If you’re a regular reader of my blog you will know of my love for French skincare. My parents live in France and everytime I go over there I stock up on various products and rely on them to keep my skin happy and healthy. I don’t know what it is about French skincare but I find it so much better for my sensitive and picky skin.
French Pharmacy Beauty Haul
Those who’ve followed me for a while will know that my parents live in France which means I take every opportunity to stock up on French beauty products. I posted my last big haul HERE if you want to see what I already have.
I didn’t have a chance to go over to France before Christmas because of work, but my dad kindly said he would pick some things up for me. He ended up traipsing round 8 pharmacies on his day off and roping countless shop assistants to help him. He’s so cute. I am so glad I stocked up on the essentials (Bioderma and LRP stuff) and also asked him to get some additional things for a small giveaway when I reach my first Bloglovin milestone…!)
The pictures above show what he picked up for me:
I am so happy with my haul. My dad did an excellent job and I’m so grateful that he wasted his day off to wander round pharmacies in Toulouse!
What French products do you swear by? Any you would recommend for my next haul?
Lex
This has been a really tough week for my poor skin: super crazy hours at work which means a lot of stress; weather that can’t make up its mind; no sleep; a leaking roof… You name it, it has gone wrong this week! And the first thing that happens when I have a crazy week? My rosacea plays up. I know my skin so well by now that I can feel it happening before it even flares up and thankfully I have tried enough skincare to know what to do straight away.
I bought the Avene Antirougeurs Fort cream in France and it has seriously rescued me this week. I put it on every evening when I get in from work after cleansing my face. Like all Avene products, this contains Avene thermal spring water which is non-irritating and very soothing for skin that feels red raw. It is designed to reduce redness while taking that awful prickly, tight and hot feeling out of your cheeks.
This stuff is truly genius and I highly recommend it to anyone who has rosacea or sensitive skin. You can buy it HERE from escentual who have great sales fairly often.
Lex
I love summer, but it doesn’t tend to love me. I am very fair and burn if I even look at the sun, so I am very careful with my skin protection in the summer months. I have tried lots of different face creams with high SPFs, but they have all aggravated my rosacea by being too heavy or full of irritants.
This is a very high SPF cream which protects my hyper-sensitive skin from burning, but Avene products are also rich in Avene thermal spring water, which means it’s soothing and non-irritating. I wear this every day in summer, in other seasons I wear it if I know I’m going to be outside for an extended period of time. It isn’t a super lightweight cream but I didn’t find that it made my skin feel too heavy or smothered. They also do an emulsion version, which in hindsight would have been better for my oily skin, I think the cream version is aimed at dry skin types.
It is quite white and you do have to rub it in to make sure you don’t have white patches – however I’m very pale so maybe that would be more annoying or noticeable if you are more tanned.
This comes in a 50ml size, so you can throw it in your hand luggage if you’re going away for a sunny weekend. It also has a pump dispenser which I much prefer to a squeezy tube, which tend to explode all over me on planes!
This was another French pharmacy purchase. I usually wait for Escentual to do one of their amazing sales (you can buy it HERE), or wait to stock up when I go over to France.
Have you used any other Avene products? What’s your summer skin care saviour?
Lex
This dry oil is from another of my recent French pharmacie hauls. I had heard great things about this oil and was desperate to try it. In the UK you can get this in Marks & Spencer’s for £21 HOLD THE PHONE I have just seen that you can get it on Look Fantastic for £17. I got it in France for about 15 euro – bargain – so if you’re planning on going to France I’d wait and stock up!
Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Dry Oil is a multi-purpose oil: you can use it as a moisturising body oil on dry skin or put it in your bath as an all-over body treat; a pampering facial oil; use it on your cuticles; or on your hair as a conditioning step. I prefer to use it as the latter as it smells absolutely divine – I have been walking around sniffing my hair like a crazy person! It’s a great product to take on holiday for all of the above reasons – you only need one bottle to do all of those jobs!
Have you tried anything else by Nuxe?
Lex