I recently went on a two week long holiday to Europe and I hit up Iceland, Paris, and London. While in Iceland I didn't do any beauty buys, it was my favorite destination of the three. I'll be blogging more about my trip later on.

Surprisingly in Paris I ended up doing most of my beauty haul. I had expected to grab most items in the UK, but as you can see it didn't turn out that way :P In this post, I'll be doing mini reviews on the items I've hauled as I've already started using them. Other items I will follow up with reviews eventually.

Paris Haul:

In Paris, I stayed in Avenue Victor Hugo. I arrived on a Friday morning and after settling down in my airbnb, I decided to going shopping in the Passy Plaza nearby. As I was walking to my destination, I saw my first French Pharmacy... and I pretty much have to say that it was love at first sight. So many French drugstore brands and for much less than the prices I was used to seeing.

A major tip I have for first time buyers is to please not be overly eager to buy things right away! Because I went to several other pharmacies in the area, AND some items are most often cheaper in some locations than others. If I had the chance to redo my shopping, I would have done all my beauty hauling at Parashop in Passy Plaza. They had the cheapest pricing I've seen, and they have pretty much all the brands I was looking for - from Bioderma to Caudalie to La Roche Posay. I'm positive there are pharmacies with better deals, but this was just my favorite spot when I was there.

Now onto the items...



From Left to Right

 Bioderma Hydrating Toner: I actually had a bit of a hard time finding a toner at the French Pharmacies. Micellar Water is really popular there but it didn't meet my toner needs. As a long time fan of Bioderma, I was please to find their hydrating range (normally in a blue packaging). I've been using this to tone my face after cleansing morning & evenings. It hasn't broken me out and it gives my skin a bit of hydrating before moving onto the next steps of my skincare routine.

La Roche Posay SeroZinc Spray: I ran out of toner during my trip and this caught my eye in Parashop as well. I've heard good things about Zinc for acne skin. I've been using this in conjunction with the Bioderma Hydrating Toner. While I haven't seen much difference in using this, I do like the texture. It feels like a thermal spray and I think this has been helping with the oil production on my skin - to regulate it a bit more.

Bioderma Hydrabio Serum: This was on top of my to-buy list. Besides the Micellar Water, Bioderma stuff is pretty hard to find in the States. I have been using the Kiehl's hydro-plumping serum concentrate to give my dehydrated skin much needed moisture, and I'm hoping this will be a good dupe when I try it.

Nuxe Cleansing Milk with Rose Petals (not pictured): My current new cleansing philosophy is to avoid using cleansing products that dry out my face, and that's exactly what cleansing foam after using cleansing oil has been doing to my skin. I've been using this for about 2 weeks or so after using Clinique's Take a Day off Cleansing Oil. It's extremely gentle, but to ensure I'm getting everything off my new facial towel is the Liz Earle Muslin Cloth. With this new routine, my face feels clean but not parched.

Nuxe Reve de miel lip balm: Okay, so this was a total spur of the moment buy. Plus it was only 8 bucks in Paris. This lip balm is consistently given good reviews so we'll see if it lives up it's claims.

Phyto Paris Jojoba Hydrating Shampoo: My jaw dropped when I found out Phyto Paris was everywhere in French Pharmacies. Not only that, but it was amazingly cheap. I have been a long time fan of Phyto, particularly with their glossing serum, but everything is $25+ at Sephora. Plus I've never been introduced to their shampoo & conditioning lines. These two 100ml bottle set retailed for around $15. I've been using this for about 3 weeks or so, and I would say this is pretty hydrating. Also take note that it doesn't foam much. I'm not 100% in love but pretty satisfied.

Phyto Paris Express Conditioners (for Color & For Hydration): I could only find their express conditioners when it came to this line. I've only used the color conditioner so far. Although not initially impressed (it didn't really get out the kinks in my hair), I've been seeing a change with using this at the 3.5 week mark. My tangles has been easier to come through with more use of this conditioner.

Chanel Translucent Powder & YSL Baby Doll Mascara: These luxury cosmetic buys were done at the ORLY airport when I departed. I've been loving the Chanel translucent powder so far! It isn't cakey and keep my makeup in place. It's also not drying compared to some other translucent powers I've used. As for the YSL Baby Doll Mascara, this was a random buy because it was so cheap ($20). I'm honestly not impressed with it at all though - it's your average mascara - and will not rebuy once I finish my tube.

UK Haul:

London was my last stop on my trip, and after being so impressed with French Pharmacies, I was pretty disappointed with Boots when I arrived. Maybe because I already got items I wanted? But there weren't many things that caught my eye there.



At Boots. I hauled...

Hydraluron Serum: I was able to snag this serum, because my skin could always use a hydrating boost. I've heard about this through british beauty bloggers and I would say the general consensus is favorable, while some reviews says it doesn't do much.

Liz Earle Muslin Cloths (not pictured): Is it weird the one thing that has intrigued me about the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish is the Muslin Cloths used to clean your face afterwards? I snagged a set of two for around $9, and as mentioned above, this cloth has been part of my nightly cleansing routine. I like it alot, as it get rid of the remaining residue from any cleansers I've used.

The star of my UK haul are items from the Organic Pharmacy. I had been lusting over the Carrot Butter Cleanser, but the $70 price tag meant I could never hit the purchase button over here in the States. I stopped by the location in Oxford Street on my last day, and I was absolutely floored by how much cheaper the items were in the UK. This led me to snatch up the following items from the Organic Pharmacy:

The Organic Pharmacy Blemish Gel: I'm almost out of my beloved Acne B5 cream from Pure & Natural, so I snagged this baby. It contains several natural ingredients including Grapefruit, Lemon, Aloe and Tea Tree. I'm not quite sure how effective it'll be, but the concept behind the Organic Pharmacy leads me to believe maybe High Quality natural ingredients will be better for my congested skin.

The Organic Pharmacy Peppermint Face Wash: Following the concept of believing natural ingredients will help my skin, this face wash claims to have antiseptic qualities to you. At the moment I believe my persistent CCs are a result of bacteria that lives on my face. I'm new to products with Antiseptic qualities, so I'm curious to see how it'll go.

The Organic Pharmacy Manuka Honey Face Cream: Furthering my current interest in antiseptic skincare, the manuka honey face cream to minimize oil production while keeping skin moisturized. Manuka Honey also has antiseptic qualities to it. I'm hoping this will be a good replacement for my current moisturizer: Dr Weill's for Origins Mushroom Face Cream.


That's it for my Europe Beauty Haul! I hope you enjoyed reading this. I'll definitely make more posts in the future incorporating all the products I've bought.