Impulse buying in Paris and Le Mans!
I’ve just come back from an all too brief but absolutely brilliant stay in the country I long to live in, and below is a breakdown of my ‘couldn’t resist a little bit of shopping in France’ purchases.
I always make a beeline for Galeries Lafayette because it holds so many happy memories, and I love looking up at the dome. I used to like doing a tiny bit of browsing and shopping there, back in the early years of this millennium, but it’s so fancy now that I tend to save my shopping energy for the small stores in that neighbourhood.
The impulse purchases I couldn't resist
French Pharmacie Favourites (part 1)
I bought these four products at Pharmacie Opera Mogador
It was bloody freezing the day I arrived in Paris, and the only skincare I had with me was a Korean serum and moisturiser. Naturally, I’d intended to take a selection of samples from my stash that would have met all my skincare needs for the five days I was away from home, but alas, I left all my packing far too late to do anything so sensible.
Luckily for me Pharmacie Opera Mogador exists, and I always find bargains there – this is what the four products above cost:
Caudalïe Soleil des Vignes shower gel – 3,49
Caudalïe lip balm and handcream duo – 5,99
SVR Sensifine Cleanser – 7,99
FILORGA Meso-Mask – 9,99
Total: 27,46 euro
The Caudalïe lip balm and handcream were invaluable: the shower gel irresistible – particularly at that price!
I’ve never tried a FILORGA product that I didn’t like – but I don’t often try them, because they aren’t a petit-prix range – more of an investment. At twenty euro I would have sighed wistfully at this mask and put it back on the shelf: at ten, it’s mine!
Find the Pharmacie Opera Mogador website here and torture yourself looking at all their lovely bargains here
SAPO Créme Nutritive Pour Sellerie
A nutritious cream in fancy packaging, but it’s not for your face – it’s for your saddle. I don’t own a saddle myself: this is a gift for someone I love who has access to all kinds of interesting tack.
This is the only bit of shopping I did at Le Mans. I picked it up in one of the fascinating equestrian shops that lined the arena where CDI13* was going on.
For those (like me) that love the the glimpses they get into equestrian life but don’t understand it all, it is my understanding that CDI stands for Concours de Dressage International and the 13* part signifies the level of competition – whatever: dressage is good on the telly, and even better live, and I am greatly indebted to my lovely friend James who took me to see it.
My favourite competitor was called Guerlain and if you click here you can see Guerlain (with Hubert Jankowski on top) being amazing to a Lady Gaga medley.
Find SAPO Nourishing Cream for Leather here
French Pharmacie Favourites (part 2)
Back to Paris, and back once again like the renegade master to Pharmacie Opera Mogador, because I wanted to get two more of those bargain Caudalïe shower gels to give to other people.
Just before leaving for France I’d seen The French Pharmacy put up a video about A313 and it reminded me that when I first met founder Marine Vincent at a Gallinée event back in gods know when, she’d spoken about this and I’d intended to try it … but never did.
I’m very proud to say that I used my French words to ask the lovely pharmacist if he had ‘some of that thing that begins with an ‘A’ that is like a retinol but more gentle’ and he understood me and we had a nice little exchange in actual French! Quelle surprise, and how delightful pour moi.
It is the most lovely, affirming, joyous sensation, being able to make oneself understood in a tongue you’re struggling to master, and a beauty treatment of sorts, in that it instantly made me feel younger, cleverer and full of je ne sais quoi.
Oh, and the Advil is there because I haven’t seen it anywhere in London (not that I’ve looked). I took one on the day I arrived and was pain-free almost immediately and feeling slightly high hours later. So I stocked up 🙂
All of this lot together cost 21,96 euro and I think the A313 was about 9,99 euro
A313 Pommade is made by Pharma Développement and you can find their website here Their website is fascinatingly strict and medical and I love that the open tab in the browser just says ‘Drugs’: it makes me feel like Griselda.
Magazines
I bought four magazines on this trip: BIBA (3,30 with a free bracelet if bought at a kiosk), ELLE, (2,80 with a free nail varnish if bought at a kiosk), and the bundled pack of Marie-Claire and Marie-Claire Maison (6 euro)
If I’d had stronger arms and more room in my luggage and budget, I would have bought more. I should have remembered to take a photo of a news-stand: they always look dazzlingly well-stocked compared to ours.
When I complain (as I frequently do) about how the magazine market has shrunk in the UK, people almost always put it down to the internet, but I don’t think its the internet. I think it’s the deliberate manipulation of the economy by successive governments that has pushed rent, utilities and groceries up, up, up and disposable income down.
Hand in hand with that has been the rise in publishers expecting people to give them creative work for free.
If I ran a country I’d be ashamed if workers couldn’t afford to buy a newspaper every day and a magazine whenever they felt the need – but I guess that’s why I don’t run a country.
I could put links here to French magazine websites and we could all torture ourselves looking glumly at the reasonable cover prices and the very interesting free gifts and affordable beauty boxes that come as perks, but there is only so much tristesse I can take, so I won’t.
Couvrance Poudre Mosaïque Lumière by Avène
Final beauty purchase and it’s from Pharmacie Opera Mogador again. Many, many pharmacies were visited, but somehow, this is the one that got all my money.
I’ve been eyeing this up for some time now as I’m quite fascinated by mosaic powders, having never completely understood how they work.
The first mosiac powder I remember is Guerlain Météorites: balls of different colour powder contained in a swanky little pot. I admired it from a distance though, as I was deep in a Nina Ricci makeup collecting frenzy at the time, and had no money or passion to bestow elsewhere.
Recently, I picked up a GIvenchy Prism Libre 4-Colour Loose Powder at the Choose Love sample sale, but have yet to experiment with it. The Givenchy is a more cubist take on mosaic powder: it comes in a square pot with each quadrant filled with a different colour powder.
The Couvrance (as you can see in the photo above) is a pressed powder of seven different shades arranged in an interesting dartboard configuration.
I’m waiting for a day when the stars align and the light is good to try it out.
You can see the Avène Couvrance mosiac powder at the AMAZON AFFILIATE LINK here – and I’ll explain in the ethical box why I chose to use that link.
Snacks
A while ago, it was the done thing for privileged young men to do a Grand Tour. They would trot all over Europe to marvel at the statues and paintings, and if possible, loot them and smuggle them back to the bosom of whichever colonial power had nurtured them.
Sucks to be those privileged young men, because they never experienced the joy and wonder of standing in an absolutely basic French supermarket or corner shop, marvelling at the delicious and affordable food options that line the shelves and fill the fridges.
The food purchases above were to see me through One Night Only. If I’d been staying longer and had a fridge in my hotel room, I would have bought my own bodyweight in cheese and yoghurt.
But on this trip, it was more agony than ecstacy to visit the Belleville épicerie. Everything looked so tempting, and so cheap compared to London that I am now giving serious thought to investing in some of those insulated bags and travelling to Paris on the overnight Flix bus just to buy groceries and then come home again.
At least I can console myself with an occasional splurge at Europa Foods over in South Kensington – find their website here
Ethical Stuff
There is one affiliate link in this post. It’s to the Couvrance powder on Amazon. I would have preferred to link directly to Avéne, but couldn’t find it on their website. Whilst many online shopping links came up for it, none of them were places I’ve used myself so I went with Amazon.
This post is not sponsored or paid for. Neither was it expected nor the content directed by any of the brands mentioned.
4 responses
Loved reading about all your recent french purchases! Hope you had an amazing time.
Agree with you on how vibrant the newstands look in France and btw that shower gel looks divine! #BeMoreFrench
Thank you! It was fantastic – Paris never disappoints! That particular Caudalie shower gel is so energising (especially at this time of year when everything’s a bit grey and meh) I really can’t recommend it highly enough!
Hang on…Wut?
There’s a BUS? Squeeee!
That Avene palette looks like one T Le Clerc used to do. I loved it.
Loved this post, too. Filled me with the usual longing to return to LBF 🇫🇷
One day, mate. You and me; on That Bus. Ok?
So glad you liked it Nita! Writing this post filled ME with the usual longing to return, and I’ve only just got back, lol. I would love to take the FLIX bus with you, so yes, may that day soon come! xx ps T Le Clerc powders are so amazing on both content and packaging, now I’m wishing I’d searched one out when I was over there #neversatisfied