I reviewed this 11 years ago – what the actual, as we may have said back then – and in the course of last year’s move, one of these was winkled out of my dragon’s hoard of beauty products.

It was not very old! So I thought I’d give it another whirl, and it is as good as when I first tried it.

So here we go again, but two thing to start:

1} I remember I used to write lil beauty haikus which is adorable; please see below.

2} I also said I was going to write about having been hosted by the brand at Avène-les-Bains itself, which is a trip that I still think of fondly, but I never did.

In brief: getting there was the usual press trip ordeal of too many transfers; the midnight bus journey was horrendous. The town itself was stunning, while the place itself was less Maldives-spa vibe and more like utilitarian white tile-spa vibe.

Despite the lack of indulgent comforts, the treatment was amazers, absolutely fantastic, I have never felt so clean and hydrated in my life.

I also got to show off my French comprehension and translated for the group before going in for our individual sessions. Which for an example was a profusion of French that boiled down to: ‘Stand where the feet are painted on the floor.’ ‘When she holds up the spray nozzle, hold your breath.’

Ça veut dire LOL en français?

I occasionally come across those photos in my phone… Memories!

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When reviewing things
It helps to read directions.
Call me crazy, right?

I love French stuff: the food, the wine, the lifestyle, the whole santé thing that they do. I’d never heard of the Avène line before, but have had the chance to try several of their products. I particularly got a kick out of the Thermal Spring Water, but haven’t really made it a big part of my regime. I was spritzing myself with the pressurised spray because I was bored during the snowpocalypse. It helped break up the day, and I suspect my skin, housebound as I was, enjoyed the refreshing sensation.

We don’t suffer from a lack of moist air in Ireland, so it doesn’t seem necessary to carry around a container of hydrotherapy in my handbag. Neither is the sun much of an issue, but SPF enthusiasts will insist that any sun is sun that is going to age us and give us skin cancer, so when the Eau Thermale Avéne Tinted Compact 50 SPF came through the letterbox, I thought, ‘Better safe than sorry.’

Of course, I didn’t bother reading exactly what it was so when I tried to use it as pressed powder, uh yeah, it didn’t work. Because it is foundation. Unaware, I swiped it over a face that was already sporting foundation. Crazy! I put it aside and forgot about it, scarred momentarily by my misuse of it.

Then one day I was running late, and I wanted to cut out the middle woman, meaning the time-consuming dispensing of foundation and then application of it onto my face > yeah, wha’? This makes sense to me, okay? Remind me to tell you about the time I used to take a cab four blocks to work — And so! So I picked this up, and using the pad that cunningly rests in the hinge between the top of the compact and the flip-up mirror, had a flawless face in three-ish swipes of product. I’ve never actually counted. I’m trying to reconstruct in my mind’s eye… okay… more like four-ish.

I brought this with me on my hols because it’s compact and effective and easy. It looks amazing, and it lasts and lasts. It’s also got a laundry list of excellent qualities — protection against UV radiation, free radicals, and sweat, as well as offering irritation reduction — but frankly the most important thing to me, at the end of the day, is that I don’t want to have to be touching up excessively throughout said day. This is a matte finish that combines the best effects of foundation and powder, and I am quite sad that I am near to using it up.

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2024 prices vary wildly; €30 seems like the top end, but online shops price it much less, even Amazon. (Just as a matter of interest, it was €24.41/£15/$35 in 2013.)

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