Tuesday 4 November 2008

Embryolisse, French cult-cream...

Sometimes the most unatainable items are the most tempting to have.

A real cult-product is supposed to be hard to obtain, should have an air of mystery, and should be used by models or other famous persons...which makes Embryolisse quite a niche brand: at least, when you do not live in France.

In American press they call it the “24 Hour Miracle Cream”, of course, for its wonderful moisturizing proprieties.



Embryolisse is a product that is sold in French Pharmacies. The cult product is the 'Lait Creme Concentré', which, according to the embryolisse website, "immediately provides skin with essential nourishing components to replenish its lipids and rapidly repair it. Its formula, which has been used for decades, remains extremely simple and effective: nourishing ingredients, which can be taken up by skin to restore its barrier function and smooth away imperfections caused by cutaneous dryness."

As I mentioned before, this product has a great press, both in magazines as on review sites such as Makeupalley. Americans always love products from France. I think it has something to do with the mystery of the 'old world' and the allure the French have on the Americans. I think that a lot of British people consider the French to be sophisticated as well.

Personally, as a cool and collected (ahum) girl from the Netherlands, I am not thát impressed by French allure. Ok, I love some designers and they have lovely cities, but I would not buy something because it is made in France.

However, they have some lovely pharmaceutical brands that are simple and effective, such as La Roche Posay, Roc, Avene and Vichy.

On a sensitive skin, such as mine, simplicity can sometimes be the best thing. I really like all the extras in facial products that claim to prevent wrinkling/erase sunspots/diminish scars, however, during the winter my skin can be too sensitive. The only thing that helps is plain moisture without much additives and scent.

Normally I would reach for my Atopalm . Ofcourse, my curious nature is always a bit experimental and looking for improvement...so I really wanted to try the highly-recommended Embryolisse line -->just to test if it is as good as they say it is...

So, I had to look on the net. First I found an article in the November (or October) issue of the British Glamour. Christina Aguillera is supposed to use this product.




Glamour tells me that it is available for 28 pounds (excluding shipping) on Screenface.com.






Ehm, not that cheap...38 euros for a moisturizer. So I checked out the web for some more info.
Hey, blogger Grayburn mentioned something about the product being sold for a mere 10 euros in the French pharmacies...mmmm.
So I went to google.fr (google France) and searched for embryolisse online. HURRAY, and so I found a French webshop that sells the product for 10 euros, AND ships to the Netherlands (plus the rest of Europe). Shipping is not so cheap, 12 euros, but it is still cheaper than the British site....and I can put as much stuff in the box for the same amount...
Ok the site....easyparapharmacie.com. It is written in French, so my highschool classes French were quite handy. Otherwise, there are translation sites in order to make sense of the ordering process. (or I could make a tutorial??)
I only ordered 2 products to test if they would really deliver...ha ha, I do not want to splash the first time I order at a new webstore. I alse ordered the Klorane Dry shampoo. I like dry shampoos for emergencies and for a bit of volumizing.
Yeehaa, they delivered the package within five days! The parcel is sturdy and the products inside were carefully wrapped in bubblewrap.



Here they are...my two new products: the cult-item Embryolisse Lait-creme concentré and a Klorane Dry shampoo with Oat Milk.

And I found out that Lou Douillon (previous article) borrows this product from her mother (Jane Birkin) as well (read over here in French)...Both ladies have wonderful skin, so it sounds like a good product.
Mmm, I will keep you updated.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I am a wee bit scared about the "embry" bit of the name but that doesn't stop me from being fascinated as you what you will report!

I can't wait!

birkinbagbeauty said...

Ha ha, yes...the word embryo was actually a bit of marketing from the company, because if people want to have a skin as smooth as a baby...they would certainly want a skin as smooth as an embryo (lisse is the French word for smooth).


There are no stemcells or such in the list of the ingredients, so far as I am concerned. However, there are still some parabens inside, which is a bit dissapointing to me. I am not really afraid of parabens, but they did get some negative publicity, so I am not really sure about that.

I will do a review soon, and will include the list of ingredients as well!!!

Engmin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
killingxspree said...

cant wait for a review =)!

Titityy said...

Thank you so much for posting this! I was trying to find Embryolisse through Google, and your site came up! Fantastic! I ordered it from easyparapharmacie.com, and also many more products. Now just waiting them to arrive.

Thanks again :)

- Marianna from Finland :)

Magpie said...

Yes, it really isn't fair, is it, how much cheaper things can be geographically?

I got hooked on Embryolisse from the summer I worked in Paris. GOOP had just done a story on Gwyneth's fav french drugstore items. In I walked, forked over just eight euros, and have never been able to live without it since! Except now I have to buy it for USD 25-30 on amazon, alas.