Cosmetics in England/France
 

I really want to buy some Clarins and/or Guinot products. Where in England and France are the best places to buy these at a discounted price?

thanks!

HELP!!!!!

If anyone has a better answer than mine, WE NEED IT!!!

Mrs F seems to devote her life to buying everything that comes off the Clarins assembly line. Finding discount Clarins retailers would transform our financial prospects (if she didn't fritter the saving away on even more of the stuff).

And, in spite of a life apparently devoted to finding discount Clarins, she has never, ever succeeded.

She now buys all this stuff at airport duty-frees. There's a myth on this board that these are all rip-off joints. Not true. Virtually all duty-free shops run at all BAA and Aer Rianta airports are contractually bound to charge city-centre prices minus VAT AND NOT A PENNY MORE: Mrs F also finds similar savings at non-BAA airports in Britain. Schiphol (Amsterdam) seems to have the same policy, as we always find Clarins is marginally cheaper there than elsewhere. CDG is such a mess no-one ever has the inclination to shop there anyway.

However, all that shopping at Heathrow or Gatwick will do is knock the VAT off: ie prices will be 14.9% below prices elsewhere in Britain. If you're American, that will hardly make up for your currency's devaluation.

17.5% surely? I blame that Norman Lamont..

Patrick:

VAT is added at the rate of 17.5% OF the base price. So it accounts for 14.9% of the total on-shelf price in a conventional shop.

As every market trader knows

An online source for discounted cosmetics, including Clarins can be found here:

www.strawberrynet.com

Discounts range from 3% to 40%, at least for Clarins products and the shipping is free. I have used this company a few times for Chanel purchases and the items arrived fast and exactly as advertised.

You can find Clarins and lots of other cosmetics on Ebay. I buy cosmetics all the time on Ebay and have never had a problem.