There are lots of things the French do well - wine, cheese and pharmacies are my favourites. Yes, pharmacies. French ones are so much better than ours. With their beautifully merchandised windows (the French can make even orthopaedic sandals and pile cream look chic) and ordered, tranquil interiors, a French pharmacy is, for me, a truly exciting proposition. Unlike my local branch of Boots - which is poorly stocked, dimly lit and generally a bit dull - French pharmacies ooze efficiency and efficacy, with shelves stocked with creams and potions for every skin need and every ailment. I could spend considerable amounts of time in a French pharmacy and while I've yet to find that magical product that will transform me into a gamine left-bank beauty, I do consider this time well spent as I've picked up some amazing products that have become stalwarts of my beauty cupboard over the years.
Basically, the French really know their toiletries. It's not for nothing that cult pharmacy brands such as Bioderma and Biafine are held in such high esteem by beauty insiders. They really do tend to do what they say on the tin (and I can vouch for this as a longtime user of products from ranges such as La Roche Posay, Vichy and Avene.) Furthermore, they're usually very reasonably priced and - thankfully - now widely available in the UK, via larger branches of Boots and online beauty retailers. So, when I was informed about a new name on the block - Mustela - I was naturally excited to hear more (and I'm delighted to be offering my first giveaway on the blog, offering a fantastic product from the range - read on for details!)
Mustela recently launched in the UK but has been a cult name across the channel since the 1950s. It's a range specifically for mothers to be, babies and young children, providing nurturing, safe products that are completely free of chemical nasties. Products contain 92% ingredients of natural origin on average, and they are completely free of parabens, phthalates and phenoxyethanol. Now, I have to admit at this stage that I'm not the company's target audience, being neither pregnant or in possession of a small baby. However, I did trial a couple of the products on myself and my kids as there's no reason why you shouldn't use this range if you're looking for effective, natural products that won't aggravate your skin - it's particularly worth checking out if you or your child suffer from excessively dry or eczema-prone skin.
Having spent much of the half term getting battered by cold northern winds on bracing walks up steep hills, my skin was feeling a bit drier and more aggravated than normal so I thought it would benefit from a touch of the 'Cold Cream nutri protective', a rich, soothing cream that really helped to soothe dry areas. I have to be careful what I put on my skin and wasn't sure if this would be too rich, but I used a thin layer for a couple of days as a night cream and found it restored my dry bits without bringing me out in spots. It's really designed for babies and is suitable for use right from birth. The formula is also available in a very handy stick which would be perfect for keeping in your changing bag and applying on the go if your baby's skin gets irritated by the wind or cold.
I hate overly-perfumed toiletries and tend to associate them with aggravating skin, so I was pleased to find that Mustela's products have a very subtle,'clean' smell. We also used the '2 in 1 Hair and Body Wash' which we particularly liked - it's got a lovely, fresh, light fragrance and silky consistency that doesn't dry out skin and is ideal for use at home by all the family, particularly if any adults or older children have reactive skin that doesn't respond well to fragranced, soap-based products. The wash is soap-free and contains Avocado Perseose®, a patented ingredient of natural origin. It would also be especially convenient when travelling, helping to save precious space in your beauty bag. In our case it was the perfect addition to my son's swimming bag, rather than carting our full size shampoo and shower gel with us for use after his weekly swimming lesson.
The range includes dedicated products for pregnancy, too, as well as effective balms and washes for common complaints such as atopic eczema, nappy rash and cradle cap. I'm particularly drawn to the sun creams which I'll definitely be trialling next time I'm off somewhere hot, as both my children can react to some sun creams. Mustela's creams and sprays promise extra high protection (50+ UVB) and tolerance by even the most sensitive of skins. They're also fragrance and alcohol free and suitable for use from birth.
Baby colognes are ubiquitous on the continent, hence the Mustela range includes an 'Eau de Soin' spray, contained in a quintessentially French bottle. While I'm not sure many mums in the UK would necessarily splash out on a cologne for their little ones, this would make a cute christening present, perhaps, and it can also be used as a room spray for your nursery. Interestingly, I stumbled upon a review of the product in the Daily Mail, which recommended the fragrance for grown-ups, saying it makes a much cheaper, natural alternative to Clarins' legendary 'Eau Dynamistante' - read more here.
The range is currently available in the UK through a number of online chemists and retailers, including Bliss life, Calder Pharmacy and Essentials. Prices range from around the £3.99 mark to £17.99 for the baby cologne.
Giveaway!
I have one 'Soothing Comfort Balm' to giveaway if you would like to try one of Mustela's products for yourself. This moisturising chest rub is perfect for treating your baby's cold and is free of chemical nasties. Its gentle purifying scent eases discomfort and helps to soothe your baby to sleep - a bathroom cabinet essential for this time of year!
You can read more about the Soothing Comfort Balm here. To take part in the giveaway, follow me on Twitter by clicking below, or email me at luisasanders@gmail.com
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All images courtesy and copyright Mustela.
With
the end of the year looming are you starting to think about planning
your next family holiday? Although it can seem a bit previous to
have things booked up months in advance family holidays and reckless spontaneity don't really mix. There are inconvenient things called
school terms that get in the way for one, and the likes of Ryanair et al
aren't really thinking 'family market' when they release
those cheap flights to 'Stockholm' (by which they mean a former military airport about 50
miles from Stockholm) that leave at four in the morning and return
sometime after midnight.
No, those days of reckless holiday abandon are gone and careful forward
planning is what's called
for when holidaying en famille. Planning early even makes it much more realistic to squeeze in a mid-year mini break, too, as we found last year when we enjoyed a fantastic, bargain-busting long
weekend in Paris. Here's how we did it...
You
probably know that you can get all kinds of things with your Clubcard
points, trips across the Channel being one of them. Tickets on the
Eurotunnel are pretty reasonable
at the best of times, but with a few Clubcard points in your back pocket you can cover your
crossing completely free of charge - a great way to claw back some
reward on all those miserable hours spent trawling the shelves of your
local supermarket.
So why the tunnel and not
the Eurostar? Firstly you can't use Clubcard points on the train,
though obviously it is much more convenient for reaching the centre of
Paris. We were doing Paris on the cheap, and by that I mean super, super
cheap! Factoring in Eurostar travel for 2 adults
and 2 kids, plus return train tickets from Bristol to London wouldn't have tallied with our minuscule budget. That said, getting to Folkstone is not in the least
convenient - in fact the journey there from Bristol was by far the most wearisome part of our journey. We ended up booking
a really early crossing (to squeeze the very most out of our sojourn)
and staying at the Premier Inn right by the tunnel the night before, which I'd really recommend if you don't want travel stresses boiling over before you've even left Britain.
Once
in Calais you’re looking at a three hour journey time to Paris. Part of
the reason for us driving to France was that we decided to try out a Eurocamp site that had been recommended to us and which was touted on the website as making a great option for families wanting to explore the capital or Euro Disney. The International is located in a pleasant suburb to the North West of Paris and is open between April and November. We visited in April and stayed in the basic mobile home which was perfectly ample for our needs over the 3 days we were there. We paid just £120 for two nights accommodation - yep, you read that right, £120 for all four of us for two nights and three almost full days in Paris. That's why we went for this option. You'd be hard pushed to find anything in central Paris that comes close to this budget price for a family of four.
My concern was that cheap might equal totally inconvenient, with Paris temptingly close yet annoyingly difficult to get to. But what they say on the Eurocamp website is true - you really can be in Paris in just over 20 minutes' journey time from the International. It's ten minutes to the local train station on foot and then a super-speedy train ride deposits you at the Champs-Elysee in around 20 minutes. Trains are frequent and run until late at night. It's important to work out how many trips into town you'll be making during your stay as it can work out cheaper to buy a 'carnet' of tickets instead of buying day returns for each trip.
In terms of the site itself and local surroundings I can't give you much of an in-depth review as we used the International very much as a base rather than exploiting any of the on-site facilities. Furthemore, we stayed out of season - it was the coldest April on record for some years and we spent all our time on site huddled in our mobile home rather than exploring the site and local environs. But from what we did see, it's a well-organised, clean site, with easy access to the supermarkets and restaurants of the local town. Maison Lafitte is a fairly quiet, affluent suburb which I'm guessing would offer cheaper options for eating out than central Paris. Again, we didn't hang about much here but I'd imagine it provides some welcome calm at the end of a busy day's sightseeing in the capital.
We had an amazing, surprisingly successful time in Paris and bolted on a few extra days in Picardy so we could make the drive to the continent a bit more worthwhile. I'm going to write a second installment about what we got up to in Paris and during rest of our trip in my next post, but in the meantime if you'd like to find out more about the Paris International site visit the Eurocamp website here.
You can find out more about using your Clubcard points on Eurotunnel crossings here, and check out prices on the Eurotunnel here.
Related post: Paris en Famille Part Deux
Related post: Eurocamp holiday to Spain
