Phreshly Squeezed

Korres store in Paris, 54 rue des Écoles 75005

Almost a year-and-a-half ago, I was looking for a new skincare line to use. When you’re braving the Canadian weather, you have got to make sure that your skin can stand the frigidness and the humidity. Dove wasn’t cutting it out for me; it kept my skin from completely drying out in the winter, but left my skin incredibly oily in the summer. I tried Garnier Fructis’ skincare line; it was the biggest mistake for me. My skin was left dried out and peeling like no tomorrow. At this point, I was done shopping for my products in the same aisle with the candy aisle right by at Shoppers Drug Mart (well, more like two aisles down), and decided to dole out some extra cash at Sephora.

Sales associates at Sephora Canada are very hit or miss. Some are great at helping you, and others leave you … well.. wondering. Then again, it’s hard to be knowledgeable of your product when your job is usually short stint to make money for school (the French view their jobs with more permanence, even if it is sales). So I headed over to Sephora and got samples of Decléor, Korres, and some others. I would have liked to say that Decléor worked wonders on my skin because of its hefty price tag, but it helped just as much as Garnier Fructis had. Korres, though, didn’t do immediate wonders but definitely showed signs of improvement!

So it’s been quite some time now, and my skin is much better. The acne is gone, except for when I lack sleep or am stressed out, and the skin drying out in winter is gone too. But you can imagine when I first moved to France my surprise when I was told that Korres wasn’t sold at their Sephora. My face dropped. Luckily, I found the boutique in the 9th arrondisement, which was right by Galeries Lafayette.

When I came back to Canada for a short vacation before the summer semester, the boutique closed down and moved to the yuppie 5th arrondisement. Along with the new store, was a new sales associate! Don’t get me wrong, I loved the staff of the old boutique, but this new lady is lovely! She is incredibly helpful, knowledgeable, down-to-earth, and always has a smile on her face. Such energy always puts you in a great mood, even when you have essays in foreign languages to attempt for your classes. Plus, she lets me choose my samples (with every purchase, you get a couple samples, which is a huge plus since why would I want to have a sample of a lemon bodywash, if I already find that the honey works wonders) and she offered me a free full-sized bottle of Hamamelis toner, sold retail at 16€ or $21 CDN.

About Korres:
Korres is skincare line, started in Athens, promoting the use of natural ingredients and eco-conscious products. Established in 1996 by George Korres, the company has been recognized by International Cosmetic News as Most Innovative Brand (2008) and featured (along with wife Lena) in Wallpaper* as the top forty influential people under age forty. Each product comes packaged with an easy-to-follow ingredient guide to show you how much natural product is going into your skin, as well as the use of parabens and other such chemicals. With several independent stores around the world (two of which are in New York), Korres can also be found at Sephora (but not in France’s!) and many other retailers.