Should you’ve been on #BeautyTok at any level up to now 12 months, you’re in all probability acquainted with slugging—the Okay-Magnificence methodology of ending off your skin-care routine with a layer of petroleum jelly to seal in moisture. However until you’ve discovered your self as deep into the depths of French BeautyTok as I’ve, you probably haven’t heard of the French woman model of the follow, which swaps a pharmacie-favourite balm in for Vaseline to provide your visage a simple, je ne sais quoi glow.
The product in query, La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 ($16), is mainly the Parisian drugstore equal of, say, America’s Dove Cleaning soap (in that just about everybody makes use of it and loves it). To be completely sincere, once I picked up the thick balm on a visit to Paris, I believed it was a hand cream. Then, whereas scrolling via TikTok late one evening (customary), I got here throughout a younger French lady lamenting about how her favourite ‘slugging’ evening cream has been offered out at her native pharmacy as a consequence of its reputation on TikTok. Wait—I believed—you utilize this in your face??
Apparently, sure, and I’m undecided how I didn’t put it collectively sooner. This wealthy cream is chock-full of emollients, humectants, and occlusives (aka the hydration trifecta), and as somebody who’s already a fan of slugging and ultra-thick moisturizers, it’s proper up my alley.
The hero elements within the ultra-hydrating balm are shea butter (an emollient that softens, smooths, and repairs pores and skin), glycerin (a humectant that attracts in water), and panthenol (an occlusive that seals in moisture). It pairs these “Huge 3” hydrators with La Roche Posay’s signature French thermal water, which is wealthy in minerals that assist the pores and skin microbiome, and the result’s a hydrating, non-greasy, non-sticky components that soothes irritation and redness.
So in concept, this must be a cream made completely for very dry pores and skin—but in some way (miraculously) persons are therapeutic extreme zits with it. Followers of the components have taken to TikTok to sing its praises and exhibit its versatility (it may be used as a 15-minute masks, a spot remedy, a full-body moisturizer… the record goes on and on), and as such, it’s been promoting out in every single place.
I’ve been utilizing the balm myself for the previous two and a half weeks, and my pores and skin is in an distinctive state proper now. Whereas I’m usually drier than the soil in Dying Valley and cope with a variety of pores and skin considerations through the low-humidity winter months, I’ve not too long ago been in a glowy state of consolation with no flaking, peeling, or breakouts. Plus, the balm has helped to quell a few of the rosacea-induced redness on my nostril.
Should you’re additionally on the dry aspect, use a skinny (or thick!) layer of Cicaplast Baume B5 over your whole face as a strategy to lock in moisture in a single day. It’s not greasy like vaseline, and has extra soothing properties within the components to tug double obligation in your skincare routine.
And whereas it is likely to be laborious to get your arms on this ultra-popular cream at your native pharmacy (stateside or in any other case), you might be able to snag a tube on-line (together with on the model’s personal website).
