10 Best Places to Shop in France

Here you can stock up on fine soap, shampoo, body lotion, and other beauty products—all made using top-quality organic essential oils distilled in Provence.

Pastel (also known as woad) has been part of Occitanie's regional heritage since medieval times. Farmers from around Albi and merchants from Toulouse grew wealthy from trading this natural blue pigment until it was supplanted by indigo from Asia. Today, it's having a comeback, not just as a pigment but as a wonderful natural skin care product. Carole Garcia and Natalie Juin purvey a range of pastel-based products from their Albi store.

Although it only opened in 2014, you can be forgiven for thinking Officine Universelle Buly 1803 is an antique apothecary—those jars overflowing with exotic herbs, powders, and elixirs are used to re-create 200-year-old recipes for the all-natural skin-care line. Delicious-smelling hand, body, and face products come in scents like rose and Scottish moss. All the products are organic, beautifully packaged, and impossibly chic.

This small, refined store is the brainchild of Terry de Gunzburg, Yves Saint Laurent's former director of makeup, whose brand of ready-to-wear cosmetics is a favorite among French actresses and socialites. Upstairs, specialists create what de Gunzburg calls haute couleur, exclusive makeup tailored to each client (it's very expensive, and takes three weeks to create).

The products of this world-renowned fragrance and skin care company are still made in nearby Manosque using regional ingredients. Make sure to sniff Jasmine Immortelle Neroli and Arlésienne, a floral tribute to the women of the South of France.

This boutique specializes in a huge range of pure, plant-based cosmetics from one of Provence's oldest and most venerable producers of fine lavender oil. The range includes face creams, hand and body lotions, toning gels, massage oil, bath milk, hydrosols, and much more.

For all things lavender—and not just any lavender—heat to this shop. It has the best AOC essential oil (it must be from flowers that grow above 2,600 feet) from the famous Château de Bois, plus a range of top-quality soaps, body lotions, and other fine cosmetics made with lavender essential oil.

The soaps, cosmetics, and products for the home sold here are of exceptional artisanal quality. Marius Fabre is one of only six soap makers in France that still produce "le vrai" savon de Marseille the traditional way: cooked in giant vats with at least 72% pure olive oil, no fragrances (or only natural essential oils added later), and air-aged on wooden slats. 

One of Marseille's oldest manufacturers sells fragrant soap in blocks, ovals, or fanciful shapes—all of it made using the highest olive oil content possible (72%) and natural essential oils from Provence. Call ahead for a guided tour (in English) of this atmospheric factory to see the whole process done on traditional machines.

Since 1828, this manufacturer—one of only a remaining half-dozen—has crafted authentic savon de Marseille under strict guidelines (certain percentage of olive oil, made in vats by hand, dried for several months). At this small boutique, you can stock up on all its soaps for the body and home. It also has a line of quality skincare products.