Have you ever noticed how effortlessly beautiful French women are? Gorgeous hair, perfect skin, beautiful figures… and the best look of all: killer confidence. How DO they do it?
Post adapted from Source: French Girl Beauty Secrets: 11 Tips To Look Parisian Pretty – Beauty Guide – Livingly
French women have an allure all their own. It is my experience that many people believe they are simply born beautiful, and that there is nothing that the rest of us mortals can do to attain their beauty and glamour. After working in the beauty industry, however, and upon close inspection, I believe I can offer insights into how to achieve at least a smidgen of French elegance. While I do believe genes you are born with have something to do with how attractive you are, it’s what you do with what you’re born with that matters in the long run. To me, this last point is crucial in understanding “how French women do it.” They take care of themselves today in ways that benefit them tomorrow.
French women are careful in the sun. Think about the pictures of French women you’ve admired: how many have a tan? Probably not many, if any. French women are not sun worshipers because they learn early on about the long-term effects of sun on the skin. Being careful in the sun, which means using plenty of SPF when you are out and avoiding the hottest sun during the day, is the number one thing people can do to avoid premature aging. Many girls and women don’t accept this until it’s too late. While working in the beauty industry, several women I knew from high school came in to my store and were desperate for something to alleviate their dry skin. They were all sun worshipers back in the day. Unfortunately, when they were younger, they didn’t understand that a tan is for the moment; skin is for a lifetime.
French women are not work-out obsessed. Of course, they have better eating habits — fresh food, little if any of it processed, portions in moderation — and they have friends who are likely to gently nudge each other if they notice one of their group putting on weight. They also walk a lot. It makes sense that French women are not work-out obsessed because they don’t have to be. As the French culture is focused on pleasurable experiences, French women choose activities to stay in shape that are fun, such as water aerobics.
French women love water. What is your approach to water? Do you drink it on occasion only because you know you should? Would you rather have iced tea or a diet drink? For French women, water isn’t just a beverage that they drink plenty of, it’s a beauty product, because they know that well-hydrated skin glistens from within, which no rouge can match. As France is well-known from their mineral springs, water and its benefits are incorporated into French cosmetics and skin care lines.
French women get enough sleep. Like water, sleep is acknowledged as the beauty treatment that it is. While you sleep, skin produces collagen, a necessary ingredient for cell turnover. The better your cell turnover, the more radiant your complexion will be. If you chronically deny yourself enough sleep, your skin is deprived of collagen while increasing the amount of cortisol, a stress hormone that leads to inflammation: the result is dull, lifeless skin that is prone to wrinkles. Sleep is crucial to overall good health; it should not be regarded as a luxury or unnecessary. I often cringed when I had clients come in for a product to hide the dark circles under their eyes while telling me about how they deprive themselves of sleep like it was a badge of honor. It isn’t.
French women love masks. If my experience working for Sephora is any indication, American women want beautiful skin without putting in the time to get it. Great skin doesn’t just happen; you have to work at it. French women know this, and learn to do one or two masks a week. Nothing says you have to use the same mask every time, though I would be careful about doing two types of active ingredient masks in one week. This means that if you do a glycolic acid-based mask one day (for its anti-aging benefits), it would be better to use something like Clinique’s Even Better Brightening Moisture Mask for the next one, rather than a different anti-aging mask using retinol or sulfur, for example: your skin might react from using the two active ingredients close together.
French women trust kitchen remedies. Since French women have mothers and grandmothers with beautiful skin, they trust what their elders tell them, and that is, kitchen remedies work. Why buy the latest product if your mother has beautiful skin using a homemade remedy? I use a mask that consists of 3 tablespoons of cooked white rice, 1 tablespoon of honey, and 1 tablespoon of milk. This softens my skin, makes it glow, and helps with wrinkles. In addition, I save the water that I cooked the rice in and wash with it. It makes my skin silky smooth.
French women believe less is more. French women like to look the same with makeup as without, only fresher. Since they have great skin, a little mascara, rouge, eyeliner, and lipstick go a long way to enhancing their looks. That said, if you don’t have great skin, high-end makeup brands such as Dior and Lancome can give you the look of little makeup while covering flaws and enhancing your natural beauty.
French women spend more time on skin care. I would add to this, French women take a pro-active approach to their skin and prevent problem skin rather than try to conceal bad life habits with make up.
Red lipstick makes you stand out. There is a red for every lip.
French women appreciate a simple red lip. Women have been wearing red lip color since the Mesopatamia time, about 3,000 B.C. Perhaps the red lip became French during the 1700s, when upper class French women were encouraged to wear cosmetics, which differed from their arch-rival England, whose anti-cosmetics laws left only the prostitutes to wear them. Certainly, French actress Sarah Bernhardt helped to solidify the red lip as French when she wore it in early films in the late 1800s; red lipstick helped her lips to be seen on black-and-white film. In our modern time, there’s something about red lipstick that just says “classic,” and with so many reds available, it is easy to find a hue you can call your own.
French women don’t fuss with their hair. They don’t wash their hair every day because it strips the hair of natural oils. They set their hair once in the morning and don’t touch it during the day; if a few hairs fall out of a twist, they let it go. After all, a few fallen hairs is sexy.
French women have a signature fragrance. The American women I waited on working at Sephora always seemed to want the latest in everything — skincare, makeup, even fragrance. Conversely, French women stick with what works: they find a fragrance they love and call it their own. It becomes part of their identity, and they aren’t dressed without it. My favorite is Dolce & Gabbana’s Light Blue. What is your favorite scent? Let it become part of you and wear it every day.
Au revoir!
Image of French actress used by permission. Evian designer water bottles by Stella Yoda, Flickr, CCBY 2.0. Red lipstick by Wen Chen, Flickr, CCBY 2.0.