French Pharmacy Shopping: Your Secret to Affordable, High-Quality Skincare

What time is it in Paris? If you're a woman who regularly shops at Sephora and gets quality skincare, you can actually nearly pay for either your flight or your hotel with the money that you would save by stocking up at a French pharmacy next time you're in Paris. Actually, my last trip to Paris, I paid for using credit card rewards, so I only paid $6.50 there and $6.50 back. Even without credit card reward strategies, the French pharmacies are so good and you can get incredible quality skincare for a fraction of the price in the United States, so much so that you can put a huge dent in your vacation budget. 

The last time we went on a Paris vacation as a family, we went a little overboard. Here's my suitcase, and we got over a year supply of skincare and products for everybody. So everyone had the best top of the line products for an entire year, and we saved so much money. I figured we saved well over a thousand dollars doing it this way, and it was a really fun experience also.

Why French Pharmacies Are So Valuable

Before we really get into all this, I think it's really important to unpack why the French pharmacy is so valuable. In France, they've banned well over a thousand ingredients from their beauty products that cause harm to humans. These are ingredients that cause cancer, that cause hormone disruptions that can be really dangerous to your body that we find all the time in products in the United States and are completely eliminated by purchasing your products in France.

You can also get your products for so much less, meaning 30 to 50% off retail before VAT tax by traveling to France to get your skincare. You also have access to different niche brands that are phenomenal, that are just not accessible here. They're not for sale here.

My Favorite French Pharmacy Skincare Products

Sunscreen

First, let's talk skincare. These are some of my favorite products I really, really like. They go on really thin. They don't leave that crusty white residue. They're not as greasy and in France, I don't remember the exact term for it, but essentially what's happened is their government categorizes sunscreen in a different criteria and has funded more research. So the sunscreen actually works better for UVA and UVB protection and feels a lot better on your skin.

This is my absolute favorite sunscreen for your face. I use this every single day. It's my absolute favorite. And then these are my two favorite body ones. One is the Caudalie spray and the other is Avène. Both of these brands you can find at all the French pharmacies and are just wonderful.

Caudalie Products

My next favorite that me and my daughters really love is this Caudalie Vinoperfect. Now, this is wonderful for evening out dark spots and freckles, and it really makes it so that you just brighten up your face, love this stuff. And in the French pharmacy, it is half price before VAT tax, so it's really worth stocking up.

The other thing I always stock up on is the Caudalie Premier Cru eye cream. This I really, really love, and again, it's usually about half price of what you can get at Sephora if you buy it at the French pharmacy, but it's one of the few eye creams that I've ever used where I actually can see a difference after I use it for a little bit in the little lines around my eyes.

Vichy Mineral 89

One of my absolute favorite things is the Vichy Mineral 89. Now, this is a hyaluronic acid and a lot of people don't know this, but when you're using hyaluronic acid, you need to have some kind of moisture on your face for the hyaluronic acid to attach to and hydrate your skin. Otherwise, it's like a great serum, but it's going to work a lot better if you pair it with something like this rose water. So you're going to spray this on your face first and then the Vichy Mineral 89. But I seriously love this stuff. I bring it everywhere. I always use this. This is the best thing ever.

Elian BB Cream

My other absolute favorite purchase from the pharmacy is this Elian BB Cream. Now guys, this is really good. This is the best beauty cream or the best beauty balm that I've ever found anywhere. Now it's a Korean skincare company, but I've never found it in the United States, and it just goes on really smooth. It blends everything really well. The color is great, but it's like the perfect mix of not being a full coverage, and it's still looking like... I don't know what this is. It's full witchcraft and I'm here for it.

A313 Cream and Other Favorites

So yes, and this one is a cult classic for real, A313 cream, this you really need to stock up on. Now, how I use this is after I've gotten all of my other serums on and stuff like that, you put this on last, and this is also excellent for facial massage. Basically what it's going to do is it creates a really awesome barrier so that your skin can heal and just be deeply moisturized. It's wonderful for airplane travel. I love this stuff.

The other thing that I highly recommend stocking up on is the Caudalie Resveratrol Lift. I have no idea how to pronounce this, but I really, really, really love this stuff and again, compared to Sephora and United States prices, you're getting this for about half off. But I put this on last and I really, really love it. The other thing that I really enjoy is you can buy the full size one one time, and then at the French pharmacy you can get the little box of refills, and so you save even more there and it just makes it really nice and easy.

Body and Hair Products

One of my favorite body products is this Nuxe oil. It just leaves like a really nice little glimmer without it being too tacky shimmery because I mean, we're grownups, we're women. We don't want too much tacky, but it smells great. It goes on really, really smooth, and I just really like it.

The other thing that I think is a really slept on hidden gem is this Hérome nail hardener. This stuff you buy in a little box in the nail section, and it is so good for your nails and it just makes 'em a lot harder and a lot stronger, especially if you're someone who's gotten manicures. It helps to rebuild that strength in between manicures and stuff.

I would be doing you a huge disservice if I didn't show you guys this Klorane mango stuff. Basically anything mango by them. If you have long hair, if you have dry hair, I highly, highly, highly recommend it. One thing that I will say about French haircare is that it tends to not foam as much. So if you're getting a shampoo and a thick lather is really something that you really want, maybe the French shampoos are not for you. But I love the mango hair mask by Klorane, and I really love the mango conditioner. I also love their hair oil.

Cleansers

Last but not least in my French pharmacy beauty haul is the Caudalie Vinoperfect mousse micro-peeling. Now, the way that this works is you're going to rub it onto dry skin and let it set for 30 seconds. And when you rinse it off, I swear it doesn't irritate your skin, but it leaves a really nice, it's smoother and it's just exfoliated without being harsh. Lately, I've been using this in the morning and I really like it.

Important Considerations

Ingredient Differences

Something else that I think is important to note, a lot of French cosmetic companies will actually change their ingredients for the products that you buy in the United States. Now, the reason for this can be kind of complicated and really tricky. Often by the time a cosmetic leaves Europe and sits on a hot boat crossing the Atlantic to then get distributed in the United States, a lot of those ingredients can get damaged in that process. And when you combine that with the fact that the United States allows a lot of extra preservatives that are incredibly inexpensive and can make it so that that product lasts longer and survives that trip, it makes sense as to why the companies would change their formulas.

You can actually go to the company's website and instead of typing in .com, I want you to type in .fr and then pull up the ingredients, screenshot it, and compare them side by side. Some companies will change their stuff. Others I have found that they almost always do. And so for me, it's worthwhile to travel to France, and even if I'm getting the same product, it's different ingredients and higher quality ingredients if I get them from a French pharmacy, then if I get them in the States.

Paris Map: Where to Shop

When you're mapping out your itinerary, here are the two addresses of the largest pharmacies in Paris. The reason that these can be really helpful is first they're going to have a lot more inventory. So you're going to be able to make a big list beforehand, screenshot things, copy stuff in this video, whatever works best for you, but then you're able to walk into one stop and get everything you need in one go. Whereas there are just a ton of pharmacies all over Paris, it's worthwhile to not be running around to each one. And also, you might not qualify for VAT tax if you don't spend enough.

Expert Staff

Something else that I think is really important to note is the staff inside a pharmacy in Paris is highly trained and is going to give you actual good advice. Whereas if you were to walk into a CVS or a Sephora, some of the staff is going to be highly trained, but a lot of it isn't. Maybe they just like makeup or maybe they just needed the job, but regardless, they haven't been trained to the extent that the Paris Pharmacy staff has been trained. And so you can ask them questions and they will give you wonderful, real educated advice.

The Financial Breakdown

Let's do a little bit of quick math to figure out how much you actually need to be spending at a place like Sephora or even just online shopping to make a trip to a French pharmacy actually worth it financially. So if every time you walk into Sephora, you spend 200 bucks, which depending on the lines that you use, that's very easy to do. For example, the Caudalie Vinoperfect is $82 if you get it at Sephora. And the last time I was able to get this and my sunscreen for I believe like 38 Euros, and that was before VAT tax.

Let's say you spend $200 a month on skincare. That's going to be about $2,400 every year that you've spent on skincare or at Sephora. This is not counting Botox, this isn't counting your med spa. This is just Sephora skincare. Now, before VAT tax, in my experience, it's about half price for whatever you're going to get at a French pharmacy. So if we cut that number in half and take that down to $1,200, you have an extra $1,200 to spend for a flight. But if you follow my advice from my other videos, your flight is almost free. And so you can put that $1,200 towards a hotel. So now your flight and your hotel is essentially covered and you've saved a bunch.

Final Thoughts

Here's the thing, I do believe that incredible travel is so much more attainable when you tweak the way that you look at it just a little bit. And so if you're willing to do things like maybe don't get manicures anymore, and instead put that money towards a travel budget and don't go to Sephora and instead put that money towards your French pharmacy budget and things like that, you can really move things around and make this a lot easier with some tweaks.

To me, this is deeply important. It matters a lot that I have really good quality skincare and quality products that me and my whole family is using without all of the added crazy chemicals that have been known to cause really psycho side effects and hormone disruptions and cancers and things that should never be put on our skin, which is our body's largest organ. So yeah, for me, it's deeply important for me. It is absolutely worth the extra research. I make it into a super fun experience and get everything for less than I would've here.

Be sure you say Bonjour when you walk in, and if you have questions, ask for advice. They're there to help you out. They want to be helpful. I feel like I've gotten some of the best beauty advice in the whole wide world in the French pharmacies.