The French have a decidedly studied approach to skincare and beauty, and a trip to the Paris pharmacy offers a wealth of affordable, good value, time-tested lotions and potions like multi-purpose Homeoplasmine ointment, non-irritating make-up remover Bioderma Sensibio H2O, moisturizing Embryolisse face cream, life-changing Khlorane dry shampoo and other celebrated French beauty and skincare products.

Many cult French pharmacy brands are now available online in the U.S., usually at a considerable mark-up (a tube of Homeoplasmine, for example, will run you a couple of euros at the Paris pharmacy; buying it on Amazon can cost upwards of $30).

Stocking up while on French soil is a great way to save, but keep in mind that just because there is a green pharmacie light beckoning you on every Paris street corner, not all French pharmacies are created equal. Head to these top three Paris pharmacy hotspots for the city’s best selection and prices.

City Pharma
26 Rue du Four, 75006

Largely considered the cheapest source for French beauty products in Paris, City Pharma is located on the corner of rue Bonaparte and rue du Four in the 6th arrondissement. Expect it to be packed with locals and beauty pilgrims browsing the aisles full of leading French brands like La Roche-Posay, Vichy, Avène, Bioderma, Caudalie, Nuxe and more. This spot is an especially good bet if you are looking to buy favorite products in bulk.

Pharmacie des Archives
2 Rue des Archives, 75004

The slightly more under the radar Pharmacie des Archives, located across from the BHV department store near Hotel de Ville in the Marais, is smaller and often less crowded. They have a generally friendly, helpful staff, are happy to give out samples with your purchase (not always a given in Paris) and offer competitive prices on all the star products and more. And the Pharmacie des Archives is conveniently open Sundays (an a.m. visit before the rest of the neighborhood wakes up is a good bet).

Pharmacie Monge
74 Rue Monge, 75005

Located on rue Monge in the 5th arrondissement, Pharmacie Monge is another popular destination for French beauty bargains. Brace yourself for crowds. And if you don’t see something that you are looking for on the shelves, be sure to ask. Many products are stored behind the counter with the medicine.

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Waiting in line at the Pharmacie Place d’Italie

Shine on, Cheapos!

Is there a beauty glitch or hiccup that can’t be fixed at the French pharmacy? I don’t think so! Left with chapped hands from the cold handrail while scaling the steps in the Catacombs? Frightened by your own wild, mile-high hair after riding the lift to the top of the Eiffel Tower? Scratching your lizard-like skin following a bateaux-mouche excursion on the Seine? Are your lips chapped from kissing Oscar Wilde’s grave at Père-Lachaise while no one was looking?

Well then, don’t just grin and bear it! Get thee to a pharmacy, where they’ll not only take the time to listen, but they’ll also recommend a product just for your malady, whatever it may be. So for the love of smooth healthy skin with an impeccable glow, don’t let this opportunity slip through your fingers. Trust me, you won’t get “lost in translation,” as most pharmacists speak English.

Dial back the clock

Each time I enter a French pharmacy, the squeaky clean, powdered scent of the savon (soap) transports me back to my two grandmothers’ row houses in Baltimore, giving me a strong Proustian dose of solidarity with both past and present. The pharmacy shelves are typically stocked with a wide array of exquisitely packaged, plant-based soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, crèmes, and cosmetics.

Roger & Gallet in the rond

Your lèvres (lips), yeux (eyes), corps (body), cheveux (hair), and pieds (feet) will thank you. Take your coat off and stay awhile, because the browsing is addicting, expected and free.

Secrets of the Inner Sanctum

After years of snooping in my pals’ salles de bains, I can honestly report that a healthy number of classic French produits de beauté are represented at the pharmacies.

Keep your eyes curled for family favorites like the blemish-fighting Payot Pâte Grise (1947), the soothing Embryolisse Lait Crème Concentrée (1950), and bars of Rogé Cavaillès Surgras Savon (1924), along with the ahead-of-the-curve Ella Baché Crème Tomate (1936), boxes of Roger & Gallet Savon Rond (1879), and the golden beauty Carita Fluide de Beauté N° 14 (1956)—just to name a few!

Cents and Sensibility

Here you’ll also find my beloved Laboratoires Klorane Shampooing Volumateur au Lait d’Amande (almond milk shampoo). Recommended by my friend Véronique’s pharmacist, I’ve been using it on my difficult-to-manage red locks for about five years.

So many choices in the Klorane shampoo corner

Tip: The Pharmacie-Bader on 12 Boulevard Saint Michel in the 6th arrondissement sells Klorane for about a euro less than the other pharmacies. It all adds up, Cheapos!

Practical tips

Pharmacies are easily recognizable by their flashing green cross signs, dressed in neon and super cool LED.

In each neighborhood at least one remains open through the night (and any closed pharmacy will post a sign directing you to the nearest one that’s open).

French pharmacists are licensed to diagnose and treat minor illnesses without doctors’ prescriptions. Look for the conseils pharmaciens sign outside on the shop’s window.

When buying aspirine (aspirin) or Ibuprofène (Ibuprofen), ask for the “marque générique,” because it’s usually half the cost of the name brands.

The pharmacy is also where you’ll pick up contact solution, eye-drops, and contact lens cases. Grocery stores usually don’t carry them. (Monoprix and its sparky “Beauty Monop” satellite shops are the exceptions.)

Prescription for some pampering

Go on and pamper yourself, Cheapos, because in the words of Oscar Wilde, “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”

Do you have a special love for French pharmacies? Are there beauty products you can’t wait to pick up when you get to France? Tell us about it in the comments section.

The post Paris: Take care of yourself at the neighborhood pharmacy appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

But first, don’t leave Paris without checking out the Tour Eiffel’s special 120th birthday exposition, “L’Épopée Tour Eiffel” (“Epic of the Eiffel Tower”).  The exhibit features pictures and a history of the famous structure, along with a gallery of 300 reproductions of the Tower and a collection of artwork inspired by the “Lady of Iron.”

The festivities will run through December 31, 2009. Elevator access to the tower is open from 9:30 AM to 11:45 PM.

Photos by Theadora Brack.

Some riveting facts

The Eiffel Tower is made with 2.5 million rivets holding together 20,000 square meters of intricate iron latticework projecting 1,046 feet high. She was the tallest structure on earth from 1889 until 1930. Wind, the dominant natural force affecting her, is strongest at the top, but most of it blows through her and not against her because of her airy wrought iron. (Well, almost. She has been known to jiggle on a gusty day–but only a few inches.)

The Tower’s beauty regimen involves 60 tons of paint, which must be applied at least every seven years to protect her from rust. Each paint job takes 15 to 18 months. Thinking ahead, Gustave Eiffel nailed it when he said, “The more meticulous the paint job, the longer the Tower shall endure.” The most recent paint job started in March 2009, just in time for her 120th birthday celebration.

Down through the years the colors have varied from dark red to a rather bright yellow, and from dark chocolate brown to her current “Brun Tour Eiffel”—a special grayish-brown hue. To emphasize her fabulous silhouette as seen from the ground, there are actually three different shades of the hue that change from dark to light, the higher up you go.

Beauté tips from the Eiffel Tower employees

Like the great iron spire jutting directly above them, the employees who run the Tour Eiffel’s lifts have to protect themselves against the elements. “It’s windy up there!” one lift-operator told me. Daily she makes some fifty round trips to the first and second levels, and at least twenty more to the third level. “So moisturizing is key. Neutrogena is the most famous around here. We also wear hooded parkas!”

The Tour Eiffel uniform, strikingly stylish in olive green with bright orange piping, was created by couturier Jean Charles de Castelbajac. The coordinated ensemble includes a tight-fitted pantsuit, scarf, and a matching purse on a string.

The lift operator grinned. “I especially like the sacs. We all carry our beauty products in them and talk about them often. We also share.” she said. “The favorite lip-moisturizer here is LaBello, strawberry flavored. All my colleagues use it. I suppose that’s because of the color and shape.” She winked. “We all wish to look pretty, but not too sexy. After all, la Tour is a family place.”

Her co-workers also pack Nivéa Crème. (Tip: Cheapos, all products mentioned can be purchased for just a few euros at grocery stores or pharmacies in Paris.)

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