European glass beads were intensively used for trading in the colonies of Africa, Asia and the Americas from the 16th to the early 20th century. Although found in large amounts in colonial sites, our knowledge of their production and their use in Europe is very limited. In this presentation, we discuss seven new collections from cemeteries, houses, and castles in Rouen, Bordeaux, Brouage, La Rochelle, Moutier-Rozeilles, Montmorin and Courcoury, France. Dating from the 16th to the 19th century, these sites reflect the use of glass beads by French people in their daily life. The beads were studied with LA-ICP-MS and were compared with those found in production sites across Europe: Amsterdam, London, Fichtelgebirge, and Venise (Gnalic Shipwreck).