The French Girl Makeup Look
When I went to Provence with A Taste of Paris, I was quickly inspired to pare down my makeup routine. There was something about the effortless French girl makeup I saw around me—natural, healthy skin that looked glowy and dewy rather than overly made up. Since then, that has been my makeup goal.
Natural, Glowy Skin: Typology
I primarily use two makeup brands on my face, and they both happen to be made in France. One is Typology. I love their TINTED SERUM as foundation and TINTED CONCEALER. I actually use 2 different colors of the concealer (the 2 lightest shades) depending on the time of year. You can see by the picture it is time for me to place an order. 🤣 Typology has clean ingredients, is basically skincare disguised as makeup, and even offers a skin diagnostic test on their website which helps you know what to order. For the record, I have also used their makeup remover and loved it as well as the Replenishing Tinted Lip Balm in Rosewood, which is a beautiful natural lip color! I love Typology!
For a pressed powder with excellent coverage, I use Charlotte Tilbury Magic Powder in 2 Medium. It looks beautiful on the skin. If I’m needing a little additional coverage, I use Tower 28 Concealer in color 3 CC which is considered “light with peach undertones.”
To keep everything in tact all day long, I like to prep my skin with really incredible skincare—(read my skincare routine here.) Unfortunately, my Laneige primer has been discontinued, but I plan on trying THIS ONE next. Have you used it?
French Girl Lips & Blush: Violette_Fr
The other French makeup brand I use is Violette_Fr. I absolutely love this brand and became a bit obsessed with their BISOU BALMS, a blurry matte lipstick that gives the just bitten look. I have every single color available. Yes, the typical French girl lip is a vibrant red (think AMOUR FOU), but I can’t help but love SUCETTE, which means lollipop in French. It’s a bright raspberry pink and I think it’s so feminine and fun! CHOCOLAT was released most recently, and it is now my go-to. The rich color makes me think of the 90s!
a cool red lip: Amour Fou
a warm red lip: Bonbon Coquelicot
a red berry lip: Bêtise
a chocolate lip: Chocolat
a nude lip: Calisson
a purple berry lip: Bonbon Myrtille
a neutral pink lip: Rose Latté
a cool raspberry pink: Sucette
a cool brown red: Mon Cheri
**Bêtise and Rose Latté are probably the most versatile
This Rhode lip pencil is absolutely gorgeous. It’s just about the color of a natural lip, so I use it to line almost every lipstick that I use. The formula of this lip liner is everything. Very soft and very blendable. If you want a really sharp lip line, this is not the pencil for you. This is for pouty, blurry lips. TIP: The Rhode lip pencil can also be used as a blush.
I also love Violette_Fr’s BISOU BLUSHES, and have several of those colors as well. These cream stick blushes are made with a sfumato effect, a marble of color used by Italian Renaissance painters—you can see the sfumato in the picture below. This creates a multi-dimensional effect on the skin, giving perfect depth of a sun-kissed face. I use the colors INÈS and LOUISE the most. I also love that there is a little brush on the opposite end of the product. MARNIE is the perfect bronzing color for your eyelids or for a bit of contour. I can’t say it enough, though, I cannot do my makeup without LOUISE.
Eyes
When it comes to mascara, I have been a Lancôme Definicils girl since 7th grade. It is the only mascara I’ve ever used that is lengthening without clumping and doesn’t smudge onto my eyelids or undereyes. No matter what other mascaras I try, I always go back to Definicils.
On my lids, I only swipe a small amount of one neutral color from my lash line to my crease, and then I blend it out with my finger. I either use the Ilia Eye Stylus Shadow Stick in Regal, or I use the Violette_Fr Yeux Paint in Café Serré. Honestly, the Ilia shadow stick is easier to use, so if you are more low maintenance with makeup, I would do that one. If you are an experienced artist, then I would say give the Violette a try. Both are gorgeous.
For brows, I use the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pen in Medium Brown. It has a really thin pen brush on one end and a spoolie on the other end. The pen brush makes it easy to draw actual hair strokes. I love this product, and it has 24 hour wear!
In my opinion, the picture above is a good representation of how natural all the makeup I just mentioned looks. I love a natural, glowy look, and I believe all these products help me achieve that with the help of my skincare. You can read my blog about skincare HERE.
French girl makeup, at least as I’ve interpreted it, isn't about looking like I’m wearing lots of makeup. It's about allowing my skin to look like skin, choosing a few products that enhance rather than cover, adding a beautiful lip or flush of color, and stopping before everything becomes too perfect.
