French pharmacy skincare in my daily routine; end-of-the-year musings, short reviews and wishlist
If you glance over my blog, it would appear that I'm totally dedicated to K-beauty products; however, it's not true. Today I'd like to talk about French pharmacy products that I use almost daily; there are not as many of them as there used to be, but I like them, and they deserve the spotlight. I'm going to mention possible alternatives to the products I'm currently using, but overall I don't expect significant changes or substitutions in my current routine. As usual, I purchased all the products myself, and all opinions are my own; it's all about my personal experience, so YMMV.
A few years ago most of my skincare (at least 80-85%, to be precise) was French pharmacy. I had a few favorite pharmacies in Manhattan that used to carry brands and products that I would not be able to find anywhere else. We're talking about times before Duane Reade revamped their stores and added a huge skincare section full of French pharmacy brands, before almost all of cult favorites got listed on Amazon with Prime shipping... Back then my skin slowly started to clear up after I switched to gluten-free diet, and I just started figuring out my skin sensitivities and triggers. I realized that quite a few things that Sephora salespeople were swearing by were actually detrimental to my skin, and I decided to stop covering my skin issues with layers of makeup and to concentrate on improving my skin instead. There used to be a nice store on W40th street facing Briant park that was selling all kinds of international magazines, including french Vogue, Marie Claire and Elle, among others; I would go there and browse the new issues, as much as my very limited French would let me, and then go and try to find the products they mentioned.
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| French pharmacy products that I am currently using |
I gradually phased out many of the products I was using back then when I moved on to K-beauty, but some of old favorites survived and I will probably keep repurchasing them in the future as well, unless they'll get discontinued.
Uriage is one of my all-time favorite French pharmacy brands. I used to have a lot of their products, and the two that I have now were repurchased many times over. Uriage Roseliane Anti-redness cream (official website here) used to be my go-to weapon for skin flare-ups and rosacea outbreaks. It does not have the cleanest list of ingredients (full list of ingredients on cosdna here), with questionable surfactants and preservatives, as well as fragrance and pigments, but it gets the job done, and that's important. It's very light in texture, it layers well with other products, it moisturizes without being greasy, and it absorbs fast enough to be used in the morning under my sunscreen. It has a tinted version, but it's too dark for my skin. I've been trying Myeong Ui Hyang, the line for sensitive skin from The History of Whoo, and I think it works a bit better for my skin, but Roseliane is much more budget-friendly; Myeong Ui Hyang has 3 different creams for sensitive skin, ranging from $100 to closer to $200, while Roseliane cream sells on Amazon for under $30 with Prime shipping.
Hyseac is another line from Uriage that works great for me, and Hyseac K18 Unclogging skin-care (official website here) is my go-to AHA/BHA product. It has cleaner ingredient list than Roseliane cream (cosdna here); I wish they would get rid of PEGs and perfume, but since it does not break me out, I'm not going to complain too much. I've oily skin, and in hot weather it goes into overdrive mode; I layer this cream after toners and under serums/emulsions, and it helps to keep my skin in check during the day. If I'm struggling with congested skin, I can use it in evening routine as well, and it will literally vacuum my pores by morning. It has glycolic and malic acids in it, with 18% AHA overall (hence the name K18), and licorice extract, that helps with scars and pigmentation. I believe licorice is one of the most effective plan-based ingredients for my skin; I've quite a few products that contain licorice, and I like almost all of them. Hyseac K18 has light texture and absorbs rather well without causing any irritation, but it's not easy to layer; I've noticed that it causes pilling of some products that I apply on top of it, including some of my sunscreens. It's a big drawback for me, since I can get sunburns in minutes. I've tried many AHA/BHA products, and none worked as well as Hyseac K18; this one is still top of the line for me. I would rather be adjusting products that I layer on top of it than go without it.
La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 saved me from many dermatitis flare-ups and helped me bring life back to my skin after using foam cleansers that were too harsh for my skin; it's light enough to be used in summer, but I prefer it in winter. "CICA" refers to a type of cream that contains Centella Asiatica, or Madecassoside (hence the name CICA), and it's been a staple of many French pharmacy brands. Uriage has one too (Bariederm Cica, cosdna here), as well as Bioderma (Cicabio cream, cosdna here) and Embryolisse (Cicalisse cream, cosdna here). I've tried both Bioderma and Uriage cica creams, but somehow I always come back to La Roche-Posay; it seems that out of those three creams it works the best on my skin. Cicaplast Baume B5 has relatively clean ingredient list (cosdna here); I never had any adverse reactions to it, even though it has dimethicone in top five ingredients; quite the opposite. It also has panthenol (B5) and zinc, healing ingredients for allergies-prone skin. I've lost count of tubes of Cicaplast I've repurchased over the years; I use it not only on my face, but also on my hands (working in healthcare means washing my hands way too often on some days) and my body, when dermatitis strikes.
Cica creams had been popular everywhere, including Korea, and lately almost every K-beauty company came up with their version of it. Some of them are fairly similar to French pharmacy originals (such as Atopalm Real Barrier Cica Relief cream, cosdna here), but some went a step further and eliminated most of skin irritants from their formulations while adding some extra ingredients to make creams even better for sensitive skin. I've been eyeing the latter group with some interest, and I think I'm going to try at least one of such creams next year. IOPE came up with Derma Repair Cica cream (cosdna here) that has no irritating ingredients whatsoever; along with Madecassoside and B5 combo it has hinoki cypress leaf extract (which is supposedly beneficial for atopic dermatitis; one of the research articles here) and squalane, highly effective emollient and antioxidant that is found naturally in the skin. Dr.Jart+ Cicapair cream (cosdna here) has both Madecassoside and B5 combo, like Cicaplast, but it also has niacinamide and vitamin C in SAP form, as well as multiple plant extracts, such as shea butter, macadamia oil, Houttuynia Cordata and arnica, among others. Etude House came up with a very affordable Soon Jung line for sensitive skin, and Soon Jung Cica Balm (cosdna here) has clean and minimalistic list of ingredients with squalane and camellia leaf extract added to the same Madecassoside and B5 combo. Last but not least, Innisfree Bija Cica Blam (cosdna here) has not only the usual suspects, Madecassoside and B5, but also squalane, camellia and orchid extracts, as well as Torreya Nucifera seed extract. Torreya Nucifera, or Bija, is evergreen native to Korea's Jeju island, which makes it kind of a unique cica balm in that regard, if that's what Innisfree was aiming at. There is not much research on benefits of Bija essential oil. The only research article that I was able to find claims that Bija essential oil inhibits inflammation and pathogen growth; however, the article is hiding behind the paywall, and asI never bothered with full text, I can't comment on their research model and methods. I'm sure in general Bija oil is not bad for you, and the rest of the formulation looks like it'll work great for sensitive skin.
I've had quite a few French pharmacy sunscreen over the years, but La Roche-Posay Anthelios was always my favorite sunscreen line. While I've been using mostly Korean and Japanese sunscreens lately, I'm planning to try their Anthelios Cooling Water lotion sunscreen this summer. I've been using Sulwhasoo Renodigm EX Dual Care cream that has cooling effect on the skin and supposedly protects it from overheating; I liked it (I discussed it briefly in my post here, and I'm going to talk about it in more detail when I'll get to compare all Sulwhasoo sunscreens I tried this year), but I'd like to see if I like Anthelios version of cooling sunscreen better.
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| French pharmacy products that I am currently using |
I used to use many different French pharmacy lip balms, but after I got diagnosed as celiac, I had to go through my lip products and get rid of everything that was potentially not gluten free. I think most people end up digesting their lip products; I'm sure I do. I ended up obsessing over my lipsticks and lip balms the longest, since they are potentially the most dangerous. I never noticed any kind or reaction to cutaneous application of gluten; it's too big to be absorbed through the skin, so as long as I'm not one of unlucky folks who react to having gluten on their skin, all I have to worry is not getting gluten anywhere near my mouth. I've never been quite precise when applying skincare, especially in the morning, when I'm half asleep; there is a very good chance that if I got a gluten-containing product in my routine, it might get smothered too close to my mouth when I'm layering other products over it and end up getting on my lips; then I'll just wash it down with my morning coffee... But that's only a possibility of poisoning; however, if my lip balm is not gluten-free, there is 100% certainty; I will digest it, with all the usual repercussions.
There aren't many gluten-free lip balms on the market, and not all of them work for me; I could not find out if my usual french lip balms were gluten-free or not, so I ended up giving up most of them to my husband and sticking to Carmex. Unfortunately, it was not enough for my lips, so I started reintroducing my old favorites that seemed safe enough. When I realized that my skin is sensitive to mineral oil and added perfume, I had to get another look at my lip balms. Some of them, like my beloved Caudalie lip conditioner (cosdna here), have no mineral oil, but lots of different perfumes added; some, like Uriage Bariederm (cosdna here) and Xemose (cosdna here) have mineral oil as their main ingredient, placed 1st on the list; and some, like Avene cold cream lip balm (cosdna here), had both. Long story short, I ended up switching to other lip balms, that had supposedly better, safer ingredients, but sometimes didn't work as well as my old reliable french lip balms. True, I managed to clear out blackheads and whiteheads that I used to have in my lip area, I guess mineral oil and perfumes were responsible for those; but at some point I was buying my lip balms in packs of 3 or 6, I was going through them like kid through candy (EOS balms, I'm looking at you; I swear, I had to reapply them every 15min or so to keep my lips hydrated).
When I got a bit more comfortable deciphering ingredients lists for signs of gluten, I tried a few of old favorites. Uriage Xemoze did not work out for me, unfortunately; Bioderma Autoderm (cosdna here), that also has mineral oil, but somehow turned out to be ok. I'm so glad - it's one of the most cosmetically elegant lip balms that I've ever tried, it makes my lips feel silky soft. It lasts a while and it never migrates to the inner border and corners of my lips, forming ugly off-white deposits there, like some other lip balms do. It's a very powerful moisturizer, perfect for cold and windy winters. I'm addicted to everything vanilla, so naturally I tried to find a good vanilla-flavored lip balm; Weleda Everon (cosdna here) did not break me out, and it proved to be a good moisturizer too; oh, and it smells divine. I know that technically Weleda is German brand, but I used to buy it in the same pharmacies where I was buying my French pharmacy products, and it formed a strong association for me. Since I had good luck with Everon, that has quite a lot of added perfume, I'm going to reintroduce Caudalie and Vichy Aqualia Thermal lips (cosdna here) next year, fingers crossed.
There are great French pharmacy body products, and I loved my Embryolisse Miracle cream and Weleda lotions and bath products for years; but as I switched to fermented body lotion lately (more about it in another post soon), Bioderma Atoderm Shower gel (cosdna here) became my staple. It's extremely gentle on my skin, it never irritates or dries it out; it's not foamy, but I like that too. This bottle is almost full, as you can see in the pictures above, but I already repurchased the next one, just in case. Amazon sells it for $20 for 1L with Prime shipping, which makes it more affordable than other French pharmacy soap-free shower products, such as Uriage Nourishing and Cleansing cream ($40-ish for 500ml) and Cicabiafine Moisturizing shower cream ($25 with Prime for 400ml). This one is definitely one of my (very few) Holy Grail products, and I'll keep repurchasing it for as long as they'll keep making it.
Last but not least, let's talk about perfumes. Seriously, what are you going to do when you're allergic to perfume, but still want to use it? Back in college I was wondering why I always, like literally ALWAYS had breakouts on my neck; that was where i was spraying my perfumes: on the back of my neck under my hair line and behind my ears. When I finally figured out that my skin is reacting to both alcohol and added perfume in skincare products, I realized that I should stop using perfume on my skin; after all, that's what most perfumes are. It was hard to let go of my favorite perfumes... I tried spraying perfume on my clothes instead of my skin, but firstly, it smells different, and secondly, it leaves stains on fabric; also, it was limited to colder weather only, since I don't wear many layers in summer, and wearing perfumed t-shirt broke me out as well. One thing that worked for me was natural deodorants. I've tried a few; Weleda Wild Rose is my favorite so far. It wears off much faster than regular perfume, but I can reapply it during the day; best thing about it is I'm not allergic to it. I remember buying some Ives Rocher deodorant that had a very subtle, natural smell and did not irritate my skin, but, unfortunately, I've lost the bottle and I don't remember its name, or I would've repurchase it.
About a year ago I've stumbled on Mustela Musti Eau de Soin in Bed Bath and Beyond; I'm not sure why Mustela is not as popular as some other French pharmacy brands, it has great basic skincare for sensitive skin that is also very reasonably priced. Musti formulated without any alcohol in it and can be used both by mother and baby. I love it. It has a light, subtle flowery scent with just a hint of powder, but it's neither too childish or too sweet. It has to be reapplied in the afternoon to last the whole day, but overall it lasts much longer than Weleda deodorants. I wish Mustela would come up with more perfumes like this, I'd love some variety, but I'm not going to complain; I'm glad I found this one. They repackaged it not too long ago; now it comes in 50ml bottle (instead of 100ml) for about the same price. Some reviews on Amazon state that the new version smells somewhat different, while others claim the smell did not change. I like the old bottle better, but it does not matter, I'm going to give it a try when I'll run out (soon, I think). I was going to try Banilla Boutique fragrances after I fell in love with the smell of Manyo Factory's cleansing foams (my review of Manyo Factory foams here). Banilla Boutique is Manyo Factory's sister company that specializes in perfumes (official website here), and all their perfumes contain only natural ingredients: organic extracts and essential oils. Unexpectedly I've got a tester for one of the Banila Co fragrances that I had on my wish list (can't say "thank you, Ebay sellers" often enough, I guess) and I was rather disappointed. Love in Santorini 23 (all Banilla Boutique fragrances are numbered) is supposed to be a fruity-floral fragrance with notes of apple, caramel and cinnamon, lotus, iris and peony, but the citrus notes (tangerine, orange and lemon) overpowered both apple and flowers, making it a flat, standard citrus-y fresh kind of perfume. It had literally no staying power, I could not smell it in 15-20min after application. I might give another Banilla Boutique perfume a try (if I could find a fragrance that smells like Blue Vita Aqua gel...), but for now it's not high on my wish list. Another natural fragrance that I've been eyeing is Natura Cologne Mamae e Bebe; it is also alcohol-free. Natura is Brazilian fragrance company that is also sells on Amazon; they have a few alcohol-free fragrances, but most have added perfume. All things considered, I might stick with Musti and Weleda deodorants in 2018.
TL;DR
This is a full list of French pharmacy products I've been using in 2017; I've mentioned a few similar products that might replace or supplements the ones I'm currently using (French pharmacy, K-beauty or even Brazilian), but mostly I'm going to keep repurchasing the ones that I have right now I think...
There aren't many gluten-free lip balms on the market, and not all of them work for me; I could not find out if my usual french lip balms were gluten-free or not, so I ended up giving up most of them to my husband and sticking to Carmex. Unfortunately, it was not enough for my lips, so I started reintroducing my old favorites that seemed safe enough. When I realized that my skin is sensitive to mineral oil and added perfume, I had to get another look at my lip balms. Some of them, like my beloved Caudalie lip conditioner (cosdna here), have no mineral oil, but lots of different perfumes added; some, like Uriage Bariederm (cosdna here) and Xemose (cosdna here) have mineral oil as their main ingredient, placed 1st on the list; and some, like Avene cold cream lip balm (cosdna here), had both. Long story short, I ended up switching to other lip balms, that had supposedly better, safer ingredients, but sometimes didn't work as well as my old reliable french lip balms. True, I managed to clear out blackheads and whiteheads that I used to have in my lip area, I guess mineral oil and perfumes were responsible for those; but at some point I was buying my lip balms in packs of 3 or 6, I was going through them like kid through candy (EOS balms, I'm looking at you; I swear, I had to reapply them every 15min or so to keep my lips hydrated).
When I got a bit more comfortable deciphering ingredients lists for signs of gluten, I tried a few of old favorites. Uriage Xemoze did not work out for me, unfortunately; Bioderma Autoderm (cosdna here), that also has mineral oil, but somehow turned out to be ok. I'm so glad - it's one of the most cosmetically elegant lip balms that I've ever tried, it makes my lips feel silky soft. It lasts a while and it never migrates to the inner border and corners of my lips, forming ugly off-white deposits there, like some other lip balms do. It's a very powerful moisturizer, perfect for cold and windy winters. I'm addicted to everything vanilla, so naturally I tried to find a good vanilla-flavored lip balm; Weleda Everon (cosdna here) did not break me out, and it proved to be a good moisturizer too; oh, and it smells divine. I know that technically Weleda is German brand, but I used to buy it in the same pharmacies where I was buying my French pharmacy products, and it formed a strong association for me. Since I had good luck with Everon, that has quite a lot of added perfume, I'm going to reintroduce Caudalie and Vichy Aqualia Thermal lips (cosdna here) next year, fingers crossed.
There are great French pharmacy body products, and I loved my Embryolisse Miracle cream and Weleda lotions and bath products for years; but as I switched to fermented body lotion lately (more about it in another post soon), Bioderma Atoderm Shower gel (cosdna here) became my staple. It's extremely gentle on my skin, it never irritates or dries it out; it's not foamy, but I like that too. This bottle is almost full, as you can see in the pictures above, but I already repurchased the next one, just in case. Amazon sells it for $20 for 1L with Prime shipping, which makes it more affordable than other French pharmacy soap-free shower products, such as Uriage Nourishing and Cleansing cream ($40-ish for 500ml) and Cicabiafine Moisturizing shower cream ($25 with Prime for 400ml). This one is definitely one of my (very few) Holy Grail products, and I'll keep repurchasing it for as long as they'll keep making it.
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| Mustela Musti new packaging |
Last but not least, let's talk about perfumes. Seriously, what are you going to do when you're allergic to perfume, but still want to use it? Back in college I was wondering why I always, like literally ALWAYS had breakouts on my neck; that was where i was spraying my perfumes: on the back of my neck under my hair line and behind my ears. When I finally figured out that my skin is reacting to both alcohol and added perfume in skincare products, I realized that I should stop using perfume on my skin; after all, that's what most perfumes are. It was hard to let go of my favorite perfumes... I tried spraying perfume on my clothes instead of my skin, but firstly, it smells different, and secondly, it leaves stains on fabric; also, it was limited to colder weather only, since I don't wear many layers in summer, and wearing perfumed t-shirt broke me out as well. One thing that worked for me was natural deodorants. I've tried a few; Weleda Wild Rose is my favorite so far. It wears off much faster than regular perfume, but I can reapply it during the day; best thing about it is I'm not allergic to it. I remember buying some Ives Rocher deodorant that had a very subtle, natural smell and did not irritate my skin, but, unfortunately, I've lost the bottle and I don't remember its name, or I would've repurchase it.
About a year ago I've stumbled on Mustela Musti Eau de Soin in Bed Bath and Beyond; I'm not sure why Mustela is not as popular as some other French pharmacy brands, it has great basic skincare for sensitive skin that is also very reasonably priced. Musti formulated without any alcohol in it and can be used both by mother and baby. I love it. It has a light, subtle flowery scent with just a hint of powder, but it's neither too childish or too sweet. It has to be reapplied in the afternoon to last the whole day, but overall it lasts much longer than Weleda deodorants. I wish Mustela would come up with more perfumes like this, I'd love some variety, but I'm not going to complain; I'm glad I found this one. They repackaged it not too long ago; now it comes in 50ml bottle (instead of 100ml) for about the same price. Some reviews on Amazon state that the new version smells somewhat different, while others claim the smell did not change. I like the old bottle better, but it does not matter, I'm going to give it a try when I'll run out (soon, I think). I was going to try Banilla Boutique fragrances after I fell in love with the smell of Manyo Factory's cleansing foams (my review of Manyo Factory foams here). Banilla Boutique is Manyo Factory's sister company that specializes in perfumes (official website here), and all their perfumes contain only natural ingredients: organic extracts and essential oils. Unexpectedly I've got a tester for one of the Banila Co fragrances that I had on my wish list (can't say "thank you, Ebay sellers" often enough, I guess) and I was rather disappointed. Love in Santorini 23 (all Banilla Boutique fragrances are numbered) is supposed to be a fruity-floral fragrance with notes of apple, caramel and cinnamon, lotus, iris and peony, but the citrus notes (tangerine, orange and lemon) overpowered both apple and flowers, making it a flat, standard citrus-y fresh kind of perfume. It had literally no staying power, I could not smell it in 15-20min after application. I might give another Banilla Boutique perfume a try (if I could find a fragrance that smells like Blue Vita Aqua gel...), but for now it's not high on my wish list. Another natural fragrance that I've been eyeing is Natura Cologne Mamae e Bebe; it is also alcohol-free. Natura is Brazilian fragrance company that is also sells on Amazon; they have a few alcohol-free fragrances, but most have added perfume. All things considered, I might stick with Musti and Weleda deodorants in 2018.
TL;DR
This is a full list of French pharmacy products I've been using in 2017; I've mentioned a few similar products that might replace or supplements the ones I'm currently using (French pharmacy, K-beauty or even Brazilian), but mostly I'm going to keep repurchasing the ones that I have right now I think...
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