'Eau Thermale' - Avene or La Roche Posay?

Yay for garden pictures!

Handy refreshers in a can such as these seemed to be the most appropriate topic in the world to discuss during this extreme heat wave that the UK currently seems to be experiencing! Truth be told, unless I'm on holiday with a pool at the ready for me to cool off in, I'm not one in favour of high temperatures and humidity - I just get clammy and uncomfortable and I don't like the inevitable sweaty and shiny skin that you just can't seem to escape. I could continue and get started on the puffy eyes and sniffles that come with the hayfever and pollen allergies, but I'll leave my summer miseries at that and get onto the comparison of these two French products:

Avene and La Roche Posay are by no means the only two brands that produce variants of 'Eau Thermale', or in English: Thermal Spring Water, but they do seem to be the two leading brands and happen to be the two that I am in possession of. So what are they and what do they do? Looking at the ingredients lists, it would seem that La Roche Posay contains solely water. Yes, just water. And Avene consist of water, but also nitrogen as well. The difference that that would make? Well I'll be honest and state that I'm not sure. So you might wonder why you would buy a can of just water, but these have been filtered, softened and purified to make them naturally soothing, but as it is spring water (Not just any old water! This one comes from a spring!), it contains trace elements of Selenium which has antioxidant properties, making these water sprays fantastic for use on burnt or irritated skin.  

As the product is stored inside a compressed can it means that no matter how warm of a day it is, the water will always spray out cool in temperature and be very fresh. I don't tend to spray this on my face too much but the uses that I have found for them include: soothing insect bites on my legs, cooling sunburn on my shoulders, washing my hands when there was no other water available (yes, really!), and also as a general refresher when the humidity just got too much, targetting my chest, legs and feet to take my body temperature down a degree or two! One of these now has a firm place on my bedside for those evenings when it's just too hot to sleep - a quick cooling spray down my arms and across my chest makes things much more comfortable.

I'd have to say that there's not a whole lot of difference between the two of these and they are essentially the exact same thing, with the same function and virtually same ingredients. The price point is more or less equal too and the packaging is very similar. I simply have a preference to Avene because the mist is distributed slightly finer and lighter onto the skin. I would say that if you're looking to purchase one of these it would simply be a case of which one is more easily accessible to you, although they are both available online at sites such as Escentual.com, or the choice is up to you whether you want a white can with blue writing, or with peach writing!

Alternatively, if all you're after is something to keep handy to cool you down in the summer sun without paying for the extra purification from a fancy source, then you could simply opt for the thrifty option and find yourself a 99p spritzer bottle and fill it with tap water - I'm sure it would do a similar job of cooling you down!

Avene: £5.20/150ml | La Roche Posay: £5.60/150ml

One last thing, not to be cheeky but if you didn't know already the voting is now open for the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2013 and amazingly, Cosmetic Crave has been shortlisted for the category of Best New Beauty Blog! If you enjoy reading my blog I would feel honoured if you felt that I was worthy of your vote to  win - It would mean the world to me and only takes a few seconds of your time!

The voting form can be found here:
http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/blogs/cosmo-blog-awards-2013/cosmo-blog-awards-2013-shortlist-vote-here

Thanks for reading!

Follow Me On Twitter - Follow Me On Bloglovin'

Enter My Giveaway! Win: Nails Inc. and Benefit Goodies