCIS (SWEET ALMOND) OIL** - CITRUS AURANTIUM BERGAMIA (BERGAMOT) FRUIT OIL** - HELIANTHUS ANNUUS (SUNFLOWER) SEED OIL** - ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS (ROSEMARY) LEAF EXTRACT** - TOCOPHEROL** - AQUA/WATER** - LIMONENE - COUMARIN - LINALOOL**

What Does The Ingredients Do In The Product?

If you have been following me; you would also know that usually, anything below ‘fragrance/scent’ i often just neglect it; because its too minute to give any effect; unless of course its preservative, or chelating agent, or pH adjuster; then of course i would take it into account.

So like in this ingredient listing; anything thats below Parfume/Fragrance; i would be ignoring it.

Vitis Vinefera (grape seed oil)

this is used as the main ingredient. Using grapeseed oil becasue its a light oil therefore it wont be as sticky as using some other oil. 

However; grape seed oil oxidizes fast. Therefore if you wanted something that was longer shelf like; i would change it to another similar profile light oil like soybean oil (its cheaper too!)

Tipa Laureth Sulfate

this is an anionic surfactant that gives foaming effect. Its milder than Sodium laureth sulphate; however; due to sulphate; some people still avoid it. I personally dont mind it because ‘sulphate’ just means it was reacted using sulphuric acid. 

So anyways; this is one of the most important ingredient in this product because if you wanted a cleansing product; then of course the cleansing ingredient is important ie this surfactant. However; i have not personally come across this ingredient therefore when im reformulating; ill probably be using another similar profile surfactant. 

Laureth-3

Laureth 3 is also a surfactant; but its a non ionic surfactant that soluble in oil instead of water. 

Its a water in oil emulsion; where it mixes water (very little) into an all oil product. This is important in this shower oil because without it; if mixing water and oil together; it will result in creamy texture; instead of the translucent ‘oily’ looking product we are seeing now.

Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride

This is an emmoliant thats derived from coconut oil. Some call this ‘fractionated coconut oil’ but its not really the same as after coconut oil is ‘fractioned’ it goes throught a series of process somemore to make it a non greasy oil as it is. 

Bare in mind this is a very light ‘oil’ but not really oil because it doesnt contain all the nutrients an oil would have. And so usually people use this to replace ‘mineral oil’. But they are very similar. In this product; i would assume its used in this because of the light nature to give skin a nice soft non greasy feeling.

Fragrance Oil

well you know what it is:-) in this product; i strongly get the almondy like scent which is very similar to SoapLab’s Almond Fragrance Oil. Our almond oil has slight citrusy, herbaly and jasmine scent; which is perfect for this shower oil if you wanted to make an exact dupe as if you can see from the list above; it does contain bergamot and rosemary extract (bergamot =citrus, rosemary= herbal).

Now as you know; ive mentioned above i usually dont review ingredients after fragrance because i dont feel its ‘important’ and its mostly there for ‘marketing’ (except for preservative, chelating agent and pH adjuster).

The reason is because usually for products like this; the fragrance are usually at 0.5-1% ratio. Which means anything below it is lesser than that which might not give any ‘special’ benefit.

Regardless; lets look at it briefly:

Cocoamide- cleansing agent that thickens. I would assume its there for thickening since its probably less than 1%

Propylene glycol- as solvent since this product was suppose to be ‘clear’ and not cloudy (adding water will create cloudy)

Sorbitan Oleate- Emulsifier, loves oil. Im not sure why is it in but i assume it was together with the other ingredients above. Or its there to solubalize propylene glycol. 🤔

Sweet Almond Oil- erm.. coz this is marketed as almond bath shower? But its a more ‘heavier’ oil therefore grapeseed was used instead of this and this is just here for marketing since its less than 1%. If it was me; i would probaby put very little too since this product is marketed for people who has dry skin and most of them might also have skin issues and allergies. People with nuts allergies is best to avoid nuts based skin product; almond oil is one of them. SO using it at very slight= reduce sensitivites:-)

The other ingredients below- Marketing and preservatives.

So.. thats all for today.

In the next few days ill be making different variation of this product and will get back to you guys on the best formula.

Hope you enjoy this as much as i did:-)

Nisha