French pharmacy vibes are 2023’s latest skin-care trend

When she decided to dive into the staggeringly competitive world of skin care, Garance Doré knew exactly what she wanted: products that drew on the Old World pharmacy heritage of her native France but were thoroughly modernized, incorporating 21st-century ingredients and technologies alongside sustainability.

“We wanted efficacy, excellence and to be beyond trends,” says Doré, who recently added La Micellaire Botanical Cleansing Water to her eponymous brand’s sharply edited lineup that includes La Crème All-in-One Moisturizer, Le Baume All-in-One Balm and Le Cleanser Gel to Milk Cleanser. “As much as I enjoy beauty trends for entertainment, at the end of the day, what I want is great skin through the ages. I want products that people around me recommend because they’ve used them for years.”

What Doré didn’t lean into, however, was excessive branding.

“We were really more focused on creating great products for a fantastic price than we were about building the storytelling, as much as we’re storytellers,” she says. “We knew that the best products build their own stories with consistency and quality. In that, we really took a lesson from all these fantastic French pharmacy brands.”

The multitasker

The clean sweep

The après-sun soother

The gold standard

While she took a more literal approach, French Farmacie founder Tricia Marlowe is every bit as committed to a streamlined offering. To date, her entire range consists of precisely two products: Élixir Exfoliant and Sérum Radiant.

“I’m not French, but the allure of French beauty has sparked an interest in me,” says Marlowe, whose previous career was in cancer diagnostics and biotech. “French Farmacie pays homage to the French and their pared-down routines. Our name is a nod to France’s highly curated pharmacies and their commitment to high-quality products and a community-driven approach. I loved perusing French pharmacies and discovering cult favorites when I visited France.”

Other new brands, including Provence Beauty and Violette_Fr, are also bringing fresh energy to classic Gallic allure. While the former bills itself as “French skincare for the next generation,” the latter, named for makeup artist founder Violette Serrat, “was developed to remind you that you were born perfect.”

The bright stuff

The pink powerhouse

The balm

The super serum

While it was founded in 1978, French anti-aging powerhouse Filorga has just arrived Stateside with a new jumbo size of Its hero product, NCEF-Shot, in tow. Crafted to mimic France’s famous meso-injections, the super-charged serum is based on biotechnology said to activate new skin cells. 

Despite the buzzy new interlopers, legacy French pharmacy brands like Darphin and Avène have hardly been asleep at the wheel. Darphin’s gorgeous new Éclat Sublime Dual Rejuvenating Micro-Serum was crafted to strengthen the skin’s barrier and promises 95% natural ingredients.

As for Avène, its new Retrinal Ceramide Lipid-Replenishing Balm boasts bakuchiol, the trendy plant-based alternative to retinol, along with a copious amount of its signature thermal-spring water.

For Doré, it was all about raising the bar on French pharmacy skin care in terms of clean, planet-friendly ingredients and packaging. “We thought it was time to modernize the concept to today’s standards,” she says. “We wanted to bring back the idea of excellent simplicity.”