The French Girl Beauty Guide for Effortlessly Beautiful Skin

We all know that French style is effortlessly chic and well, their beauty? Not so different. Here’s your French girl beauty guide to their favorite beauty brands, the best skin care products, makeup ideas, and more! Ready to get that French beauté?

French Girl Beauty Guide for Effortlessly Beautiful Skin

Skincare

Before you even start thinking about going on a makeup shopping spree, you’ve got to start with beautiful, healthy skin. No harsh cleansers or heavy scrubbing here! French woman have a simple approach when it comes to skincare and they’re also very big on moisturizer. It’s never a bad idea to start your day off with a glass of water to get hydrated on the inside first.
Related: 13 Tips to a Healthy Lifestyle

Favorite Skincare Products:

Bioderma Micellar Water
A top-rated product for gentle cleansing and/or removing your makeup. It provides instant freshness and captures impurities, but doesn’t strip your skin!
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair
A night cream that is widely used to help with aging skin. It repairs and renews cells and helps you wake up with younger, smoother skin.
Pâte Grise Creme Purifiante
A 70-year-old classic product for those pesky zits. This product unclogs your pores, reduces visible blemishes, and lets you wake up to clearer skin!
La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 Balm
A multipurpose heal all that you’ll definitely get your money’s worth out of. Use it on your face, body, hands, and lips to soothe your skin and help with any dryness. It’s rich, but not greasy, and can even be used on babies!
Homeoplasmine Cream
Banish dry skin and chapped lips with this cream! Not only does it moisturize, but it soothes and protects as well. A little goes a long way and you can even use it to heal a popped zit!
Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré
Luxe moisturizer with a huge cult celeb following…perfect for dry skin and giving you that coveted glow. It’s full of good-for-you, natural ingredients too!
Eau Thermale Avene Thermal Spring Water
This gentle spring water is perfect for a light refresher. Calm, soothe, and soften your skin, all the while providing it with antioxidant protection too!
NUXE Huile Prodigieuse Dry Oil
This multi-purpose oil will earn a place in your beauty cabinet. With a blend of plant oils and vitamins, it adds a healthy shine to your body and hair..all the while adding much-needed moisture!
Darphin Intral Facial Toner
This gentle toner helps with irritated skin and redness. With chamomile being an ingredient, it soothes and calms the skin!

Once your skin is cleansed and moisturized, then you move on to makeup!

Makeup

Parisians view makeup as an option. It’s not something they *have* to wear every day, and when they do wear it, it’s usually very light and natural. This doesn’t mean they don’t like to have fun with makeup though! They just don’t have a 30-minute makeup routine starting with primer and finishing off with a setting spray as most Americans do. It would also be pretty rare to see a French woman contour and wear bold brows and/or fake eyelashes.

To cover dark circles/spots you want a light foundation or concealer. Skip the contouring. Don’t forget, you’re going for natural here!
Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation is pricey, but a favorite. French girls use American brands too though! For a budget-friendly option, Sabina Socol recommends Glossier’s stretch concealer.

If you’re going to do eye makeup, go for natural shades- like soft rose or brown for daytime.

Do brows….but in a natural way! Try for a clear gel or a tinted gel instead of the whole brow contouring thing. Go for filled in yet hardly there.

Though they don’t contour their face, they are big on highlighting! This is key to getting that effortless glow.

You can’t forget blush. Put some on the nose too for a sun-kissed effect. This is how you fake a holiday!

Even if you barely apply it, mascara makes a world of difference! It makes your eyes pop.

The “no makeup” look is a real thing. Sometimes they’ll go completely bare, but they usually do a light base of makeup to look put together…effortlessly!

At night and for parties, have more fun with your makeup and try out a smoky eye! Or consider doing bold lips but a bare face. Red lips are a secret weapon…and an accessory! This Mac Ruby Woo lipstick is a favorite. If you have a bold lip the rest is usually very light and vice versa. Traditionally, you’d focus on one feature. Cat eyes are popular too! Have fun with makeup and use it to express personality and enhance beauty, but don’t try to look like somehow else or hide your beautiful features!

Presque fini! Almost done! Don’t forget about your signature fragrance. Nothing trendy…just classic!

Here are some of the most iconic French perfumes!

Chanel No. 5
Chloe Eau de Parfum
Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Eau de Parfum
Miss Dior Eau de Parfum
Guerlain Shalimar

And always, always remove your makeup at night! Your Bioderma micellar water will come in handy for that!

Favorite French Girl Brands:

Bioderma
Caudalie
L’Occitane
La Roche-Posay
Klorane
Avène
Chanel
Guerlain
Dior
Nuxe
Payot Paris

To learn more about the French style and their ways, check out the ultimate guide to French fashion! Au revoir!