THE WEEKLY EDIT:
Shopping: Bottega Veneta Sunglasses Sale
Finding Bottega sunglasses on sale is rare, even rarer is up to over 55% off! I’ve owned these for years and love them - I may just add these, these or these to my collection next.
Watching: Barbie
Toss on some pink and invite some girlfriends over for a movie night - Barbie hits HBO tomorrow (12/15)!
Loving: Bows Everywhere
Bows and ribbons are literally everywhere right now and they spark so much joy! From dresses (is this not the perfect holiday dress?), to candlesticks holders, champagne glasses, dishes, shoes, and hair, 'tis certainly the season.
Reading: The Courage to Be Disliked by by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
The review for this book that got me was “Marie Kondo, but for your brain.” And while I don’t have a ton of time to read right now, litttttle by little I’m turning pages.
Gifting: A few ideas of items I own and love
Sonsie Basic Balm, $16 plus + 20% off with code GERI20
For any human with lips, this balm is fantastic. It’s not sticky and is super nourishing, I’m mildly addicted to it. Did I mention it was co-founded by the always effortless MVB?The Dore Ice Roller, $36
This is the compact stainless upgrade to the plastic clunky Amazon ice roller I've been waiting for! A few rolls of this over my face + a coffee = awake, de-puffed, and ready for the day.SIDIA Hand Care Duo, $70
Fancy handcare isn’t something people tend to buy themselves but always enjoy which is why it’s an excellent gift in my opinion. Plus, every chic girl I know has this set in their powder room.Pajamas, Robes, Slippers & Cashmere Socks, ranges
Lake Pajamas - their DreamKnit fabric is the softest!
Petite Plum- I love their classic white twill and the holiday collection for kids. You can use code GERI15 for 15% off.
Hill House monogrammed robes - we have these for our whole family and love them! My girls use the ‘Tiny Hotel Robe’ in floral as a towel after the tubbies every night.
Jenni Kayne slippers (it’s currently 20% off sitewide!)
The AARKE, ranges
The most aesthetically pleasing sparkling water maker on the market, I love this thing. A great gift for him or her. Their new kettle is beautiful, too.Stephanie Matthias Ceramics, ranges
Fun fact: Stephanie designed the little rosette for my newsletter and also happens to make the most beautiful ceramics! Her restocks sell out almost immediately but the scallop vase, bow dish, and croissant dish are still avail. You can’t go wrong with gifting one of her handmade pieces.Dorsey, ranges
The Rivière necklaces, the tennis bracelets, Leonora! Allll would be a dream of a gift to receive.
ALRIGHT, LET’S GET INTO IT:
When Filler & Filters Replaced French Girl on Beauty
Who remembers when all the blogs and magazines wrote about “French girl beauty” everything all the time? Sticky taglines I’d click on and devour like a buttery, flaky croissant to get a taste of that "je ne sais quoi":
How To Do Your Makeup Like a Chic French Woman
The Secrets of French Girl Beauty
French Girl Makeup Tips, According to a French Makeup Artist
Insert anything + French girl/woman
It didn’t seem to matter how many previous iterations of the same article I'd consumed, I always clicked, always read, and always enjoyed like a perfectly frothed cappuccino, ideally sipped underneath a striped awning along the Champs-Élyséess with said croissant.
The inescapable articles captured a moment in time. A time aligned with Phoebe Philo at Celine, the height of Isabel Marant, the rise of Violette's YouTube channel, and a moment when editors like Emmanuelle Alt and Carine Roitdeld were the most coveted PFW street-style photos, captured by Phil Oh, of course. Who remembers?
Along with the Celine Trapeze bags, the majority of the 'French Girl Beauty' clickbait has seemingly subsided, and can I just tell you...I MISS IT!
And by missing "French Girl beauty" everything, maybe what I mean is, that I miss when that was the beauty aesthetic we were aspiring for. It was a time in beauty when less really was more, there was pride in fewer but really good go-to products, and Instagram face wasn't a thing.
Idolizing the French beauty aesthetic came with an understanding that French women don't overdo it with cosmetic procedures, making it desirable to not overdo your own. In fact, in her book How To Be Parisian Wherever You Are, Caroline de Maigret concedes that if French women opt to get anti-wrinkle injections, they keep it a secret. And if they do get Botox, they don't do it more than once a year or you risk it becoming visible.
Ahhh so sensible! A very different approach to the 18-year-olds sharing their filler and botox journeys on TikTok. Call me a millennial but I’ll never understand why someone so beautiful and youthful would inject their face. Do they not know that older women inject their faces hoping to look young again?
One could argue that "clean girl" is very similar to "French girl makeup” because there are similarities - a slicked-back bun with natural-ish makeup, for example - but they are inherently different. There’s an undercurrent of “tweakments” beneath “clean girl” - a syringe of lip filler here, 100 units of botox there - and you didn't have to invest in a 12-step skincare routine plus spend time applying 18+ different makeup products to achieve "French Girl" makeup. It all seemed simpler, more sensible, and affordable than that. A dab of Chanel lipstick, just a hint of blush, a thin layer of mascara, for example. A simplicity and affordability that brought an attainability to the French girl aesthetic vs. the very involved commitment to have filtered looking glazed, glass, "insert buzzy synonym trending on TikTok," perfect skin needed to look “clean.”
As I was writing this article, it occurred to me that the decline of French beauty articles may have intersected with the rise of Instagram filters, so I decided to do a quick Google search.
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