Are you looking for the best French skincare brands?
Non-French women envy the French counterpart’s youthful skin. It’s the very thing every woman wishes to have and which French women can achieve quite easily. Their secret? Lifestyle and skin products that they use – and perhaps genes as well.
While we can’t do anything about the genes part, lifestyle can help us have the same youthful glow – and of course, the skincare products we can use to fight the signs of aging.
France values quality in every product they produce, using scientific research and keen understanding of what is essential in every item they manufacture.
Skincare brands, in particular, are given extra-special care before, during, and after production – which makes it easy to see why French skincare products are very effective, hence popular all over the world.
Things you'll find in this article
12 Best French Skincare Brands
If you’re searching for French skincare products to help you achieve the flawless skin we all dream of, we have created a list for you to choose from.
Here are the best skincare brands in France that French women love – and so will you.
Best Luxury French Skincare Brands
1. Lancôme
Launched in 1935 as a perfumery, Lancôme has branched out into skincare and cosmetics. Today it is a famous skincare brand with products that are easily available anywhere in the world.
Lancôme makes some of the most popular anti-aging serums you can buy in the market. Their top-selling products include the Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate, which is powered by hyaluronic acid and probiotic fragments – both of which act as youth enhancers.
If you need to improve your skin’s texture, boost its radiance, and reduce your fine lines and wrinkles, Lancôme has products to answer to this need and more. They have something for everyone, no matter the age or skin type.
2. Buly 1803
Founded in Paris by Jean-Vincent Bully in 1803, Officine Universelle Buly 1803 is a luxurious French brand specializing in beauty oils, scented soaps, and aromatic body lotions.
Buly 1803 was among the earliest cult brands of the 1800s, boasting its patented scented lotions. From skincare to beauty soaps, this French apothecary brand also creates some of the best perfumes in the world.
If you want a brand that delights your senses in many ways, you can trust Buly 1803 to deliver.
3. Guerlain
Guerlain has been making some of the world’s best skincare products as well as cosmetics and perfumes since 1828, making it one of the oldest beauty brands in the world.
The House of Guerlain was founded in Paris by perfumer Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain. It was run by the Guerlain family until 1994, when the French multinational company LVMH purchased it.
For nearly 200 years, Guerlain has explored, innovated, and perfected its skincare and other lines, with the culture of beauty as a trademark and art and nature as inspiration.
While Guerlain is a luxury brand, it’s safe to say it is one of the more affordable luxury brands because the overflowing benefits you get from the products are way more than what you pay for. No wonder it has stayed on top of the most popular French skincare brands for almost two centuries.
4. Clarins
Launched in 1954, the French luxury brand Clarins succeeded in its desire to advance beauty by making it more real and natural.
The company was founded by medical student and masseur Jacques Courtin-Clarins to specialize in luxurious face and body oils. It quickly became famous for its expertise in skincare and makeup around the world.
Clarins produces a wide array of skincare products ranging from plant-based toning lotions to anti-aging creams and smoothing body scrubs, as well as easy-to-apply lip products and “treatment fragrances” which are loved for their aromatic and phytotherapeutic powers.
5. Sisley
Since starting in 1976, this family-owned brand has become one of the most popular French skincare brands in the market.
Founded in 1976 by husband and wife team Hubert and Isabelle d’Ornano, Sisley’s skincare line is 100% made in France – from designing to developing and manufacturing.
Sisley products are highly-rated and favored not only by women in France but all over the world as well.
6. Anne Sémonin
Renowned Parisian facialist Anne Sémonin founded her eponymous skincare brand in the 1980s, specializing in bespoke spa products and unique spa treatments she herself invented. Her famous clientele included Grace Kelly and Catherine Deneuve.
Today Anne Sémonin is a premium international skincare brand that represents beauty, luxury, and well-being. Its products are best-noted for the essential oils and minerals in their ingredients. The company also manufactures vegan beauty products which are among their top-sellers.
Affordable Skincare Brands from France
7. Embryolisse
Karlie Kloss, Scarlett Johansson, and Kim Kardashian swear by the goodness you can find in each Embryolisse package. Embryolisse is also a favorite brand among make-up professionals.
Embryolisse was established in 1950, when a dermatologist created the formula of Lait-Crème Concentré, a formula to keep the skin hydrated. It was only the start of a whole range of skincare products. Embryolisse became a cult brand and has since been passed on from generation to generation, from mothers to daughters.
Embryolisse is best-known for being approved not only by professional makeup artists and dermatologists but also chemists as well.
8. Bioderma
Bioderma is one of the most popular and affordable skincare brands from France. Bioderma Laboratories produces some of the best micellar water collections and other skincare formulas as well as haircare and suncare products.
Bioderma’s journey started in 1977 in Aix en Provence in Southern France. In 2001, their first specialized biometrology laboratory for skincare research and development was opened in Lyon.
Bioderma skincare products should be a part of your everyday routine if you want to achieve what French women have for generations – keeping their skin young.
9. Avène
Founded in 1763 in the southern French rural town of the same name, Avène creates some of the best-selling skincare products around the world. They are very affordable, too, so you can get high-quality products without putting a hole in your pocket.
Each Avène product is carefully made to comfort, soothe, and protect sensitive skin, so it’s good for everyone.
10. Vichy
Vichy Laboratoires, or simply Vichy, is a French dermatological brand founded by a doctor in 1931. It takes pride in being a dermocosmetics pioneer in France.
Vichy’s skincare products are dedicated to skin health science and cater to the most sensitive skin types with their mineral-rich formulas that aid in clarifying, calming, and soothing the skin. They are made to boost every woman’s skin no matter what the age.
Vichy formulates the best performing solutions that are recommended by over 50,000 dermatologists worldwide.
11. Filorga
If you’re looking for a brand that specializes best in anti-aging products, Filorga is the one for you.
Founded by a French laboratory of aesthetic medicine in 1978, Filorga distributes around 50 different products from skincare to sunscreen, makeup, and others. Their products are sold in 60 countries.
The company claims to be the “secret behind French women’s youthful looks.” It is one of the best French skincare lines when it comes to combating signs of premature aging.
Filorga is noted for the hyaluronic acid in their formulas, which makes this brand a one-stop shop to keeping your skin’s youtful glow.
12. Payot
If you’ve heard about treatments that work to cure blemishes overnight, then you’ve already heard the power of Payot’s Pâte Grise spot treatment. And that is just one of the brand’s truly effective products when it comes to skincare.
Nadia Payot, one of the first certified women doctors, founded her eponymous company in 1920. It is one of the first skincare brands to open a spa in France.
Over a hundred years later, Payot still remains one of the best affordable French skincare brands.
Hi, I’m Christine – a full-time traveler and career woman. Although I’m from the Philippines, my location independent career took me to over 40 countries and lived in 4 continents in the last 10 years, including France. A self-proclaimed Francophile, I love everything France.