Italian Pharmacy Brands?

[AmazingDisgrace]

Off to Italy this summer, are there any Italian skincare brands I should look for that are similar to La Roche Posay, Bioderma etc?

None that I know of. My pharmacy is full of Vichy and RoC to be honest. There is something called Clinians (which is obv trying to persuade us is something-sounding-very-similar ) but I've never tried it.

Is Vichy any cheaper over there? (hopeful post) :)

Nothing is cheaper over here except tomatoes. Not even Italian brands!

Aveeno (which as far as I can make out is actually made out here, at least the packaging in Boots tends to be in Italian) costs about 3x as much.

Olive oil is cheaper, and many would argue just as good as the ££££s skincare I suppose!

I tell you what is good- Byblos perfume. They have one called Cielo which is the spit of Thierry Mugler Angel but costs about 20 euro for a ginormous bottle full.

Bugger, I was hoping to stock up and that things might be cheaper over there. Olive oil and tomoatoes it is then.. I'm going to check out Byblos though, if they have a lemony smelling one I'm in! I honestly don't have a huge bottle of of Alvarez Gomez agua de colonia on the go still from last sumer shhhhh ;)

I bought my sis Byblos Terra a few years ago, that reminded me of Acqua di Gio which I think is quite lemony?

It's a good range, they have about 10 different ones. I now actually prefer the Cielo to the real Angel as it's not so in your face.

I love the smell of Spanish colonia.....reminds me of Spanish boys loooooooong loooooooong ago....

I've just been researching the Byblos perfumes and decided I have to have a sniff of Terra. Oooh I have something to look forward to other than sun sea sand and stuffing my face

In Italy, nothing is particularly cheap but the place worth exploring is not the farmacia but the profumeria, perfume shop. The one near me carries incredible things from retro soaps to bagder shaving brushes to high end makeup and the most sophisticated niche perfumes. Hundreds of them. Acqua di Parma and Villoresi are some of the best-known local perfume houses.

Farmacie around here tend to have cheapish perfume and skincare lines like L'Erbolario, but while their packaging is pretty I haven't tried them. Italian pharmacies tend to be mega expensive.

There are several domestic beauty lines like Deborah (the nail polish I bought from them is surprisingly good) and Kiko, plus Sephoras in bigger towns.

Thanks for that info Frugal, sounds like some of the perfumarias I've been into in Spain, love them!

Just had a look at L'Erbolaria, I quite like the look of some of their products. The aromatic rosemary water thingy could do me instead of Caudalie beauty elixir on holiday potentially.