ridiculously cheap amazing French beauty.

[ohohohitsmagic]

I know this has been done before, but can you please let me know what I should be buying in france? I maybe have a budget of £50 but would like some products that will last, products that will make a difference and products that are cheaper in france too.

(Also, any food tips for what to bring back from the supermarkets there that you can't buy here if you have any?)

[yongnian]

Just been digging thro Monoprix's website to see what their beauty ranges are like....liking the look of their bio skin care range...seem good qual ingredients for good prices...will inspect further when on-the-spot and stock up if all is good...

[Indole]

castles, I get the long Lustucru macaroni from Intermarché. I am sure I have seen it in LeClerc, too.

I hate French pharmacies. They are always trying to sell me some quack homeopathic remedy when I want DRUGS.

[Twinklestein]

Caudalie, Roger & Gallet eau de toilette spray and shower gel.

Food:

Marronsuisse - pack of four chestnut mousses
Packet of galettes (buckwheat pancakes)
Tins of duck and haricot bean casserole
Ossau Iraty sheep's cheese
Chavroux goat's cheese
Box of fresh patisseries
Breton butter biscuits

[BeaLola]

For those of you that love LA Roche , Caidalie, Bioderma etc can I suggest you browse escentual.com. They have 20% off at mo and do all those brands plus some Clarins, Dior and NUXE

[Tweezertastic]

Is Badoit the mineral water? I think I bought it mega cheap from home bargains last week!

[MountainDweller]

Comte cheese is yummy
And the person who said marron mouses reminded me of the sweetened marron (chestnut) paste you get in tins - can't remember name but i think in the jam section - delicious on toast!
Basic painkillers like paracetamol and nurofen are more expensive than uk and only available in pharmacies - bring your own. And you can't buy codeine otc.
Lancaster and Texier handbags are lovely!
Armand Thierry is a nice clothes shop
Sure I will think of more

[CloserToFiftyThanTwenty]

Own brand version of Le Creuset pans (non-Style & Beauty)

Underwear if you are a small bra size - hypermarches have loads at decent prices, esp in cotton

Aigle wellies sometimes appear on the shelves at Intermarche

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Yes, the French don't do large tits - it's difficult to get anything above a C cup. Ditto heavy periods. When I lived in Paris my local Franprix only did regular tampons and pads. I sometimes had to resort to the pharmacy for jumbo sized.

Maizena is just cornflour, surely? Why would you bring that back?!

Avibon lip balm from pharmacies is excellent for very dry, chapped lips.

[thatsshallot]

Poo - we don't have Home Bargains here :(

You can get codeine in France, it's actually 400mg paracetamol and 20mg codeine so stronger than you can get here - there's co-doliprane which is just that and prontalgine that also has caffeine in

But yes do take generic painkillers with you, cost me 6euros for a box of ibuprofen

They do ace strepsils in France too - with lidocaine that numb everything, def bringing some of those back. But agree with PP was sold homeopathic travel sick pills without realising. They worked for DS but suspect his 'travel sickness' was too much screens

[SuperFlyHigh]

Mrs I'm sure I got a D cup or higher in E Le Clerc...

thats you're right about the strepsils - my mum had to get some last time...

mountain - comte cheese is nice... I'm just thinking about things that travel well, they do nice creme caramels, yoghurts etc... emmental baby bels (but you can get them in UK now I think).

the biscuits and crisps aisle is always worth a browse... they do different varieties (olive flavour crisps, can't think who) and nice crackers.

sadly when we are there we tend to buy the overpriced and growing English range of food in Intermarche!

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Superfly - maybe it's just the stick thin Parisians with the tiny tits then!

[iwantgin]

Watchign this thread. Am going to France shortly- and will stock up.

I bought Le Petit Marsellais soap last time - using it daily, it is really nice.

[AddToBasket]

Le Petit Marseilles - I love all the hand washes.

Playmobile. (not beauty, but LeClerc has an amazing range!)

[BodminPill]

Sorry for interrupting - I have no recommendations I'm afraid, but as you all know your stuff can anyone help me guess the French shampoo.

We had a French exchange student staying with us once and she had the most gorgeous smelling shampoo - it looked like a normal drugstore/supermarket brand, but was very fresh and almost flowery and made the bathroom smell wonderful every day. It may have had chamomile in it. My DH is going to France in a couple of weeks and I want him try to bring some back - whatever it is. Sorry for very unhelpful description!

[AddToBasket]

Could it be this one?

[Babelange]

Anyone seen Maille Vinaigrette Huile D'Olive et Pointe D'Olive Noire in the UK? It's a blend of different vinegars with black olive - it was delish and I've held onto the empty bottle from a year ago from our trip to Paris just in case I can show it to someone who's going to France by car.
Everyone used to covert their stationery (the exercise books with squares) when I was a teenager (admittedly A LONG time ago!)

[BodminPill]

AddToBasket Hmmmm, I think that it was in a clear bottle. The shampoo was either yellow in colour or had yellow writing on the packaging though. Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm sure that any French shampoo smells glorious!

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Was it one of the Garnier shampoos? They do a camomile one.

[GrimDamnFanjo]

I'm already listing out my pharmacy must buys. We're stopping in Paris so I'll be going to a discount pharmacy to stock up.
Nuxe 100ml body oil is about 17 € and you can buy x2 500ml Bioderm Crealine for the same price.
Homeoplasmine is a good cheap 8 hour cream alternative.
Biafine
Embryolisse is much cheaper and a bigger range.
Soaps
I'll pop back later with my full list.

[MountainDweller]

I stand corrected re the codeine I think it was Nurofen plus I couldn't get.

[thatsshallot]

Also when I asked for it in the pharmacy in Belgium I may as well have asked for crack such was the response I got!

[yongnian]

Biafine!! Yes, forgot about that one...

[missmartha]

I am in France at the mo, but flew here so taking vast quantities of things back, especially tins of things like confit of duck is a no no.

I always do the pharmacy thing, but have noticed that it's really not that cheap at the moment and loads of things like La Roche is cheaper in the UK. Nuxe is almost on a par since you can get it in M&S now.

I have got those big blocks of Savon de Marseilles. I love them, they look great too.