French Beauty Product Shopping

So in Paris I visited Mademoiselle Bio and the famous Pharmacie on Rue de Four, which was an absolute madhouse! So far I have only tested 4 products well enough to make reviews, so here we go:

1. Bioderma Photoderm Mineral SPF 50+ Fluid .  The news of the U.S. F.D.A.'s plans to update their sunscreen guidelines have hit the beauty blogs, but many have known for years how these guidelines do not refer to both UVA and UVB rays.  I have heard that international, in particular French, sunscreens are truly broad spectrum protection.  I chose this one for no particular reason, though I knew La Roche-Posay Anthelios Sunscreen was very popular.  I might have chose this one because of the price (my shopping basket was filling up!).  Overall, I thought it worked pretty well - on the day that I only applied it once, I got burnt on my nose:-( Goes to show - when you are on the beach, remember to reapply and still wear a hat! A fedora worn low seemed to be the hip thing to do. Another thing is that it is very WHITE.  I am black. It left a white cast on my face, which didn't exactly look great, but hey, neither does sunburn!

photo credit: amazon.com

2. Douce Nature Savon d'Alep Nature. I use a bar of Savon d'Alep in the shower, so I was hoping that this would be easier to use.  Ehhhh, not so! It doesn't really foam up that well, so I have had to use this on my shower puff with my regular soap.  I didn't see any benefit or adverse effects, so I can't say that I would buy this again.  It is made with olive oil and laurel oil, typical with the Aleppo soaps.

3. Galénic Gommage soyeux au savon noir.  I have been a long-time fan of black soap.  I am a repeat consumer of Tadé Turkish Black Soap, since my first purchase of it in France about 6 years ago. I was used to seeing more of a rough/solid texture, so  the gelatinousness and loose particles of this one by Galénic threw me, and I didn't expect much out of it.  Boy was I surprised when I used it! I foamed beautifully - I didn't need as much black soap as what I would normally use. The results were the same - super smooth skin.  There is no rhassoul clay or laurel oil in this black soap, the first few ingredients are: water, olive acid, olea europea fruit oil, argania spinosa shell powder, glycerin, fragrance, argania spinosa kernal oil, etc. The price and size is better for Tadé, so I will stick with that brand.

4. Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk. So.  A common product I saw on Into the Gloss between supermodels and fashion people and Julia Restoin Roitfeld and  beauty directors is this.  It has to be good, right? Well, it is. I have very dark hair, and there was no white powder or anything like that.  This was the first time I have even used a dry shampoo and it is love! Now that outside decided to get super hot, and I am on an exercise kick, I will probably use it more often in the fall when I straighten my hair more. I am also still curious about Oribe's Dry Texturizing Spray, so I might try that one of these days too.

I still need to conduct further tests on a peel for scars, a cream for acneic skin, and a bio micellar cleansing solution. Can you believe I didn't buy any nail polishes?