What should I buy from a French pharmacy?

[Pigtailsandall]

Off to Paris on Wednesday - what lovely potions and lotions should I look for? And are all the pharmacies the same?

Nuxe, La Roche Posay and Avene products are wonderful. I live in France and used to get skin products from Feelunique, mainly by brands that aren't available over here. Then one day I had problematic skin and couldn't wait for delivery so I went into a pharmacie and raided the LRP and Avene sections - I have NEVER looked back, they're amazing. Only other brand I buy from is The Ordinary and my skin is much better now. Uriage is also a pretty good brand. Also have a look at all of the essential oils and homeopathic stuff, it's great.

Le petit Marseillais anything, shower gels, shampoo etc.

Bourjois and Nivea makeup.

If you go to eg intermarche (supermarket) look for their own brand makeup and skincare which is good. Also e le clerc and intermarche have good basics eg underwear, nightwear etc.

Nuxe stuff is lovely. They do a honey shower gel which is divine.
Avene for regular skin-care

I second the Nuxe honey shower gel. I had it recently in a hotel and ended up taking the lot home with me - so so lovely.

City Pharma is great. Go first thing in the morning.

In a big pharmacy I'd get a 2-pack of seawater nasal spray (brill for hay fever, colds etc), a shedload of La Roche Posay face and eye creams that I use all the time, Bioderma micellar water, Nuxe rêve de miel hand cream.

In Carrefour, I recommend Le Petit Marseillais olive oil liquid soap. It's cheap - the refills sachet things even cheaper- and it smells lovely and doesn't dry the skin. Their bar soaps are great too.

@Einszwei

I stock up on the Uriage micellar water.

I forgot Uriage - the micellar water is great - I prefer it to Bioderma.

I remember stopping in France on a cruise once. Getting back on the ship everyone else had wine (when you could still take on more than a litre) and other nice French goodies. I had a Kipling fold up holdall that I'd crammed full of Uriage micellar water, Le Petit Marseillais products and Klorane Cornflower eye make up remover (put it in the fridge, it's really cool and soothing). DH had to carry it as it was too heavy for me .

Biafine cream.

Nuxe is great quality.

I get huge bottles of eau de cologne from the supermarket (I like it in my bath).

Bourjois vanille face powder and primer.

Also, Marie Rose anti-mosquito stuff. Far better than anything you can get in the UK.

Savon de Marseille in bulk (packs of 5 are sold for a song)!

I buy bars of the stuff... makes a bathroom smell like French Heaven.

And YES to Embryolisse and again, I'm going to push the monoi oil because it is just gorgeous! And YES to Bourjois... I miss it so much... miss the Healthy Mix range. No Rimmel, don't pretend you're a close match. You're not.

You can get Healthy Mix on eBay and Amazon! That's where I've been getting my primer from recently (going to France in the summer so will stock up). I agree, it is great.

Thank you for the recommendations! £220 poorer but I did get a lot of stuff, including a few presents. I particularly got 3 different small facial moisturisers with spf 50, I'm hoping to find a favourite amongst them. Had a v long chat at the woman at the pharmacy and she was full of recommendations too. Didn't get hand soap yet, I'll do that just before we head back.

Please let us know what you bought!!!

Here's a few pics of purchases - my day and night moisturisers are low, so I got replacements, and the spf face creams are mainly for trial.
I also got some soap bars, Caudalie shower gel (I didn't find the Nuxe honey one in stock), bioderm sunscreen, Klorane shampoo, a few natural deodorants, le petit marseillais hand cream and few things for my husband. Mainly just got stuff I knew I would use.

Oh that just looks lovely! Enjoy.

Fabulous choices! I predict a glamourous year ahead for you!

What a great haul!

@Pigtailsandall

My friend recommended Huile Prodigieuse, by Nuxe. Apparently she uses it on her hair and body. I shall do some googling too...

You can buy this in M&S ! And yes it is lovely. I adore the smell.

Great haul you ended up with though OP :)

Word to the wise:- just don’t use it in the shower. The bottle is glass and the oil makes it slippery🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️