Pretend You Travelled to France With These Skincare Launches

On Emily in Paris, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu gives a master class in resting Parisienne face .

When I arrive in France, I take my jet-lagged self to the pharmacy even before unpacking, because there’s nothing like waking up the next morning to an abundantly stocked bathroom. I would be thrilled to discover any of these new products (below) on those legendarily jammed pharmacie shelves, so I’m pretty chuffed that they have landed in Canada. Especially now, given that we don’t know when we’ll be safely travelling there again.

French women are as careful with money (that’s a polite expression for cheap) as they are discerning about everything from strawberries at the market to their wardrobes (fewer, more expensive items) and of course, skincare. They are fanatical about finding reasonably priced pharmacy offerings that work and are elegantly fragranced.

Put your purchases in a straw market basket and make believe that you bought them in a charming French town.

I can easily imagine Emily’s boss Sylvie, (the one semi-realistic character on Netflix’s Emily in Paris) buying any of these items, while saving the majority of her hard-earned euros for Sabbia Rosa lingerie and plunging-neckline silk blouses.

Klorane’s new cornflower anti-fatigue hydrating range seems tailor-made for harried Parisiennes like Sylvie (and those of us on the less-cool side of the Atlantic) who need skin calming with intense hydration. The Wake up Call Serum with hyaluronic acid provides a sizeable hit of soothing moisture, which is perfect if you’ve been smoking in your office. (I am kidding. Do not smoke in your office like Sylvie or anywhere else! But do try the serum.) And the Nighttime Hydrating Mask is softly scented for expensive-smelling aromatherapy along with overnight skin plumping. Available at Jean Coutu Quebec.

Klorane Cornflower Skincare smells beautifully high end.

Nuxe, whose Huile Prodigieuse is a staple of ‘French Pharmacy Top Ten Beauty Products’ lists, have reimagined their organic Nuxe Bio range with new products and new natural origin ingredients, all in upgraded packaging of heavy, dark green glass. I picture Sylvie using the powdered fruit kernel and salicylic acid Micro-Exfoliating Cleansing Mask after a hard day of Gallic outrage over some faux pas that Emily cluelessly committed. She could then finish with the Ultimate Night Recover Oil with antioxidant and omega 3 fatty acid-rich rice bran oil to both soften her skin (please stop smoking, Sylvie) and protect her skin’s barrier function.

Nuxe Bio is luxe and efficacious.

And finally, L’Occitane’s new Incredible Recipe Deodorant in verveine (lemon verbena) in a sleek recyclable tin has ‘French pharmacy’ cred to burn. The natural baking soda and cornstarch formula with a grassy, lemon scent is the polar opposite of that very North American ‘shower clean’-smelling deodorant in your bathroom. If you were thinking of switching to a natural deo, do it now instead of during the boiling hot summer, right?

L’Occitane’s new.lemon verbena creamy natural deodorant is a citrusy stink repeller and mood booster.

Forever Summer: Caudalie Soleil des Vignes

Caudalie Soleil des Vignes is pure beach in a bottle

Here’s a counterintuitive take: summer fragrances should be released in August to help ease you into fall and give you something to hang on to during the cold, coming months.

Whether by design or not, Caudalie’s summery Soleil des Vignes ($46 CAN) eau fraîche just launched in Canada, And while I’m wearing it now because it smells like monoï oil, I will be gripping it with ice-cold hands throughout the winter. It is pure and potent summer-in-a-bottle and I’ll need that more in January than I do now.

Monoï oil is tiare flowers (aka Tahitian gardenias, see photo below) steeped in coconut oil to create a singular, complex, vanilla-ish floral, coconut scent. And while that sounds like a lot, it’s actually ethereal, sunlit and very beachy, but in a glamorous, non-Hawaiian Tropic way. (In France, monoï is available in every pharmacy, like it was toothpaste for heaven’s sake. Lucky French.) Caudalie’s homage to monoï is spiked with bitter orange and mandarin, transforming it into an energizing but still beach-evoking eau fraîche.

There’s also a Soleil des Vignes bath gel, which I am not even cracking open now, but saving for my February box, because I am forward-thinking and I know how much I’ll need it then.

Monoï oil from Tahiti via France. (See the now-darkened gardenia floating just above the label?)

A February Box is an assortment of summery gifts you collect now to give your future self when you will be at your lowest, olfactorily and psychologically speaking.

This is not to be confused with the November box, which is stuffed with cozy treats, because in November you’ll need things that aid in creating your winter nest.)

And yes, I make it through the endless Canadian winter with a variety of targeted boxes. Sue me.

Dangerous Beauty: Vichy Liftactiv Specialist Peptide-C Ampoules

The French do not care about your convenience. They are not here to make your life easier. They are here to make it better. (See also: French wine, food, literature and art.)

For example, they really have a thing for glass packaging. Eau de Bouche Botot, a French, impossibly fancy, clove-flavoured, taste-bud searing mouthwash comes in glass bottles and years ago, Phyto haircare’s shampoo and conditioners came in glass bottles as well. So you’d be handling freaking glass in the shower with soapy hands, praying that you wouldn’t let go. (Phyto eventually switched to plastic bottles, but there is no gambling with your life with a plastic bottle. Very dull.)

Equally intimidating are the glass ampoules of serums, vitamins and mysterious herbal remedies found at French pharmacies. Because ampoules contain no air, their valuable contents are protected against uv, heat and oxidation. They are hermetically sealed until you snap them open.

Ampoules are a perfect vehicle for Vichy Liftactiv Specialist Peptide-C. Vitamin C is a powerful skin brightener, but it’s also notoriously unstable. Exposure to air makes it lose its potency, so cracking open a fresh dose every day means you are getting it at its peak. Add peptides that stimulate collagen synthesis to minimize the look of wrinkles and some hyaluronic acid to increase your skin’s moisture levels (hey, winter is coming, like it or not) and these ampoules are the perfect nourishing hit your skin wants.

Vichy Liftactiv Specialist Peptide-C ampoules, which come ten to a box, are also alcohol, preservative and fragrance free, each one containing a double-dose that stays fresh for 48 hours after opening. Use one ampoule morning and night on one day or on two consecutive days. 

Ampoules, although they may look unnerving, are actually easy to open. Place your fingers on either side of the white stripe at the base of the top, wrap some paper towel around the top and snap it off at the white line. Vichy’s even come with a small plastic cap to pop on top and protect it from spillage until you use it up. Because in addition to being both skincare- and beauty-ritual obsessed, French women do not like to waste money.

Caudalie Beauty Elixir: Why Live Without It?

Just because something is frivolous doesn’t mean it’s not essential

Sure you can live without Caudalie Beauty Elixir, but why would you want to? Are the pleasures in your life so thick on the ground that you can afford to reject one?

You skin certainly doesn’t need Caudalie Beauty Elixir. For cooling you could just splash on cold water from the tap, but then you’d miss out on that famous scent: a garden’s worth of rose, orange blossom, rosemary, along with benzoin and myrrh and Caudalie’s signature grape water loaded with polysaccharides for moisture and mineral salts to calm redness.

Without it, your days, which can seem endless at the 4:00 p.m. mark, whether you are working from home or not, would be a lot greyer. “It’s the Starbucks coffee of the skin,” says Caudalie founder Mathilde Thomas, selling it rather short, frankly. It is, in fact, the “stroll-through-Paris-with-your-lover-on-a-sunny-day-and-then-have-a-tête-à-tête-in-a-sidewalk-cafe” of the skin.

This year’s limited edition bottle, with its pink ombré glass and line drawings of herbs and flowers, will easily be the nicest-looking thing in your fridge. Keep it stowed there (a work from home benefit) for regular, chilly blasts during these endlessly hot days. Or spray the air around you in a witchy ritual to banish dull air and dull thoughts and make your workspace just that much nicer. And Frencher.