01

THE BACKSTAGE CLASSIC

Embryolisse —The Tube Every Makeup Artist Knows

It began in Paris in 1950, in a hospital rather than a beauty studio. Dr. Tricot, a dermatologist at Saint-Louis Hospital, developed a cream for his patients, and word of mouth did the rest. Makeup artists working in cinema, studio and fashion discovered that skin this well moisturised reflects light better, and the tube quietly moved into professional kits around the world.

Lait-Crème Concentré is the product that refuses to be one thing. It is a daily moisturiser, a makeup base, a hydrating mask and a gentle makeup remover in the same tube, built on aloe vera and shea butter. The texture sits somewhere between milk and cream, which is exactly why it works under foundation: skin looks like skin, only better rested.

02

THE INVISIBLE SPF

La Roche-Posay —The SPF You Will Actually Wear

In a French pharmacy, sunscreen is not a beach purchase; it is a daily habit, and La Roche-Posay is one of the names you will see on every shelf. The Anthelios range is built for people who have given up on sunscreen because of texture: the white cast, the grease, the feeling of wearing a coat on your face.

Anthelios UVAir SPF50+ is the one I keep for the city. An ultra-light fluid that dries invisible, with no white cast and no stickiness, light enough to sit under makeup. It adds a vitamin E antioxidant to the filters, which the brand says keeps working for up to sixteen hours against pollution. A fair warning: it is a fresh, fluid formula that suits normal to oily skin best, so very dry skin may want something richer.

03

THE ORIGINAL

Bioderma Sensibio H2O —The Micellar Water Everyone Copied

Before every brand had a micellar water, there was the pink-capped bottle. Bioderma says it invented micellar water in 1995, and the French pharmacy has kept it on the front shelf ever since. It is the product that taught a generation to stop scrubbing at their faces.

Sensibio H2O cleanses and removes makeup without rinsing and without friction. The formula is deliberately short: ten essential ingredients chosen for tolerance, 99.8% of them biomimetic, with a physiological pH, no alcohol and no parabens. In other words, it cleans without punishing, which is the whole point of French skincare.

04

THE BARRIER RESCUE

Two Balms —For the Day Your Skin Has Had Enough

Avène built its name on a thermal spring in the south of France, and Avène Thermal Spring Water is the first ingredient in Cicalfate+. It is the quiet philosophy of the pharmacie: when skin is upset, do less, and do it with something calm.

Cicalfate+ Restorative Protective Cream pairs that water with a postbiotic ingredient and a copper-zinc sulfate complex to repair a stressed barrier. I reach for it after too much sun, too many actives, or a week of travel: one thin layer, twice a day on clean skin. It is gentle enough to be used from infants to adults, and the brand reports visible improvement within 48 hours.

Its counterpart on the shelf is La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5, the balm that earns its place in every bathroom cabinet. It combines 5% panthenol (vitamin B5) with madecassoside, a Centella asiatica extract, and a copper, zinc and manganese complex. Use it on dry lips, irritated patches, and skin after epilation or laser, where the brand has tested it, twice a day on clean skin. It is fragrance-free, and the brand says it suits the whole family, babies included.

05

THE FINISHING TOUCH

Nuxe & Novexpert —The Oil and the Mist

Developed by Laboratoire Nuxe in 1991, Huile Prodigieuse Multi-Purpose Dry Oil this dry oil has been a fixture of French bathrooms for more than three decades. It is made from seven botanical oils (tsubaki, argan, macadamia, borage, camellia, hazelnut and sweet almond) and the finish is the point: it absorbs, it does not sit on the skin like a film.

And then there is the scent, which the brand describes as warm sand and sunshine, and which, for anyone who lives by the sea like I do, smells like summer on skin. A few drops mixed into a face cream, smoothed over shoulders and legs after a shower, or worked through the ends of the hair. One bottle, three jobs, all year round.

Novexpert is a French laboratory brand, founded in 2008, and its Magnesium Mist is a lesson in doing more with less. The ingredient list fits on three lines: water, sea salt and nitrogen. The active is magnesium, taken from Dead Sea salt, with Magnesium PCA derived from beetroot and magnesium gluconate highlighted by the brand, which states that 100% of its ingredients are of natural origin.

The brand calls it a 4-in-1: toner, hydration booster, anti-pollution shield and makeup setter. Hold it 30 cm from your face, eyes closed, two or three sprays, and leave it for 15 seconds. Use it after cleansing, before your serums, or over makeup in the afternoon. It suits all skin types, sensitive skin included, and the brand says it can be used during pregnancy and breastfeeding. In a brand-sponsored test with 35 volunteers, 96% found their skin more hydrated straight after applying it; those are self-reported results, so take them as such.