On Skincare, the Scrounging b, How I Love Thee, Caudalie

I have never been on any kind of substantial quest for the "perfect" skincare regimen. It seems so daunting, the process of such a quest. And with my skin evolving, its needs literally changing with the wind, I end up settling on something decent to be over with the whole ordeal altogether (until that nagging dissatisfaction arises and it always does). This is not to say that I disregard skincare in the least, however. I've always been keen on some kind of regimen, if only to wash and moisturize with something.

Throughout my early 20s, I contentedly used my 3-step Clinique skincare products, washing my face each morning and evening with that yellowy bar soap in the nifty green travel dome container. That being followed by the clarifying lotion in the purple bottle with the big silver C on it, and finishing with the square yellow jar of "dramatically different moisturizing lotion." Skin type 2 (combination skin) was the entire basis of this process and it did me just fine, then. Of course, I am no longer 20 and neither is my skin. But age is only a part of it. I half liken it to buying good jeans. Once you spend over $150 on a pair of good jeans, it is difficult to go back. You know what you've discovered and you feel firm in the conviction that you deserve, somehow and someway, those jeans. And such is skincare.

I can't quite identify the exact product that transitioned me out of my girly-girl Cliniqe days and into the vast realm of mature (pronunciation is key here... ma-tour) skincare. Approaching the Clinique counter at Nordstrom, I would walk past the Lancôme and Estée Lauder counters, wondering if I would ever possibly be old enough to use their products. At age 20, the thought of even possessing Lancôme mascara seemed beyond me. But remember, I grew up in the burbs.

Something tells me that I started accumulating samples here and there and gave them a shot, growing bored with the Clinique stuff. My sister E has always been influential where skincare and beauty products are concerned. She is almost entirely responsible for my eternal love of Jack Daniels and Donna Karan's Cashmere Mist perfume. Yes, she's a very good sister! Along with hearing fellow women discuss their favorite skincare products, samples are where it really starts... that exciting feeling that this product could be magical.

A few years ago I used a lot of Jurlique products, as well as Yonka. Both work alright but I'm not feeling the magic. Maybe I'm bored. So, when my tube of Jurlique day care cream dried up, I found myself fighting off the inevitable- finding something new. I delayed this process as long as I could, digging up samples tucked in odd places around my studio apartment, squeezing the bejeezus out of them for all they had. Two of the sample packets I had unveiled were Caudalie. One was an eye serum and the other a moisturizer. I felt a twinge of magic, people. But I was hesitant. I've been down this road many times... only to buy the full tube and a week later, feel deceived. These samples were quite small and thus, it only took two days for them to dry up and with them, my expectations. So, I held off committing to a full tube of moisturizer and when I ran out of any and all samples at hand, I returned to the Jurlique tube and kept squeezing and squeezing, trying to make it through one more day, to prolong any decisions.

I know that with most skincare products, you can exchange them for something else if you are dissatisfied. But that option opens some kind of Pandora's box and most definitely puts me back on some kind of quest I don't want to be on, a seemingly endless one. The thought of such thus resigns me to stick it out with the product in hand. I figure that if it somehow wooed and suckered me in, I must give in to the end of the bottle. Besides, I really am convinced I will just go through this again and again.

Oh, how I hope Caudalie proves me wrong on this account! Really though, so far, Caudalie is proving more and more magical over time. However, there's more to this story. This is where the scrounging b emerges... a monster I didn't know lived inside of me. So convinced of the Caudalie magic, I went into the mall. I wasn't sure exactly which moisturizer I had sampled. I had saved the empty packet for quite some time but had likely thrown it away while cleaning. I went into Bath & Body Works, as they were the kind party to have sent me the initial samples with my online body lotion order, and scanned the wide collection of Caudalie products on the shelves.

A very nice girl approached me and I explained my dilemma- that I had sampled one of the moisturizers and I liked it but had no idea which one it was. There were so many choices before me and I knew that as right as one of them was for me, there would be others that were NOT right. I didn't want to just give one a shot and return it later if it didn't work. The sales assistant was so patient and tried explaining each one, although she admitted to not knowing much about Caudalie. I tried to explain what the little sample packet looked like, thinking that might help determine which one it was, and strained myself trying to recall what color the lettering was. But all of this was far from helping her. She looked in the drawers and there were no samples to compare. However, she was beyond helpful and said she'd go to the back room and do some digging, even after I reiterated that it wasn't necessary.

When she finally emerged from the back room, she had a set of samples with her.
These were clearly not the samples I had previously tried, as the packaging was different. She kindly offered the set of samples and I took them, honestly not that thrilled to be returning home with more samples! The set was the Vinoperfect line, consisting of the Vinoperfect Day Perfecting Cream, the Vinoperfect Radiance Serum and Vinoperfect Night Correcting Cream. I was absolutely sold after just the first day. I knew it was more than the initial attraction I had so often felt with other skincare products. The serum is amazing and really does revitalize skin. The day cream is not too heavy but definitely moisturizes. And the night cream, while heavier, doesn't clog my pores or give me the overly greasy feel that many night creams do. My pathetic descriptions do nothing to capture how much I love this line of Caudalie's.

But I could not bring myself to buy just the day cream. The serum and night cream were essential to this skincare bliss. However, with Paris on the horizon and trying to save for that trip, I convinced myself to be satisfied with just the day cream for now. Yet, somehow, when I entered the store again, the monster emerged from within. A different sales associate approached me and I played dumb, going through the whole conversation I had with the previous associate days earlier, citing that I couldn't remember which line I used and liked. She kept assuring me that I could return anything that I wasn't satisfied with. But she offered no samples. I HAD to have those samples and I knew they were back there. I finally asked for them flat out. She said there were none. I was calling her a liar with my eyes and kept on nudging, hoping to break her will. It didn't work. All of this near-groveling for some samples!

Even amidst the conversation with the saleswoman, I totally realized what was going on. It so reminded me of that scene in Friends with Money, where Jennifer Aniston's character goes into the department store and tells the salesperson that she saw this ad for moisturizer and wanted to try it out. She gets a sample and proceeds to the next department store, where she approaches the product counter, repeating the same schpeel and getting greedy, she cites that she needs one for her friend as well. The salesman is highly skeptical.

Yep, that was me. I was scrounging for samples. I realized that the moisturizer was out of my jean bracket slightly and how precarious that is, to step into a new price bracket for moisturizer. So, scrounging for samples became my solution? I assure you, it was scrounging! It would be one thing if I were a deal shopper but I am far from such. I will pay twice the price of something I know will go on sale in two days, just because that's what I do. Yet, for Caudalie, I found myself scheming about how I could go to various Caudalie counters in various Nordstrom stores, Bath & Body Works, maybe even Sephora... and build a little arsenal of Caudalie samples at home. This was a side of me I had never uncovered and Caudalie brought it out in me. I am thinking I must be onto something good here, skincare wise. Not so much personality-wise!

So, the saleswoman crushed my dream of permanently living off Caudalie samples. I broke down and bought the $68 Day Perfecting Cream, giving up any and all hopes of more Caudalie samples. I know I'll cave in and get the serum next. I am happy to have discovered Caudalie, however. Maybe all those samples are behind me for now. I so hope the magic doesn't wear off. Although I find myself in a new skincare product spending bracket, I'll manage somehow. We always do, don't we? And thus, the scrounging b goes back into hiding.

P.S. The Caudalie story is a great one, the base of their products being grape-seeds of vineyard grapes in France:

Chouquettes

It hasn't been an easy week and when I went to the nearby boulangerie for comfort food this afternoon, I was disappointed to discover that they had sold the last canelé a few minutes before I arrived. I scanned the other selections and was admittedly feeling like walking out without anything but suddenly...there they were...chouquettes! I had never seen them at this boulangerie before...probably because they are packaged by the dozen and sold in bags. I likely passed over them many times but because I had read about them last week on Erin's Run Around Paris blog, I was happy that there were no canelés after all!

So, I took my dozen of chouquettes and went down a block to my new favorite café and sat outside finishing Herman Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund with a vanilla latte, just trying to find some peace with myself. Okay, enough about my stormy consciousness...I have an entire (long) post about that below! How do these taste? Very good. They are light and fluffy. The boulangerie's website describes them as, "Puffy baked pastry balls made with pâte à choux and sprinkled with rock sugar." Wikipedia describes choux pastry as containing "only butter, water, flour, and eggs. Its raising agent is the high water content, which creates steam during cooking, puffing out the pastry." Apparently beignets are also made with choux pastry but fried instead of baked. It really is a simple pastry but its sweetness and lightness are wonderful. As Erin described, they are not fancy or elaborate by any means but it is precisely their simplicity (in that beautiful French way!) that makes them so delicious.

*Image nabbed from Gorgeous & Delicious.

Canelés

I recently discovered canelés at the boulangerie a few blocks from where I now live. I was in there for the first time purchasing some pastries to take over to my parents and without reading the description, decided to try a canelé.

Interestingly, at this particular boulangerie they spell it canelet. When I look online, it seems to be strictly spelled canelé. Not sure what that is about but I can (and will....oh yes, lucky you!) tell you that these are soooo good. They are not heavy or overly sweet. They have such incredible flavor but it really is the texture that makes this French treat so amazing.

The boulangerie from which I purchased the canelé describes it as: " a traditional treat from the Bordeaux region of France.... Invented in the 16th century by the nuns of the Annonciades convent, this sweet custard cake is baked in a copper tin heavily coated with melted beeswax. The beeswax hardens and gives the canelet the perfect crunchy crust. Canelet is made with whole milk, eggs, sugar and flour...and a touch of vanilla bean and rum." As much as I resist referring to Wikipedia as a source (and please tell me that someone out there has seen the episode of The Office in which Michael references Wikipedia as the utmost authority?!?!), I do like the way they describe the canelé as having a "caramelized crust and marrowy inside."

This image gives you a much better idea as to what is going on underneath that glossy, carmelized exterior. I think what makes this treat so particularly delicious for me is the surprise effect it has on me (I've only had these twice now, so maybe that will wear off at some point?). I love that you bite into a thick, carmelized shell (it's not really a crunchy exterior... at least not those at my local boulangerie) and there is this soft and marrowy (think moist and spongy) inside with the perfect touch of rum and vanilla. You can even seen the specks of vanilla bean in the photo.

Very delicious. I don't know how difficult they are to come by here in the States. I know that the boulangerie close to me is only doing them seasonally. I'm still rather miffed that they don't make macarons. Apparently they do them for rare special order and when they do, I was informed that the baker usually only does something like strawberry. So sad. But I did find a decent alternative. At an upscale grocery store a few miles away, they sell frozen mini macarons that are imported from France. They are not bad at all. Of course, not as wonderful as those I had in Paris (and I didn't even try the highly esteemed ones at places like Laudurée or Pierre Hermé) but really, rather acceptable in my desperate situation. And they come in an assortment with chocolate, raspberry, vanilla, and café (probably my favorite of the four).

Anyway, try a canelé if you can. And if you have tasted one before, I'm curious to hear what you think.