Hey everyone, it's Justine. We have talked about fashion tips and wardrobe essentials of French women/Parisian women, now I'd like to tackle the matter of makeup and hair. There are many clichés about how we French women do our makeup and hair so I will give you my opinion on this, and I'm looking forward to your comments below. So let's start with the face, 'cause that's the bigger part and then we'll talk about hair. The skin. Here's what Iearned from working in the cosmetics industry before I moved on to fashion. Everything starts with good skin. The goal is to get a healthy complexion that's at the same time fresh and natural-looking. Very important. A French woman hydrates her skin a lot, at least in the morning and in the evening if not also more often during the day. And they usually use a cream, a day care, that has a high sun protection factor in it, 'cause the sun creates damages, dries the skin out, gives you wrinkles, age spots, etc. So that's something you want to prevent. And by the way, the skin on the hands is also thin and fragile, just like your skin [on the face] So if you have a day care that has an SPF in it, using it also on your hands is a smart thing. Then foundation is not a must if your skin already looks good as it is. It's not about hiding the skin, it's just about correcting, if need be. So some women simply use a tinted moisturizer, or nothing at all. With or without foundation, you still want to cleanse your skin really well in the evening At least to take out the pollution from your pores, or something like that. So French women often use a makeup removing product or a micellar water that's for sensitive skin even if they don't have sensitive skin. The thinking behind that is, if it's okay on sensitive skin then it can't be that bad on the other skin types either. Once your skin is properly cleansed and well-moisurized, you can use powders and blushes to highlight and lowlight certain areas of your face. The principle is you don't want to hide what is special to you, you want to highlight that, because that's what makes you look like you. You know, it's not about making your face look standard, Iit's about highlighting your personality. French women prefer a golden colours over pinkish or apricot tones for the face, 'cause you don't want to look like you're a little girl -- so they think. You want to look like you have a healthy, discrete, elegant tan. Now let's talk about lips. In France in general, it's either the eyes OR the lips. You can't really focus on both at the same time, otherwise it's a bit too much. So if you do keep your eyes quite neutral and natural, you can really go for power lips. Bright red, no problem. French women wear all sorts of red, from very clear to very dark. But rarely any other colour. The trick if you're going from day to night, so if you're working and going out later is that you can just change the colour of your lipstick, go for a darker shade, and keep everything else exactly as it was. Personally, I always carry at least two different colours of lipstick around with me, so I have the choice and I'm ready for anything. Let's move on to the eyes. Here's the truth: you see super dramatic smoky eyes at Saint Laurant, Chanel, Givenchy etc. but not so much in real life. In the evening, maybe, but not really during the day. In fact, many women will just wear a colour of mascara that compliments the colour of their eyes so it doesn't have to be black, and then just add a line of pencil on the inside of the eye. And that's it. If you need to transition from day to night with your eyes, you can just add a thick line of black eyeliner. Wing it. And that's it It's the equivalent of switching lipstick colours, if you're going for the eye strategy. The eyebrows. In France, the general idea is always to play your strength and hide your flaws a little bit. But never to change the way you actually look. And the shape of the eyebrows is essential in the way the whole face looks. So women will typically remove single hairs here, below the eyebrows. In the middle, if necessary. Not always. But never above the eyebrows. That's super important. Never... hm. They did the 1920s, and again in the '90s, but not anymore. So the only thing they really do is to go over the eyebrows with a gel, a pencil, powder, whatever you prefer, to make them look a bit fuller, a bit more visible. But that's it. Brands. To close this first chapter about the face, I just want to mention very quickly that French women do spend more of their income on beauty and makeup in general, than in other countries. They really buy premium brands like Clarins, Biotherm, etc. Or even luxury ones, Guerlain, Givenchy, Chanel. Women really do own products by those brands, and they see the price as an indicator of quality. And something that's typically French is to buy your products in pharmacies, even though you don't have any allergies or particular skin needs. Pharmacy products usually contain less allergy-triggering radiants, and they also have less or no perfumes so they won't fight with the other products you're using, or with your fragrance. Much loved pharmacy brands in France are for instance, Caudalie or Nuxe. I'll write all the names below. Now let's talk about hair. It is often said that French women don't do anything to their hair that they they just let the hair flow in the wind. It is not entirely true. First, they nourish their hair really well. The ends cannot be dry. The roots cannot be greasy, your hair has to be clean at all times and between the roots and the ends, shine is nice, so for instance, every premium brand, Nyx included will offer some kind of oil that you can use on body and hair, to make you smooth and shiny from head to toe, so to say it also smells great. French women often leave their hair loose, open, untied. It looks natural and relaxed, but it's also seen as chic. The way they cut their hair is with layers from the skin -- from the head, so to say -- towards the outside, going up. That's what gives you a different movement for each hair length, and that's the messy look you think they've been spending hours on. But, no, not really. There's barely any styling involved, apart from a bit of hairspray to keep the broken ends flat. That's it. So it's high effect, low maintenance, and under French standards, that's a great thing. As far as I can remember, bangs have always been in fashion. So have braids. Or I should say French braids, now that I know the difference between French and Dutch braids. By the way, not everything that's called French in English is actually French. It's like, french fries. They're not French. I hope I could give you a feeling for the French way of thinking, in terms of beauty. If I could at least make you smile, give this video a thumb up. Thank you so much, now all the things you agree with, disagree with, if you have more questions you can write all that in the comments below. I'll see you Sunday and Wednesday again, and until then, take care. Bye!
