(One of the most cruel is that some prankster recently signed me up for email alerts to Météo-France, so every morning my email inbox lets me know the Paris daily weather forecast. It actually says "Vos prévisions météo aujourd'hui" which to me officially translates as "Time to pack for France!")
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| Image via Innoxa |
You've never heard of les gouttes bleues? Do you think it sounds weird to put blue drops in your eyes? Won't it tint your vision?
I learned of les gouttes bleues the way I learned about most treasured classic French beauty regimens -- by seeing them on a friend's bathroom shelf, and asking nosy questions. Voila! Another secret of French beauty unveiled. And so subtle.
Unlike Visine or other products that get the red out, les gouttes bleues are designed to make the whites whiter, much in the same way that laundresses of yore used bluing to make white cottons brilliant and white. (Actually it turns out that you still can find old-fashioned laundry bluing.)
It isn't weird or unusual -- you just drop a few soothing drops in the corner of your eye as you would with any eye-drop, only make sure you have some Kleenex for dabbing at the spillover, which is decidedly blue-tint. It doesn't affect vision. But it does improve others' vision of you. Le look. Le regard.
And it's an all-natural classic, having been around since 1950.
Eyes look brilliant, brighter and whiter -- which is what we want for the firing up when they see the whites of your eyes. N'est-ce pas?
7 comments:
You're in luck; they're available on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Innoxa-French-Drops-Gouttes-Bleues/dp/B0044WY51U/
Safe for those of us qui portent des verres de contact?
Thanks for the tip, Cristopher. Hmm, I think I need to go to Paris anyway!
Elaine, I don't wear contacts, but I'll check around the interwebs to see if there is any info in that regard.
Ahhhh, I am flying out of Paris in the morning, and I just now saw this. I also meant to look for the gold stuff you wrote about a few weeks ago, but life got in the way (funny how it's never a true vacation when I come to France), and I didn't get a chance to.
Oh well. La prochaine fois.
Bon retour, Alison! Hope you had a great trip.
OK, I've had an open tab for Huile Prodigeuse for weeks now - I'll order it and this and try them both!
FYI - Gouttes Bleues is made by Innoxa. The main ingredient is boric acid, which is a substance that is used in several types of eye drop products in both the US and France. However, the concentration is much higher in Gouttes Bleues, which is probably why these eye drops are not approved for sale in the US (buying them from Amazon is a loophole).
Using eye drops that contain lesser amounts of boric acid on an occassional basis is quite different than using a higher concentration on a regular basis. There are no long term studies on on the effects, but it is known that high doses of boric acid eye drops creates a risk of toxicity that can lead to serious eye damage and health problems.
Lastly, no, boric acid drops like Goutttes Bleues should not be used with contact lenses. Not only do they damage the lenses, but the lenses can trap remnants of the boric acid between the lens and cornea. This causes irritation and can eventually lead to scarring or other damage.
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