The Beauty Crew Reviews: L'Oreal Botanicals

When L'Oreal announced their brand new range, Botanticals Fresh Care we were intrigued and eager to try.  The Botanicals range consists of different systems harnessing different botantical extracts to work for different hair types.  All of the Botanicals products are free from silicones, parabens and colourants.  The packaging is 100% recyclable too.  So when we were asked if we'd like to give it a go...well...why would we say no?!

Merilyn - Founder, CEO, Queen.

I have chin length hair that gets coloured every month, so I was lined up to test the Geranium Radiance Remedy for dull or coloured hair.

Firstly I want to give a BIG shout out to L’Oreal for the packaging. My BIG bugbear is companies that package shampoo & conditioner in EXACTLY the same packs and then just put what’s what on a teeny tiny label. Which as I don’t, surprisingly enough, wear my glasses in the shower you never know which one is what!! This range has well and truely taken care of this. The Shampoo is in a bottle with a pump (extra points!) the conditioner is in a tube so it’s really easy to tell them apart.  

So the range contains no silicones, parabens or colourants. To be fair I don’t generally have an issue with any of those things so I was interested in findingout what the differences would be.  The big thing about the shampoo I noticed was that it didn’t lather as much as my normal one, this is no doubt down due to the traditionally used surfactants being removed. That is not a negative, just an observation. But it certainly did the job nonetheless.  The Conditioner was also really pleasant to use and you didn’t need very much to get the job done.

The Geranium fragrance was really quite floral but not overpowering. 

Onto arguably the most intriguing product in the assortment which was the Shine Vinegar. This is designed as leave-in care to add instant shine. It certainly smells ‘vinegary’ but not unpleasantly so. The only thing was, It was a bit hard to tell the benefits of this with me as my hair is pretty shiny anyhow.

Natalie - First Lady.

I have a fussy nose.  If I don't like the scent of a product, I simply can't move past it.  My trigger scents?  Floral and herby smells.  So, unlike the other two, I was a bit more trepidatious about using a botanical range.

Having dry hair meant I was tasked with the Botanicals Safflower Rich Infusion products.  I had no idea what a Safflower was, but apparently I could expect to smell safflower and base notes of amber, vanilla and cashmere wood. I sighed and had a sniff, expecting a waft of Nanna to greet me.  It smells like...a warm mint.  It's a comforting, sweet scent.  I even made the courier have a sniff of how nice my hair smelled.

Now I'm one of those people Queenie mentioned - I go through at least a 3:1 ratio of conditioner to shampoo, and that's when they're the same size!  So I didn't have the highest of hopes as the condioner is half the volume of the shampoo. BUT, on this range it's a Conditioning Balm - this isn't the consistency of your average conditioner, where half of it is on the shower floor and the other half is dripping down your hair.  It's a super-thick cream.  A 50c coin size was more than enough for my hair, compared to the palm-full I use of other brands.   

The shampoo and conditioner are just lovely, the scent fills the shower, and both products rinse beautifully, leaving my hair noticibly softer, even when wet. My treatment product was the Softening Ointment for use on wet or dry hair. Now I'm not the biggest fan of cream leave-ins, I think my thick, dry hair needs an oil, and yet, a 10c coin amount hydrated and smoothed my hair almost as well as my usual hair oil, with a better scent.  

All up, I honestly think the Botanicals Safflower range is rather wonderful.  I've been using it for three weeks now, my hair is soft, shiny and just feels 'better'.  The Condioner is about empty and I'll definitely repurchase and continue using the range.  At $16.99 a product it's on the higher end but you really do need a lot less product than usual and the quality is really up there, so I think the cost evens out.  And the sensory experience?  Worth every cent.

Kellie - Head Pixie

Being an oily headed girl I wash and condition my hair every single day, so for me the scent of hair products and the way they care for my hair is really important. Also, I’m prone to frizz (yes, I won the hair lottery - cough), and to be honest I was sceptical that the L’Oreal Botanicals Fresh Care Camelina Smooth Ritual range could succeed where so many have failed before.

First things first – what botanicals make this range so fab? First of all there’s the Camelina, which is an herbaceous plant, then there’s soya and coconut oil.

From a visual perspective, the packaging is beautifully luxurious and really stood out on my shower caddy – I also love that the shampoo comes in a pump!

So it’s pretty, it’s got good stuff in it… how does it perform? Scent-wise? It’s divine. As you shampoo you’re enveloped in the most wonderful aroma. It was insta-love. You don’t need a lot of product and your hair isn’t left feeling squeaky or stripped. You don’t need a lot of conditioner either and my hair felt soft once rinsed.

Now the product that intrigued me the most was the Frizz Antidote. I found its instructions to be a little vague – it says to apply to the lengths before brushing to smooth and soften the feel of hair. That’s fine…but apply wet? Dry? I had no idea, so gave it a go both ways. Let’s just keep in mind that I have fine and curly hair that should not be brushed when dry…but in the interest of doing as I was told I applied the antidote, then ran a brush through - and it boofed out, as expected. So that wasn’t great. That being said the Frizz Antidote can also be used as a spot treatment when things go haywire and once I smoothed more on with my hands the frizz calmed down without weighing my hair down. On bun-days I used it the Antidote on the fluffies around the perimeter of my face and they were noticeably smoothed. I also tried the Frizz Antidote post-shower when my hair was damp and I felt I saw less frizz than usual as the day went on.

There’s a lot to love about this regime. It’s truly a sensory experience and makes shampooing and conditioning a pleasure. I love that it’s kind to your hair and that L’Oreal are working to create more sustainability, collaboration and community while developing this line. Also, it may appear more expensive, but you don’t need a lot of product – so I think that balances out the cost. All in all, this range was a pleasure to discover and my hair is smoother for trying it.

***We were sent these products to share our thoughts on.  All thoughts are relative to our true experience of the product.***