Garancia Diabolique Tomate Water Gel Cream

Aargh – I’ve been hit by the invisible fibre curse on some of these pictures. I’ve been wondering whether Unilever is going to introduce one of their more recent acquisitions to the UK. I think some will already be familiar with Garancia, a French derma brand that was founded in 2004 by pharmacist Saveria Coste. I think one of the draws for Unilever was that the Garancia brand has had a preference for carefully chosen natural ingredients – I hate the word ‘clean’ used in beauty but it’s frequently described as such – and that’s the way Unilever is pointing. What’s maybe a bit more strange is the quirky names that the brand uses for their products – believe it or not, their best seller is Pshitt Magique which we’d have to say doesn’t translate all that well but I don’t know of anything quite like it. It’s a foaming enzymatic exfoliator that softens and brightens the skin – I can’t think of anything I’d like to try more to be honest. Apply a ball of foam, wait 30 seconds and ta-dah! Supposedly.

The product I have tried (and very much like) is Diabolique Tomate – a light textured, waterful cream that gives 24 hour hydration. I’m very drawn to the scent of this – it’s got a slight plastic edge and I can’t stop sniffing at it and it has 95% natural ingredients. Quirky names aside, because some of them are just inspired (Phantom’s Tears, The Sorcerers’ Masked Ball face masks and the Mysterious Thousand And One Days moisturiser) others just won’t make the cut I don’t think. It’s very, er, creatively unfiltered, let’s say, so first to be turned to the wall would be Magic Me Thin Slimming Cream, swiftly followed by The Bewitching Formula To End Crocodile Skin moisturiser and the Halucinagen Tinted Moisturiser. Or, actually, maybe that sounds brilliant. I don’t know – it’s quite the discovery journey.

Garancia works by skin type – I’d be disappointed if Halucinagen and Phantom Tears weren’t for my skin – and to be honest, it’s somewhat muddly. Unilever purchased the brand in 2019 so they’ve had plenty of time to reorganise and maybe recategorize for the UK market. I am sure it’s nearly here and I’m looking forward to it. I didn’t want to even try the Diabolique Tomate because I once used the Ella Bache Crème Tomate and my skin went into melt-down. It’s not the case with this – actually the cream is a pink/orange shade, which I wasn’t expecting, that comes from the tomato pulp. It’s a bit tricky to unravel the description of a ’patented oleomolecular active ingredient developed by researchers’ which they suggest helps your skin to relearn how to synthesize its own lipids.  Lycopene, of which tomato is a very rich source, is a powerful antioxidant and that I can understand… the rest of it though is that clever marketing trick of baffling with science leaving just enough intelligible text so that we think we understand. I don’t.I’m very curious to see more of Garancia – I don’t think I’ve come across another skincare brand quite like it. Bring on the Phantom’s Tears! It’s mid price – I know I have some French readers so perhaps you can tell me more about it if you’ve tried it. Otherwise, you can browse the site HERE.

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