Life in Basel

Swiss beauty – skin and haircare products review

Skin and haircare review

Hi, my name is Louise and I am a skincare junky. I am an avid follower of Caroline Hirons, Dominique Sachse and Trinny Woodall and I am constantly in search of a new wonder cream, lotion of potion to make the best of myself. Here, I review all things Swiss beauty.

I started my Swiss beauty review with a trip to my local pharmacy, searching the shelves for all of the Swiss products I could find. After living in Basel for more than 10 years I had heard of most of the brands, Mettler and Weleda have become favourites of mine, I had some Biokosma bought for my birthday a few years ago and I buy a La Prairie skin cream or serum every year when I get my bonus. Filabe and Rausch were new to me. I when I left Dropa with a bag full of treats that would suit my normal to dry skin.

Read on to find more about each company, which products I tested and what I found out about these products.

Filabe of Switzerland

Filabé of Switzerland is based in Schaffhausen and offers an all-in-one cloth that cleanses and conditions the skin at the same time. I choose to test the ‘ageing skin balance’ a Filabé cloth to clean and condition ageing skin. I wet the small micro-fibre cloth with water, it didn’t lather much nor have a strong perfume then, washed my face using a circular motion. The cloth removed my makeup very efficiently and my face felt soft and not at all dried out, I didn’t add my usual serum and moisturiser and my skin felt good until bedtime and was in good shape when I awoke the next morning.

Here comes the science: The active ingredient are stem cell extracts from argan trees and Swiss apples that help strengthen the epidermis and tighten and rejuvenate the skin.

Filabe have a cloth to target acne, wrinkles, sensitive or irritated skin. Each box contains one months worth of cloths and the boxes cost 79 CHF which makes them a luxury buy. They are 100% natural, vegan, no animal testing, halal and recyclable.

This product works, it’s a bit expensive to use every day however, I will use the rest of the box when I next travel, as this is probably the best way to clean and condition skin whilst travelling or on the go as it’s super light to carry and easy to use and can be included in carry on.

Mettler

Mettler was formed in 1929 in Hornussen and makes a wide range of skin and hair care products. I have used their foaming gel cleanser which is shown below for a longtime, I review that here along with their anti-aging mask.

Why have I bought this cleanser for 3 years? The smell and texture of the gel to creamy foam is just wonderful, it cleanses my face well although it struggles to remove eye-makeup. It leaves my skin soft and not dried out, although I typically use a moisturiser after cleansing or how about an anti-aging face mask? Mettler has a face mask in their cell-renewal line, that is a very light cream that is very easy to wear for 20 mins whilst doing other stuff and is easy to wipe off the residues with a facecloth afterwards. The cream has a light scent and left my dry skin feeling fabulous, I now wondering about the serum and moisturiser that is in this range too and have added them to my shopping list when I finish my current serum and moisturiser.

Here comes the science: The mettler anti-aging range has apple stem cells, vitamins C&E, jojoba oil, and hyaluronic acid to help fight the visible signs of ageing.

Mettler’s products are 100% vegan and paraben free, the foaming cleanser is 28.90 CHF for 200ml and the face mask is a luxury item at 77 CHF for a 50ml pot.

Rausch

The cosmetic company Rausch is based in Kreuzlingen and formed in 1890, is labelled as ‘herbal cosmetics from Switzerland’ and lives up to it’s name with the use of many swiss herbs within their skin, hair and body ranges. I review the Swiss Herbal shampoo, conditioner and hair tonic that is for normal or healthy hair.

I was a little concerned that this product would have a strong medicated smell that I wouldn’t really like it however, I was pleasantly surprised that the shampoo and conditioner had a fresh herbal, clean smell to it. My hair lathered well with the shampoo and was easy to brush through after using the conditioner. Now onto the hair tonic, I bought this product not really knowing exactly what it was. It is part of the Rausch range is supposed to activate, strengthen the hair and scalp. This Swiss herbal hair tonic is applied to the scalp after washing and conditioning, it was not that easy to apply and there was a moment when tonic rolled down my forehead and into my left eye, which stung a bit. On the positive side, the tonic was cooling and I was left with an itch free scalp and hair that looked lovely and shiny once dried.

Here comes the science: Rausch harnesses the natural power of plants in their products using herbs such as chamomile flower, oak bark, tobacco and houseleek to name just a few.

The shampoo and condition were 13.90 CHF each and the hair tonic 19.80 CHF. I am not sure I would buy the hair tonic again but the shampoo and condition are salon quality for less than salon price.

Weleda

Weleda is a company formed in Arlesheim has been using organically grown plants to make natural skin care for over 100 years. They offer skin, body and haircare products as well as tooth paste, herbal remedies and a have a well know, range of baby products. I am going to review their cult classic Weleda skin food and their shower gels.

Skin Food was first formulated back in 1920 and hasn’t changed formula since making it a cult classic in the skincare world. It’s a gorgeous textured, pleasant smelling, heavy skin cream that is excellent for dried out winter skin, elbows, lips, hand and heels that need some skin rescuing. Even though I have normal to dry skin I wouldn’t use Skin Food on my face, I opt for the skin food light which makes for the perfect day cream for me and I would reserve the original Skin Food for a night time mask or a dry skin rescue remedy. Skin Food retails at 12.90 CHF which I think makes it great value for money.

Here’s Caroline Hirons take on Weleda skin food as featured in one of her empties videos at the end of 2019 (the review is at 17:07).

Weleda’s shower gels are also a great buy as they are creamy and kind to the skin my favourite shower gel is from the baby range that is both a body and hair wash in one.

Here comes the science: Weleda used anthroprosophic principles in product development and champion the use of green energy to produce their products, biodynamics to grow the natural ingredients that make up their products.

Most of the Weleda products are floral and sweet smelling and this may not be to everyones taste.

Biokosma

A good friend of ours bought me some Biokosma bubble bath a few years ago for my birthday which introduced me to this Swiss brand. They sell 10 small tubes of bubble bath scented with many types of Swiss herbs and that is what I was gifted with.

I am reviewing the rose Biokosma shower gel that retails at 11.90 CHF. A creamy white shower gel, similar to Weleda but far more pungent scent and with less lather. I would buy the product again as I love rose scented products, intact my favourite deodorant is the 3 Rose from Lancome so this shower gel fits well in my bathroom arsenal.

Here comes the science: Biokosma draws their inspiration from nature, using mainly swiss herbal extracts thus supporting Swiss farmers.

Lubex ANTI-AGE

Permamed is a company based in Therwil making anti-aging skin products, many that have high sun factors.

I was alerted to Lubex anti-age by Basel’s very own, Magdalena @girlinbasel and was intrigued by three things about the product firstly this is a clean cosmetic that is dermatologically tested, has factor 50 and is a way of supporting local businesses as it’s researched and made in Therwil.

I tested the sun build for face from Lubex anti-age, a light sun milk that takes no more than 20 secs to sink into the skin, leaving a silky finish and protects the skin for the sun with a factor 50. It has no scent and worked well underneath my makeup.

Here comes the science: The product has a 100% mineral SPF, protects from UVA and B, has no perfume nor paraffin oil.

I had to order my Lubex anti-age at Dropa Drogerie but this took only one day to arrive. Lubex anti-age sun fluid is 44.50 CHF for 30 ml