Dear readers,
I don’t know about you, but I would pay one million billion dollars right now for a day at a spa, no thoughts head empty. I really hit a wall in February, so as with this month’s episode, I’m keeping things light for this newsletter.
More hot rock water content
The Harmsworth family sold the business in 1946 to a French stockbroker named Gustave Leven, and the French spring water was officially a French company. During Leven's first tour of the facility, he saw workers dipping bottles directly into the spring and then putting the caps on with their feet.
Can’t get enough about natural spring water? Of course you can’t. This quick history of Perrier water has a number of surprising revelations. I love the fact about Perrier water having so much natural carbonation that it would burst the bottles - it reminds me of the long, painful development of the champagne bottle!
A few more pieces about French mineral water-based skincare:
“Should I Keep Spraying This Water On My Face?” (The Atlantic)
I loved Labmuffin’s breakdown of thermal water skincare claims.
The terrifying power of French pharmacists
The weirdest tangent I went down while researching this month’s episode? The history of French pharmacists, who seem to inspire fear and awe in the minds of skincare brand marketing executives everywhere.
If you’ve ever wondered why the green + sign PHARMACIE seems so ubiquitous in France, here’s why: French pharmacists have a monopoly on the distribution of medicine. We’re not just talking about prescription drugs here - you aren’t going to be able to pick up a bottle of aspirin at your local grocery store, nor can you buy over the counter medicines online. Most French pharmacists (indeed, most European pharmacists) are independent operators. For Americans used to megachains like CVS and Walgreens, the idea of pharmacists as powerful gatekeepers in the world of beauty products is (sorry) a hard pill to swallow. Since the pharmacies have a monopoly on medicines, what constitutes “medicine” is a highly charged subject. Creme for athlete’s foot? Sure, I’d expect to find that in a pharmacy. But what about anti-aging creme? Since pharmacists want a monopoly on selling these extremely lucrative products, the stakes are high.
There’s a long history of French pharmacists developing their own personal cosmetics and skincare products for sale - some of which evolved into the mega-brands we know today. Even those who without a lil side hustle of their own would still act as gatekeepers to the larger consumer markets. A product which was carried in a pharmacist’s shop conveyed a certain cachet, a reassurance that the product would be effective, and to this day French drugstore brands inspire devoted followings - sometimes, those followings extend even to specific pharmacies.
Meet City Pharma. It’s the most famous discount pharmacy in Paris, thanks to its amazing deals on famous skincare brands. Occupying a whole block of Saint Germain-des-Pres (only a few blocks away from those ancient Roman baths!) City Pharma is always a chaotic experience. I’ve walked in on random Tuesday afternoons - nope, still jam-packed. Your best bet is to go early in the morning - try to go shopping after work and the shelves will be picked bare!
Y’all, City Pharma is. a. cult. I thought I was pretty savvy for leaving room in my suitcase on my last trip so I could bring back tubes of A313 from the random pharmacy on the corner. The skincare bloggers who plan their trip to Paris around City Pharma, and the YouTube channels which offer dedicated guides to City Pharma, are something of a wonder:
I’ve now reached the stage of this pandemic where I am dreaming of squishing my way through ultra-crowded aisles to buy discounted bottles of La Roche-Posay, help me.
A royal pharmaceutical affair
Meet the oldest pharmacy in Paris, at 115 rue Saint-Honoré. The building itself dates from the 1600s, and there’s an inscription in the stone just out of frame which reads “Maker of extracts evaporated in vapor and a vacuum”. We have no idea precisely when it was founded, but we know there’s been a pharmacy continuously operating here since at least 1715. In 1787, we know the pharmacy received an exclusive license to sell two of the most exciting hot rock waters in town: eaux de Passy, known for its effect on one’s…regularity, and eaux d’Enghien, apparently good for the nose. There are rumors that the 18th century pharmacy sold an array of intriguing and bizarre “medicines” ranging from the Knight’s Balm (for healing burns), to dried toads, earthworms, and wild boar’s teeth. For today, however, we’ll focus on one particular purchase of historical note.
In the 1780s, a young Swedish nobleman stopped into this particular pharmacy in search of a very special item. Count Axel Von Fersen was a diplomat, a socialite, and a babe. In 1774, while conducting the standard Grand Tour, the handsome young count attended a masquerade at Versailles, where he spent three hours talking to a beautiful young woman, though he wasn’t quite able to see her face underneath her disguise. Towards the end of the night, he realized just who that beautiful woman was: the princess Marie-Antoinette! A few years later, when Count Von Fersen returned to Paris, he and the now queen recognized one another at once. The dashing young aristocrat moved into Versailles, and over the course of the next ten years, Count Von Fersen and Marie Antoinette became close…extremely close.
Is there any solid historical proof that the two were lovers? No, but anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear in the 1790s assumed as much. One letter sent by a friend of theirs casually mentioned that the Count was “generally supposed to be the father of the present Dauphin” - a hell of a piece of gossip to just toss around in conversation! Von Fersen himself wrote to his sister that “I have decided never to marry. It would be unnatural…I cannot belong to the one person I truly want…So I prefer to belong to nobody.”
The two struck up a lengthy, clandestine correspondence. For ten years they wrote back and forth, sometimes censoring their own thoughts, sometimes using codes - and sometimes using invisible ink. At some point in their correspondence, Count Von Fersen popped into 115 rue Saint-Honoré for encre sympathique. Whether the ink was used in a passionate love letter - or a terrified plan of escape - is unknown. In 1791, Count Von Fersen staged the infamous “Flight to Varennes” helping Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVI and their children flee a revolutionary mob. Von Fersen drove the carriage.
Of course, the escape attempt failed, and Von Fersen himself fled the country to avoid arrest, where - cut off from his regular supply - he had to make his own invisible ink.
Like the rest of us, he probably should have left a little more room in his suitcase for the pharmacy haul.
Bisous,
Diana
Thanks for the fascinating historical details. I totally understand the desire for a spa day. I’ve combined my thirst for travel and thirst for a spa day by having make-believe foreign spa days at home. I’ve “been” to Thailand, Japan, and the Twilight Zone so far, with plans to “go” to England, France, and Schitt’s Creek in the near future. BTW, the podcast “Business Wars” right now is providing some interesting history on L’Oréal. So many spas ... and so much time without visiting them or engaging in “destination” shopping for skincare. Sigh.