After reading Heather S.'s review of various products from this French skin and body company, I checked out their website and decided to order the Acne skin care line. I was impressed with how affordable their products were, and they were indeed very generous with a multitude of samples and gift specials. I purchased the Acne Fighter skin care system and also received Cap Soleil after sun skin gel and three perfume samples.

I did not like these products at all. They all smelled very strange and totally turned me off. The worst part was that the acne line made me feel like I was washing my face with cheap men's cologne. It really had that specific aroma to me. I've never had such a strong negative reaction to the fragrance of a product line. The perfume samples and skin care gel smelled equally bad, except sweet and powdery rather than manly. I couldn't wait for my three days of testing these products to end!

Derma Controle Foaming Gel Cleanser($5.95 for 2.5 oz.)
This acne cleanser contains salicylic acid and grapefruit extract. It foamed well, didn't overdry my skin, and rinsed off well, but all of that means nothing to me considering the smell really grossed me out. No recommendation here.

Derma Controle Normalizing Gel($7.95 for 2 oz.)
This gel is designed much like other pore clarifying products. It contains salicylic acid and grapefruit extract. In addition to the horrid smell, this gel was also sticky and gooey on my skin. It did not disappear or sink into my skin as I'm accustomed to in this type of product. My skin didn't look or feel any different at the end of the testing period. I really disliked this product, too, and would not recommend it.

Derma Controle Purifying Lotion($5.94 for 4.2 oz.)
It's called "purifying lotion" but it's basically a toner for acne control. Again, it has salicylic acid and grapefruit extract. I hated this product the most because it followed through on the men's cologne fragrance concept with a stinging alcohol feel. With this product I truly felt like I was putting aftershave on my face. It had no obvious affect on the condition of my skin and the smell made me ill. I disliked this product the most!

Cap Soleil After Sun Gel ($11.95 for 3.4 oz.)
Here I am again on the fragrance soapbox. Honestly, though, when my products came in the mail I opened up this tub of skin gel first and put a small glob on my hand. Yuck! It has the most unsettling smell - horrid, in fact. It smells and looks like hair gel for an old woman's pink tinted hair poodle permanent! It has a very powdery sweet top note with an underlying scent of hair gel or curling chemical. It was so annoying I had to wash my hands. I used it on my body as the instructions stated, but never lasted even one hour before I had to jump in the shower and wash it off. Interestingly, as I was writing this review, a male friend walked up and I asked him to smell this skin gel and tell me what it smelled like. He wrinkled his nose and said it smelled like hair gel. My recommendation: stay out of the sun or stick with a nice standard drugstore aloe gel.

Rose Ispahan (perfume sample packet)
After the atrocities of these products, there was no way I was putting the perfume samples on my skin. I did, however, open the packet of Rose Ispahan perfume, just to be fair. What can I say? Gross! Extremely sweet and powdery.