An effortless red lip, a flick of black eyeliner and the “I care – but not too much” attitude: this is the French approach to beauty, non? If there’s anyone who has the authority to tell us, it’s the wildly successful 40-something make-up artist Violette Serrat, who is also one of the chicest Parisians I know.
“I want barely anything on my skin but at the same time I want to show the world that I take care of myself, my hair is shiny, my lips are hydrated and my brows are brushed up,” Serrat tells me.
“Then there’s the one ‘accent’, whether it’s a bolder eye or a brighter lip, that feels more individual.” Just take one look at French actresses such as Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu or Isabelle Huppert on a red carpet. “They always look edgy but sexy, chic but never glamorous,” says Serrat. “This is what it means to look French – we want to look like ourselves and go out looking secure, confident and showing the world we love who we are.”
Serrat has bottled up this irreverent, French approach to beauty with her namesake beauty brand. Here are her lessons on how to approach make-up – and look très chic while doing it.
Get the complexion right – and then move on
Firstly, you’d never catch Violette in a full-face of foundation, and that’s completely intentional. “Over the age of 40, you need your complexion to look fresh and natural but it still needs to perform. For me, I want to remove the darkness under my eye, but that’s it,” says Serrat. In other words, using a liquid concealer on specific areas works better than coating the whole face with foundation. Try a product like the Ilia True Skin Serum Concealer.
Ilia True Skin Serum Concealer, £30 at Ilia Beauty
Always wear a blusher – but the right texture
Next, blusher. Wearing it “should be a rule”, says Serrat. “Maybe it’s a French thing but when people see you, they won’t hesitate to say, ‘oh you look tired’. It’s rude, yes, but often I will come back and say, ‘no, I just need some blush.’” Violette suggests midlife women use cream formulas that mimic more “bounce” in the skin, rather than traditional powder blushers. Her new Plume Blush has the texture of Play-Doh, which provides an impact of long-lasting colour with the softness and blurring effect of a cream.
…and the right colour
“As we age, the skin can have a bit more of a grey tone within it, so we need to add some freshness,” Serrat says. “Avoid tones that are too nude or terracotta on the cheeks, because it can dull your skin.”
Serrat says that a truly French approach to blusher is to copy nature. This is why a reddish tone is so flattering as it looks like you’ve just been out for a cold walk on the streets in Paris.
“I know that the Brits love pink blush, but the French don’t, and that’s because in France we don’t like to look ‘cute’ or ‘fragile’. Pink has this connotation of something more pure, more kind, but we want to look scarier.”
Brush your brows
“Beyond blush, focus on eyebrows,” says Serrat, who describes brows as “the coat hangers of your face”. It’s important, she says, “to have your eyebrows a little bit done, which doesn’t mean they need to be dark and heavy, or drawn-in, but a little maintenance goes a long way.”
For this, she suggests always brushing them up well, adding in a little powder or pencil where you need it and fixing them in place with some brow gel. “You will see how much that transforms your face without looking unnatural,” Serrat says. Try the Brow Sculpt by Refy.
Brow Sculpt by Refy, £20 at Refy Beauty
A slick of red lipstick
“The mentality towards make-up in France is very much ‘this is how I am, if you don’t like it, it’s not my problem – it’s yours.’ This is why red lipstick is such a thing,” says Serrat. “We love red lipstick because it’s very attractive but at the same time it pushes you away. You can’t kiss it because you will mess it up so it’s playing a game.” Red on the lips also “refreshes you” as you age, she says. “Beige and neutrals, on the other hand, are very hard to work with.”
Have restrain with make-up
“There’s this unspoken rule in French make-up that you always have to restrain yourself a little bit,” says Serrat. “You still want to look like yourself and never too ‘glam’,” she says.
“Americans are usually very heavy with their make-up, and the French have more of a simplicity. Britons are somewhere in-between,” she smiles. “If I put blue on my eyes, it will be a very thin eyeliner of it – we like the mix of being super creative but with restraint.”
Three French make-up products to try
Violette Plume Blush, £35 at Liberty
This is the most wearable, cherry-red blusher on the market. For the most natural-looking flush, stamp it onto the skin with a kabuki brush, starting from the apples of the cheeks outwards.
Intense Colour Eye Pencil in Midnight Blue by Guerlain, £26 at Guerlain
A coloured eyeliner can serve as your “one thing” with make-up, says Violette. This long-lasting eye pencil offers an approachable way to wear blue.
Plume Lip in Mon Cheri by Violette, £32 at Liberty
If you are hesitant in trying a red lipstick but want something punchier than a beige, this smokey neutral shade is the perfect compromise.