La Roche Posay Archives - My Women Stuff

French Pharmacy Skincare Finds at the famed Pharmacie City Pharma in Paris

July 15, 2016 Paris B 44 Comments

Bonjour mes amis!

I’m back from Paris, and if you had joined me on my trip on Instagram and Snapchat, I hope you enjoyed it! I was on my own a lot of the time so it was nice having you along! Now, I was in Paris for a beauty related event, but it didn’t stop this beauty buff from keeping her eyes peeled for OTHER beauty brands and products. Oh yes, I have to admit to a roving eye when it comes to beauty!

And we all know that French pharmacy stocks some of the better, affordable beauty products out there don’t we? You don’t? Ah, now you do! My skin takes incredibly well to many French pharmacy brands and formulations of skincare, which is why over the years, I eventually moved away from Asian skincare and American brands. It’s a personal preference and it’s not a recent thing, but been going on a while. I mix it up a little more now, but if I’m trying something new, I usually know that a European or French brand would likely work better for me.

City Pharmacie aka City Pharma at 26 Rue Four, 75006 Paris (Corner of Rue Four and Rue Bonaparte Metro: Saint Germain des Près (Line 4) or Mabillon (Line 10))

There are pharmacies on almost every corner in Paris. Some are larger and better stocked than others. But almost all carry the major French brands – Vichy, La Roche Posay, Avene, Nuxe, Bioderma, Caudalie etc. Before I went, I did my research and while it was easy to find most of the products and brands I was interested in most pharmacies, the one I kept coming across as a must-visit was City Pharma at Rue Four.

I’m not quite sure if City Pharma (or Citypharma) is a chain, but I came across another in the Tolbiac area (Metro: Tolbiac), when I was there for Vietnamese Pho (oh yes, I ate pho in Paris and it was among the best I’ve ever had! 😀 ) But the one you want to visit is the City Pharma at Rue Four because in this store, the prices can be significantly cheaper than in others! It’s even a bit cheaper than the one in Tolbiac which shares the same name. I’m not sure why this is so, but it’s an open secret because the store was HEAVING with people when I arrived at about 3.30pm. Oh dear!

Picking out A Baker’s Dozen of the Best Things of 2013 (and share yours too!)

December 27, 2013 Paris B 36 Comments

best of 2013

If you didn’t realise, the brand new year is exactly 7 days after Christmas Day and the anticipation and momentum of the festive period just keeps rolling on to that last stretch to the year. With many people usually taking time off work and just slowing down in general, it is a good time to reflect on the past year and pick out the highlights.

I don’t like doing “Best of (products)” generally. I prefer taking a more macro outlook at the year that’s past so here are my slightly different “Best of” categories, some of which of course, include beauty picks 🙂 You are most welcome to share yours too because it’s always nice to share in and take part in others’ highlights of the year.

Here we go! My Baker’s Dozen 🙂

No qualms about zapping zits with my prized La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo

September 19, 2013 Paris B 55 Comments

I have many people to thank for recommending me the La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo for combating spots, zits and breakouts but for the life of me, I can’t name all of you because I’m deathly afraid of forgetting to mention someone and then I’d get flack for that! So, if you have at some point mentioned the LRP Effaclar Duo to me on Twitter, Facebook or here in the comments, THANK YOU!

For everyone living in Malaysia, no, don’t get your hopes up. La Roche-Posay STILL isn’t available here at time of writing (Sept 2013) which is a pity. There are so many other items I’d love to try from the brand because I’ve only been impressed so far. But I picked this up online and you can too.

I picked up the Effaclar Duo at a time when I was feeling low about the condition of my skin. It had all these bumps and spots (later traced to a reaction from food – who’d have guessed!) and I just didn’t know what to use because what I’d previously used was the Vichy Normaderm cream and since they pulled out, I’d run out.

I was then recommended Effaclar Duo and then, I saw that Escentual.com was doing a sale so I picked it up, and I have never looked back since. This is now my go-to cream for when I get the occasional spot!

Ask & Answer : What is your favourite sunscreen or sunblock?

September 18, 2009 Paris B 25 Comments

ask us!

I blather on about sunscreens so much that reader Jessica thought it might be a good time to pick my brains on what is THE sunscreen for her 😀 Here’s her request:-

Hi PB!! I know what a big fan you are of sunscreen so hope this question’s easy to solve 😉
I am currently in search for THE sunscreen as I am getting more and more aware of how bad UV can be for the skin. Problem is, most sunscreen (be it for the face or body) can be a litle too sticky and some of them have scents which are overwhelming!
So, PB (and fellow readers), can you please recommend some of the possible sunscreen products which are of good quality, not sticky (mattifying effect is the key word!), easily absorbed and without any of those plasticky scent??
Thanks much!!

Well Jessica, I detest sunscreens that have strong plasticky scents too. I grew up with the smell of Coppertone sunscreen invading my nostrils almost everyday while my mom slapped it on me. This was in the days before we had more choices available in the market. Then it was Banana Boat sunscreens, both of which I now detest with a passion. Its a personal thing – brings back memories of swimming lessons 🙂 I do however thank her for her foresight in protecting my skin from those harmful UV rays when it was not in vogue to!

However, because we are all different and our skins can tolerate different levels of chemicals or products and we all have different requirements and preferences, I’m afraid there is no THE sunscreen I can recommend. I can however tell you which are the ones I have tried and which I like to use.
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