Caudalie Divine Oil Review + Chanel Les Expressions de Chanel Illusion d’Ombre Illusoire, Variation, & Vision Quick n’ Dirty Swatches

Hey everyone!

Happy Monday! I hope you had a relaxing weekend! Mine certainly was, and now I’m ready to kick start the week!

If you have paid a little attention to new skincare products, you might have spotted the dry oil trend. From hair oil to face oil, from body oil and even body oil with an SPF (like the Corine de Farme one I recently talked about), dry oil has been taken the market in its stride. Since Caudalie is one of my all-time favorite brands, I was naturally all curious and excited to try their new product, Divine Oil.

Divine Oil comes in an amber-tinted glass bottle that feels positively luxurious. The cap is made of wood, which in my humble opinion is a genius touch! It just feels so much more expensive that way. Once you take off the cap you see a golden spray head. I’ve owned the bottle for 3 weeks now, and I’m pretty confident it’s not one of those spray heads that are going to break down and leave product dripping all over the place (I’ve been given a bottle of dry oil that did this. It was a nightmare!). It’s very sturdy and practical. Just so you know, I need about 3 sprays for my entire arm, but if I’m in the mood for some pampering then 4.

The Divine Oil is composed of a combination of grape, hibiscus, sesame, and argan oil. It also contains polyphenols, which is Caudalie’s patented anti-oxidant. According to Caudalie, the fragrance smells like rose, grapefruit, pink pepper, cedar, vanilla, and white musk. I smell mostly vanilla and cedar (or just a woody scent in general), and since it’s definitely my type of scent I absolutely adore it! The first time I used this, both Dr. D and Tango admired the smell for quite a while (Tango did so by sniffing my arm incessantly, which he rarely does). So watch out ladies, because this might make you a boy magnet! The smell also lasts for quite a while. If I take my shower in the morning and use this, I can definitely smell it on my skin around midday or early afternoon. I normally wear perfume every day, but with this I think it’s just fine to skip it!

The Divine Oil promises to moisturize, nourish, and enhance the skin, which I think it actually delivers. Once I spray it on, it doesn’t take too much effort to massage it in, and it doesn’t leave any greasy residue. It leaves a lovely film and a bit of sheen, but it is definitely not greasy or unpleasant to touch. My skin feels moisturized, soft, and firm, which is not something all lotions can achieve! It is also a multi-functional oil that can be used for hair and face, but I personally prefer not to use body products for my face, and my hair has never been a fan of oil, so I only use it on my body.

Great news for those of you who are thinking about buying it for a present too: as of now, Caudalie offers engraving service on the wooden cap on their website! Besides the possibility of having the cap engraved, and the bottle will also come with a drawstring pouch!

This is how an engraved cap looks like. Trivia of the day: Matilde is the name of the Caudalie founder, Matilde Thomas.

This is the drawstring pouch:

Bottom line: I can understand that 28 euros for a 100ml bottle might seem a bit much, but to be honest this is the only “drawback” I can find about Caudalie Divine Oil. Especially with oil products, I find excellent packaging a necessity, and Divine Oil more than fits the bill. The scent is delicious, and I’m always amazed how moisturized and firm my skin is after using this. That’s why I would still recommend it with all my heart!

In other news, I received Chanel Illusion d’Ombre in Vision the other day. I have been testing it out, and the proper swatch/review will be up very soon. In the meantime however, I dropped by a Chanel counter on Saturday and did some quick n’ dirty swatches of the three Illusion d’Ombre in Les Expressions de Chanel collection. Please excuse the quality of the picture. I only had my small point-and-shoot with me!

From left to right: Chanel Illusion d’Ombre in Illusoire, Variation, Vision, and L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Goldmine. I randomly spotted Goldmine in the drugstore, and thought I’d put the two next to each other just to compare. As you can see, Goldmine is a lot paler than Vision!

I hope that satisfies your curiosity until I can put up the proper review of Vision!

Are you a fan of dry oil? What is your experience with it? Do you have a favorite dry oil you care to share?

Sunny, your beauty culture translator xx

Disclosure: The product mentioned in this review is sent by the PR for my consideration. All opinions are honest and my own. I am in no way compensated for this review. I have always been, and will always be committed ONLY to my readers.