L'Occitane Au Brésil – Jenipapo Collection

I feel like there's truly no better time to introduce a few delightfully-smelling sun protection products from L'Occitane. Coming from a football-crazed (no, we do not call it soccer) country, it's almost odd to be met with absolute ambivalence toward the sport from some of my American friends. Fortunately, I work for a multi-national company, so taking two hours off at 12pm to watch the Germany/Portugal game is not so much a privilege but a necessity.

To celebrate the World Cup, L'Occitane created a couple of special collections, one of them being the Jenipapo line. The Jenipapo tree can be found in Brazil, and is the source of the floral-fruity fragrance infused in the Jenipapo range of products. Again, forgive my horrible scent associations, but when I use these products, I think of tropical flowers and having punch by the beach.

Out of the three products above, my favorite is the Jenipapo Lip Balm SPF 25, mostly because I realized that I neglect my lips when it comes to sun protection (who wants to eat sunscreen?). My boyfriend, who never fails to surprise me, has taken possession of the Jenipapo Face Veil SPF 30 and insists on bringing it along when we have to spend time under the sun. In his own words, the sunscreen smells good and spreads easily, and the bottle is small enough for travel. We'll make a blogger out of him yet.

While fragrant, I am hesitant to recommend the Jenipapo Oil SPF 15 as a sun protection product. For body, I usually use a minimum of SPF 30 (just because having to reapply every 2 hours is hassle enough) and since having a bad case of tan after using spray sunscreen, I no longer trust sun products that I cannot see. However, the oil has its uses – it's the easiest way to rehydrate skin (and make it sexy shiny!) at the beach, especially when your skin is already overladen with sunscreen. Trust me, you'll be glad you have it after a few hours under the sun.

The L'Occitane Jenipapo Collection ($12-30) can be found on usa.loccitane.com.

Full disclosure: This entry contains sample products sent by PR or the manufacturer for editorial consideration. This entry also contains affiliate links.