If you try to Google the elusive \u201cFrench Beauty,\u201d you\u2019ll find hundreds of articles revealing secrets like mineral-infused thermal water and not being afraid of a little bed head. But when scrolling through the Instagram accounts of French beauty icons like Jeanne Damas and Sabina Socol, it\u2019s easy to wonder if there is something more to their effortless, natural beauty.<\/p>\n
In a way, beautiful French women like these can feel like enigmas. They are stereotyped as long-legged, smooth-tressed models. And yet, they indulge in pain au chocolat for breakfast, finish off dinner with a wedge of brie, and enjoy a few spoonfuls of chocolate souffl\u00e9 for dessert. And most of them, we imagine, do this all while fitting into the same jeans they\u2019ve been wearing since their early twenties.<\/p>\n
Before I moved to France, I could never wrap my head around how this perfect French woman could exist in a world filled with half-empty packs of cigarettes, practically deserted gyms, and arms full of fresh-baked baguettes. So when I first came to France as an au pair, I started wondering what was really behind the doors of this secret French beauty club.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, I began my search for French beauty in the aisles of the famed French pharmacies. Armed with cult favorites like Embryolisse Lait Cr\u00e8me Concentr\u00e9 and Caudalie Eau de Beaut\u00e9, I was basically ready to transform into a French girl overnight. And sure, the creams and serums worked like they were supposed to, but it\u2019s probably no surprise that after everything, I still felt far off from a real French girl (whatever that was). <\/p>\n
Fast forward past my four-month stint as an au pair, two years as an English teacher in a French high school, and many coffee shop chats with French women themselves, I think I have finally discovered what makes the French so beautifully unattainable. So if you\u2019re ready to learn how living in France shifted my perception of beauty as well as five ways that French beauty standards differ from American beauty standards, I\u2019ll reveal just how les b\u00e2tards have their cake and eat it too.<\/p>\n
Being Naturally Yourself vs. Trying to be Something You\u2019re Not<\/strong><\/p>\n Okay, before you come at me for the clich\u00e9, hear me out. \u201cBe Yourself\u201d might be one of the world\u2019s most worn-out pieces of advice for young women struggling with insecurities. As somewhat of a European-mutt, there are a lot of things I struggled to love about myself. My dad\u2019s Greek heritage came with a bump in my nose and two prominent facial moles. On my mom\u2019s side, I was gifted with rather pale skin and mousy brown hair from her German-Slovak heritage.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t exactly feel like \u201cbeing myself\u201d would fix the fact that I wasn\u2019t naturally gifted with a tiny waist, blonde hair, and a button nose. But, what surprised me when I started teaching high schoolers was that almost none of my students had blonde highlights or fake tans or contoured their faces.<\/p>\n And no hate to our American celebrities, but most of our beauty icons are seen wearing loads of makeup and even touting the occasional filter. I eventually learned the French are beautiful not because they’re chasing someone else\u2019s beauty but because they own their own beauty. For the most part, they\u2019re not drastically changing the color of their hair or the shape of their nose. They are just working with what they have. Sure, they still go to their esth\u00e9ticienne and even the plastic surgeon, but they want to leave looking like they almost did nothing at all. <\/p>\n M\u00e9lodie Bance<\/a> is a Parisian beauty influencer and founder of Vintage Bisous<\/a>, an online boutique that specializes in Parisian vintage fashion. She shared, \u201cStrong makeup looks like contouring and fake eyelashes or surgical enhancements are not very popular\u2013even taboo. Instead, we tend to value what looks like natural beauty that is subtly enhanced by makeup.\u201d The French would rather be a first-rate version of themselves than try to become a second-rate version of someone else. <\/p>\n French Beauty is a Lifestyle, Not a Routine<\/strong><\/p>\n