Move over CVS and Walgreens, I’ve found another
pharmacy!!! The French "pharmacie"…beauty addicts tout the amazing
assortment of French skincare brands and products available at
pharmacies all over France, and the results? C’est magnifique!
French women have some pretty amazing, glowing skin and never look too
made up, and I wanted to get in on that action!!
Now, you may have noticed that I’ve turned into a
bit of a Francophile. You may be thinking, didn’t you just go to France
on your honeymoon? Why yes, I did. Did you stop into a pharmacy??
Um………no, I didn’t. WHY?? Um, I’m not sure,
especially because we walked past one on our way to the metro every
day. I would always think, oh yeah, gotta stop in there before we
leave. We had done such a thorough job of planning our itinerary; I’m
just kicking myself that I didn’t schedule some French
pharmacy time. We left plenty of time for relaxing and other
shopping. I guess I was just caught up in honeymoon moment, I don’t
know, I don’t even have a good excuse. I didn’t even go to Sephora.
Paris was where I first discovered Sephora almost 15 years
ago on my high school trip to France. Let’s stop talking about it…
Anywho, to make up for my serious shopping faux
pas, I started researching where I could purchase some of the
quintessential French brands. And then I stumbled across my new
favorite website:
www.leguidesante.com,
what I can only describe as the French version of Drugstore.com. I
had barely scratched the surface of French skincare by experimenting
with Caudalie and L’Occitane…both so readily available
here that I don’t even categorize them as having the exclusive allure
of being “French.” We even have a L’Occitane store at my local mall
now. Snooze. Other French brands are available in the US, but not all
of them, Bioderma for example. And even the
ones that are…the prices are ridiculous. I recently noticed a La
Roche-Posay display at my local CVS, the Effaclar Duo is $36.95.
Just…no. You can buy certain brands on Drugstore.com, Amazon and even
eBay, but again, the common theme I started noticing,
they are significantly more expensive. And, in doing some research on
Amazon and eBay, the expiration dates where closer to the present date.
Closer expiration dates do not equal fresh products. New and unopened,
yes, but not necessarily fresh.
So, I began comparing prices from
www.leguidesante.com (let’s just call it LGS from now on) to
websites like Drugstore.com, Amazon, and eBay. Let’s use my earlier
example of La Roche-Posay’s Effaclar Duo (high on my shopping list, but
sadly out of stock). On LGS, it was $15.09. That’s
more than $20 cheaper…$20!! And there were significant savings on all
of the products I compared, about 50% or more. My 6 products totaled
$58.80…an average of just less than $10 an item. I was ecstatic...I
was a shopping genius…then it came time to check
out and to calculate my shipping cost.
LGS is based in Brignoles, France which is in the
Provence region, part of the Cote d’Azur, so I definitely knew I was
looking at some overseas shipping, but really, how much could shipping
cost?? But wait, things got even more interesting,
when I entered my address, some of the product prices decreased by a
couple bucks…woohoo, saving more money….but then I saw the shipping
cost. It was about $55. I slammed the lid of my laptop shut, in
sticker shock, ready to scrap the whole idea of ordering
and just sit and pout. Wow, shipping was almost as expensive as the
products. So I thought about it…and did a little math. I broke down
shipping costs per item…about $9 an item to ship. I added $9 to each
item and found that they were still cheaper or
very close in price to other places I had looked, and they were coming
directly from France, no potentially shady middleman, no nearly expired
products. So, I lovingly opening my laptop back up and completed my
order, still considering myself a shopping
genius!
Looking back at my order, was an average of almost
$19 per item necessarily cheap? No. I knowingly have a skewed sense of
reality when it comes to the cost of items. I'll readily splurge for quality skincare, and $19 doesn’t faze me
considering what I’m willing to shell out for
certain items - $21 for my Origins cleanser, $34 for my Caudalie eye
cream (which I can now buy for $16.72 on LGS!!!), let’s not even talk
about what Chanel costs. Others may disagree, but to each their own. I
was
very pleased with my purchase and what I interpreted as a good
value for items that aren’t readily available here. I expect the
lifespan of these products will be similar to what is currently in my
skincare routine, and to me, that makes it worth it.
I ordered on a Wednesday and my direct-from-France package arrived the following Monday, faster than the estimate on the website and comparable to a domestic online order. So, what did I order??
- Bioderma Sebium AKN Purifying Corrective Care, 30ml, $12.64 – This is a smoothing and purifying lotion that helps reduce the appearance and development of skin imperfections. Applied after cleansing as part of a skin care routine, it promises to purify pores, regulate sebum production, and soothe skin. My face is breaking out like crazy right now…whoa stress.
- Bioderma Crealine H2O Ultra Mild Makeup Remover Wipes, 25 count, $8.50 – Using the same sensitive skin formula as the Crealine micellar water, these wipes are a convenient way to remove makeup. I like using wipes when I’m traveling or when I’m feeling especially lazy at night.
- Bioderma Hydrabio H2O Micelle Solution, 250ml, $11.44 – The hydrating formulation of the holy grail Crealine H2O. I currently use the Caudalie Makeup Remover Cleansing Water ($28 for 200ml at Sephora but $15.15 on LGS…see my point about the prices?) and it does the job just fine, but everyone raves about Bioderma. My skin has been dry, so I thought I’d try out the hydrating version. I think the other formulations are available in a 500ml bottle which are more cost effective, but not this one of course. We’ll see how this one does and maybe I’ll try another formula. PS. The expiration of my bottle was 01/2017…I saw one on Amazon expiring in 2015. No thanks, I’ll take 2017.
- La Roche-Posay Ceralips Lip Repairing Cream, 15ml, $7.19 – I can’t say no to a lip balm. This is a replenishing lip cream for dry, chapped lips.
- La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5, 40ml, $7.83 – People rave that this is an awesome multi-tasker. A light lotion for irritated, chapped, rough skin, similar to Aquaphor but a different texture and more versatile. This is a soothing, repairing balm that comforts, has antibacterial properties and creates a protective barrier. Sounds perfect for rough elbows and some of the rough patches I’ve been seeing on my face.
- Vichy Normaderm 3-in-1 Cleanser, 125ml, $11.19 – A versatile product that can be used as a cleanser, scrub and a mask. Made with salicylic acid, glycolic acid and clay, it is supposed to alleviate acne, blackheads, clogged pores and shine. It received great reviews on the Vichy USA website.
I could’ve ordered so much more, but as my first
LGS order, I didn’t want to go overboard in case the package never
arrived. But it did (and quickly) and now I’m definitely a huge fan and
can’t wait for La Roche-Posay’s Effaclar Duo to
come back in stock so I can order again!! Sorry Sephora, gotta go with
LGS for my Caudalie products from now on! I even earned some reward
points on my purchase and received a free sample of Phyto conditioner
(no shampoo sample to be seen, but beggars can’t
be choosers)! They also had a very comprehensive selection of brands,
in addition to the brands I ordered and Caudalie. I’ve got my eye on
Nuxe, Avene, Klorane, Darphin and more. It’ll be interesting to see how
shipping works next time – is it by weight,
number of items, cost of the order, completely arbitrary? Will it
still be worth it? I’ll have to play around. But if you’re interested
in French skincare items that are hard to find here or just plain
expensive, give
www.leguidesante.com a try!!
Stay tuned for Part 2 when I review these products!!
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