Review | L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream

There's nothing I hate more than wearing a heavy foundation in the summer. I don't like the feeling like you're wearing a thick mask, and then you have to worry about how your foundation is going to look throughout the day. When it comes to bases for the summer, I always favor those with light/medium coverage since they tend to feel much lighter on the skin. I've tried a fair number of BB and CC creams in the past, but I have to be completely honest and say that I haven't been that impressed. I rarely see the skincare benefits and the most of them have lacked in coverage. When I first heard about the L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream, I became very intrigued to see a skincare company's version of a CC cream. This CC cream contains peony extract which has skin perfecting qualities that are supposed to even skin tone and make it appear more radiant. In this blog post you'll find both my first impression review, and a more in depth review which includes comparison pictures.


In the first impression review you'll get to see how the L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream applies and wears throughout the day. I would recommend watching this video before you go ahead and read through the blog post. I think it's important to see how the product works and see my reactions throughout the day.

The L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream is a lightweight hydrating cream that contains CC pigments which gives you the appearance of perfect skin. The CC cream contains peony extract which makes your skin appear more radiant and even. When you dispense the product out of the tube, you'll see a white cream with tiny pigment particles which magically adapt to your skin tone once you begin to blend it out. L'Occitane claims that the CC cream makes your complexion look more even, fresh, and luminous looking. The L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream contains SPF 20, which is not much to rave about but at least it's something.

The packaging of the L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream is very simple. The CC cream comes in a sleek red tube with a tiny tip. I personally really liked the simple packaging because you can control how much or little product you want to dispense. I also find that the tube makes this product very hygienic since the air passage is quite small. 

Here's the before and after. I only used one good layer of CC cream all over my face and I have to say, the coverage really blew me away. The CC cream was able to cover redness incredibly well, to the point that you can't see any redness around my nose and cheeks. My skin tone does look much more even, radiant, and healthy looking. The radiance isn't overwhelming though, it just makes your skin appear very natural.

I know my skin looks overly shiny in the last picture, but that was taken at 8:00PM after walking two of my dogs for an hour and a half. I get shiny whether I workout or not, so honestly I was very impressed that the L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream lasted so well. I didn't see the CC cream settle into fine lines, shift around, or disappear. Even after working out, I could still see my blush in place and all my imperfections were still covered up quite well.

While the CC cream is not mattifying by any means, I find that it worked well with my very oily skin. I think the L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream would suit a wide range of skin types: from dry all the way up to oily skin would benefit from this CC cream. If your skin is severely dry, then I would recommend going with something a little bit more moisturizing. 

As much as I love the L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream, I did find some cons. First of all, the color range is one of the worst I've ever seen. There's only two options available: light and medium. If you have really a really deep skin tone, then the medium shade will most likely look ashy on your skin. On the other hand, if you have very fair skin then the light shade might be a little too pink on your skin. Another con would definitely be the strong floral perfume scent. If you're allergic to fragrance then I would advise you to avoid this CC cream because the scent is very potent. One last thing, I would love if this product had better sun protection since SPF 20 is certainly not enough. I would definitely recommend to apply sunscreen before you apply the CC cream because you can't solely rely on the SPF 20. 

Overall I was very content with the L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream and I most definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a lightweight base with great coverage. The L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime CC Cream retails for $34 and can be found at L'Occitane stores or online.

What is your favorite lightweight foundation for the summertime? Let me know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: This is a press sample from L'Occitane which I requested. I am not being paid to share my opinion about the product.