A Foot Cream Face Off: L'Occitaine vs. The Body Shop

It's taken me a while to feel up to writing today's post. I'm just going to put this out there; I hate feet. They freak me out. Even 'nice' (shudder!) looking feet make me feel a bit squeamish. However, this is a beauty blog and making my feet look a bit less disgusting is part of my regular beauty regime so it's about time I reviewed the products I use. 

I normally exfoliate my feet in the shower, then I'll apply a foot cream and put on some cotton socks. I prefer to do that before bed but I do try to use a foot cream every day or at least every two days so sometimes I'll just pop on the socks for half an hour before I have to leave the flat. Right now I have two foot creams that I alternate between and I like both of them, but for different reasons. This post is going to be a comparison of both products.

First up is The Body Shop's Spa Africa Honey & Beeswax Hand & Foot Butter. A bit of a mouthful! I can't imagine using this on my hands as it's very thick so I use it exclusively as a foot cream. The pot is a bit fliddly and unnecessary in my opinion. This is priced at £10 for 125ml (here) and I've been using this pot since the end of April, at least once a week.

I tend to use this foot cream once or twice a week at most partly because I don't want to waste it if my feet don't need such a heavy duty cream and partly because it takes quite a while to sink into the skin, meaning that I really do need to have this on overnight. 

The product itself smells gorgeous. It doesn't smell like a typical foot cream to me; I often think of them as smelling quite minty or herbal. It's the best foot cream I've used in terms of how moisturising it is. You do need to exfoliate your feet beforehand, but then any foot cream requires that step. If you find you struggle with dry skin or if you only want to have to use a foot cream once a week, this is definitely one to check out! I've already repurchased it.

PS - I bought this on Essiebutton's recommendation.

The second foot cream I use regularly is L'Occitane's Shea Butter Foot Cream. This is priced at £18.50 for 150ml (here). The packaging is functional and thankfully, a lot less fiddly! 

I bought this on a bit of a whim and at first I wasn't overly impressed by it but I like using it in combination with The Body Shop's Honey & Beeswax foot butter. If I use that twice a week, I'll try to use the L'Occitane cream at least three times and I find it just helps keep my feet hydrated. On its own it's not enough.

The texture is definitely more of a cream compared to the buttery texture of the other foot cream I use. That has its benefits because it means the cream sinks in a lot more quickly so I can easily use this in the mornings if I have to. I'm not in love with the scent; it's very herbal and not what I expected from a shea butter based cream really. However, that does mean it feels quite cooling and makes it nice to use on tired feet too. I'm not entirely sure it's worth the £18.50 price tag or the accolade of 'foot cream of the year' (according to InStyle) but it's not a a terrible product either, I just think there are cheaper alternatives or other creams that work better.

I hope this was helpful to some of you!

Stace xx