Tag Archives: Caudalie

j’aime le francais

francais

J. Crew is giving me the French lesson I never had. Each season, I seem to learn a new word. I even know the days of the week (thanks to this tee!) Expanded vocab and heaping t-shirt drawer…pretty much how it goes. This week’s dose of pretty is all about le francais. But instead of the hard to find pharmacie finds, you can easily find these items right here at home.

Ca Va? a.k.a. how’s it going? Sounds so much chicer in French, yes? I love this girly baseball tee that is begging to be worn with a pair of boyfriend jeans. // Marissa at BeauTea Bar introduced me to the eco chic brand Studio 78 Paris. The powders come with a mirror in the lid (smart!) and their liquid lipstick is made with avocado and plant oils! The colors are intense, in a good way. //The French got in on cleansing balms way before it became a thing here…Darphin is one of the most luxurious. // Every French pharmacie is stuffed with Caudalie. Luckily, so are Sephoras. I want to drench myself in all things Divine…especially this scrub. // Cleansing waters are all the rage in France. Bioderma is hard to get in the U.S. but Avene is much easier to score. // NUXE Huile Prodigieuse is an iconic dry oil you can spritz in your hair, on your body, face and it even doubles (quadruples?!) as perfume. // By Terry Baume de Rose is celebrating 10 years of being the fanciest lip balm on the planet!

How to Make Foundation Look Natural

LaBellaFigura-Jardin-de-Fleurs

I want it all when it comes to my makeup. I especially want that full coverage foundation to look completely natural, like it is my actual skin. The good news, it is much easier to get that second skin look than you think. The first step is a moisturized face — makeup just won’t sit well on dry skin and will only get worse as the day wears on. Dry office air, anyone? It’s the second step, though, that really makes the difference. After applying your foundation (cream/liquid/tinted moisturizer), spritz a toning mist all over your face and buff buff buff. And buff some more. I take my Cargo Magic Brush (the name says it all) and spritz the La Bella Figura Jardin de Fleurs all over. The key is to do it right after applying foundation and before any other makeup. The finish is dewy and natural—so good you could stop right there. But, I’d recommend a few dabs of cream blush on the cheeks for good measure. I adore LBF’s mist with coconut water and hyaluronic acid for hydration and jasmine, honeysuckle, rose, carrot seed hydrosol (see ya redness!) and white peony to balance PH levels in skin. But, you don’t need to spend a lot of dollars to benefit from this trick. The Heritage Rosewater & Glycerin, at about $6 a bottle, is equally up to the task.

Toning-Mist

A few of my favorites, low-to-luxe style:

$ Rosewater & Glycerin Spray / 100% Pure Organic Rose Hydrasol $$ Caudalie Beauty Elixir / ZENMED Nutrient Boost Spray / ED4OLO Vitamin D  $$$ Kahina Toning Mist / La Bella Figura Jardin de Fleurs / Tata Harper Hydrating Floral Essence

Caudalie Beauty Elixir Gets a Design Upgrade

Caudalie-L'Wren-Scott-Beauty-Elixir

Caudalie Founder Mathilde Thomas getting a spritz from fashion designer L’Wren Scott

The French Pharmacie is a magical place. My eyes lit up with excitement every time I saw one of those illuminated green crosses in the streets of Paris. I searched the internet far and wide to prepare myself for my first trip to a French pharmacy, gathering the beauty secrets of Francophiles everywhere. The common thread? Caudalie Beauty Elixir. While widely available in the U.S., this cult favorite serum meets toner mist was born a legend in the French Pharmacie. For good reason, too. Caudalie developed the elixir—a blend of rosemary essential oil, lemon balm, peppermint, rose, grape and orange blossom—as a modern version of the face brightening blend used by the Queen of Hungary, circa 1600. It’s like a spa visit in a bottle. And that bottle just got a swanky new design. Designer L’Wren Scott teamed with Caudalie to create a specially-designed Beauty Elixir, which she’s been using since 1997 when she discovered it herself in a French pharmacy.  I love this quote that Scott gave to the Telegraph newspaper about the collab, “About fifteen years ago, I was in Paris and it was hot… A pharmacist suggested Beauty Elixir to moisturise my skin…Ever since then, I’ve been using it when I wake up in the morning to set my make-up, and several times throughout the day, like when I need a refreshment. It’s part of my travel ritual, too; I use it on aeroplanes to moisturise my skin.”

Aeroplanes, guys. Her quotes are even as chic as her design. I can’t think of a better time to stock up on a few minis! The L’Wren Scott x Caudalie is here just for a limited time – in the aforementioned mini and full-sized versions.