Whenever I am in Paris, a major thing I notice about French women, is how attractive they look despite not wearing that much makeup or having their hair perfectly done. As if they “woke up like this”. And I am talking about women of all age’s, and color. So I believe the secret lies in their attitude towards beauty itself and the way they carry themselves around. Being so intrigued by this finding, I was determined to crack this secret of French girls’ beauty. Now I’m here to share with you what I’ve learnt.
Au Naturel
It is so important to embrace and celebrate your own natural beauty! Quoting our favorite French girl icon Jeanne Damas talking about what is beauty is for her:
“For me, beauty should be natural. I think French beauty is a good example for everyone because French women know how to look very natural. They know how to make the most of their flaws. You’re much more beautiful with your hair down, a little bit of make-up, wearing a nice, comfy pair of trousers.”
Our skin
I noticed that French girls always have this fresh face complexion. They put more emphasize on good skin, than on good makeup. We all know unless you were born winning a genetic lottery of good skin, maintaining a clear complexion is a life-long journey. So,that effortless look in fact may take a lot of effort, but the key is to give the impression of the opposite.
The three most important beauty routine’s French girls swear by are a good but gentle cleanse, moisturize, and SPF. The product most recommended by French girls for cleansing is without a doubt Bioderma H20 Micellar Water Cleanser which is perfect to wipe off the day’s makeup while still maintaining the skin suppleness.
French girls love a good moisturizing cream. And it is the main reason why their skin glows. There are some cult favorite products such as Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentrè and Avène Hydrance Optimale Hydrating Rich Cream, or try Sabina Socol’s favorite Phyt’s Soin Nutri Protecteur.
The last step of the skincare routine that should never be skipped, is putting on your SPF. I myself cannot stress it more, how important SPF is no matter if it’s sunny outside or not. It is a very good practice to avoid premature aging due to sun exposure and harmful UV rays, and I promise your skin will thank you later in life!
This is the basis for a routine, you can always add more steps that are suitable for your skin, like exfoliation, face masks, or even going for a facial treatment once in a month.
Makeup
After you have established a skincare routine that works for you, let’s move on to make up. As I mentioned before, French girls are not really big on makeup, but they do wear makeup to enhance their features.
They like to keep their skin foundation-free, or if they do wear foundation, make sure it doesn’t show and you can still see the skin texture underneath. Tinted moisturizer, BB Cream, or sheer foundation make great options to achieve “my skin but better” look!
Don’t forget that it should be all about balance and moderation. For example, if you play with eye makeup, then leave the lips pretty much nude like Gaëlle Prudencio here.
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And vice versa, if you wear bold lips, then leave the eyes as natural as possible.
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You can wear mascara to open up your eyes, put on illuminating concealer if you had a long night before, and brush your eyebrows upward (you can use some help of a brow mascara here). I also noticed that some girls tend to wear eyeliner too, but never too strong or obvious.
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Our hair
What I noticed a lot in Paris is that French women look like they don’t care about their hair at all, everything looks messy, yet cool at the same time. It doesn’t matter what your hair color, type, or length is, the most important thing is showing off that texture!
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But if you have thin, straight hair like me, you could use some help of hair texturizer or beach spray.
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The perfume
We have come to the final step: the perfume. It is the most intimate makeup you can wear and the one that will leave the longest impression on others. You’d want to keep it subtle, like it’s there but not strongly present. Keep it a little bit mysterious. Here is a list of perfumes that are well-loved by the French girls.
Voila! Now you are ready to step out the door and conquer the world! And please don’t forget, the most important accessory a girl can wear is confidence. You’ve got this, ladies.
