The French are known for many things, but beauty is definitely up there; they just get it and not only that, they embrace and portray a romantic style of elegance, one that many beauty brands share with us here in Australia.
Working for a French beauty brand for over eight years, I was lucky enough to see first hand in Paris what French beauty is all about and one word and one word only comes to mind – SKIN!
Makeup and colour becomes the accessory to the skin, coming in secondary to that beautiful and very even skin tone, a youthful and ‘less is best’ approach to makeup rather than makeup being a focus.
One of my many quotes is ‘makeup should look as though it is coming from within the skin, not sitting on top looking heavy’ – one that I definitely mastered by being trained in Paris for so many years.
I noticed over my time being trained in Paris that Australian women had a lot more sun damage and dehydration present in their skin, to that of the French. This meant that Aussie women would apply more makeup, especially foundation hoping to cover these concerns, but as we know, the more you apply, the more risk of makeup creasing and looking heavy can happen, especially when dehydration is concerned.
MB PRO TIP: It is worth spending time on the prime.
Applying the correct skincare for your concerns, adding hydration, using a primer before foundation is just something that I cannot apply makeup without. It makes my work so much quicker and easier and gives a guarantee to my clients that their look will not move as much and look dry or creased later in the day.
French beauty isn’t just about hydrated skin, it is about even skin. One that is smooth and such a great blank canvas, foundation does not need to be a focus, but a mere corrector, only on areas that may need it. Real skin should be more focused on in Australia and is a big beauty trend at the moment.
One French Beauty product that I love to make this trend a reality is the Lancôme Dream Tone (RRP $115). A great point of difference is that each skin tone can have their own-targeted results reducing colour irregularities on the skin.
I was lucky enough to work with Academy Award winning Actress, Juliette Binoche in 2009 when in Australia for 10days. I must say at age 45 at the time, Juliette’s skin was flawless and I was amazed how little makeup I needed, even when attending gala events.
Juliette said to me, “I want you to mimic my natural tones, bringing them out more, with a highlighted feel, not replacing my natural tones with lots of other makeup products.”
Working with many celebrities before Juliette, I had never heard this before and loved the feel of the makeup, oh so very French!
Every tone I used on Juliette’s face was personally picked by the actress, making sure I enhanced her natural tones, not replacing and adding new ones, making her look to placed.
MB PRO TIP: Applying any type of correcting products to the face need to obviously correct what is visible, but it does not mean the entire face needs to be the same level of coverage because on area.
Avoiding expression areas of the face will give you a more youthful and anti-creasing effect as makeup does move as the day wears on.
One of my favourite French inspired images is this Lancôme campaign featuring supermodel Daria Werbowy.
I love the classic red lip and the winged eyeliner, two makeup areas that I feel French women embrace and wear very well – sublime! The French would normally have an olive base skin, so this look is perfect for this skin tone and darker hair, but paler skin can also pull this off very well, you might need to even the skin tone away of any pink and have a warm red (not cool) to still pull it off beautifully.
A go-to French lipstick brand I love is Yves Saint Laurent, ever so French and ultimate in luxury – another trait of the French and I am not complaining.
I love the Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte lipstick in Red Muse (RRP$55)
If eyes are more your focus and want to keep it classy with a French luxury twist to those eyelids, I would look at French actress Marion Cotillard for inspiration. I love her subtle smokey and modern take on eye makeup.
Blended, yet defined, smokey without looking like black eye shadow and still showing off her skin and an overall balance in her makeup look. A deep tone liner, charcoal, brown, is a great way to start this style eye makeup… Apply a thicker line than usual, and then smudge upwards into the eyelid with a little brush for a great blend. This is now your base and stencil to now apply eye shadow over the top to make t easier than apply shadow straight to the mobile eyelid. Use deeper shades around lash line and socket, then highlight using a medium metallic shade on lid and the lightest shade in inner corner tear duct.
Chanel, a true French luxury…
The Chanel Les Ombre 214 (Tisse Mademoiselle) (RRP$98) is a perfect choice for an everyday, or nighttime smokey…
You don’t have to use grey, charcoal, black eye shadows to create a smokey eye and in fact, latest trends are definitely more bronze, browns and coppers. So ladies, think more skin and makeup as your accessory.. Have focal points and less is best!
Happy Bastille Day for Monday!
Images: French beauty secrets images supplied