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‘The French Beauty Solution’ is a book by Mathilde Thomas – the founder of Caudalie Skincare – about approaching beauty from the French perspective. Mathilde goes in depth about her life and how beauty and skincare have impacted it and the way that she, and most other French women, were taught to go about it. This book has wonderful insight into coming at beauty and taking care of your skin from the whole body approach that we love so much at Granola Girl and she gives wonderful tips and information to take care of your skin the ‘French Way’. So let’s dive into the book!
This is actually my second time around reading this book. I originally purchased and read it back in 2017 right after I had finished esthetician school and was working as a licensed esthetician at a waxing salon. To say I was obsessed with this book after reading it was an understatement! I was thrilled to have my eyes opened to another way of approaching beauty. I had spent years working with skincare and makeup products and was so used to just offering these products as beauty solutions instead of looking at the way our whole body effects our skin. That being said, I didn’t feel like the tone of this book aged very well. The whole premise is comparing American beauty practices to French ones, and maybe it’s because a lot of us here in America have come a long way in how we approach beauty, but it felt extremely negative towards how we do things. She seemed to master the art of the backhanded compliment while talking about American’s. But I digress, that’s just one woman’s opinion.
Though I had these issues with the tone of the book, it is still a wealth of knowledge and I still love and recommend the book. I absolutely adore the way the French use their beauty routine to bring themselves pleasure instead of to just fix issues.
Mathilde also does an amazing job at breaking down the science behind skin and the way it functions as well as going over various ingredients and how they might impact the skin; I found it to be a wonderful reference and recap for me after being out of esthetics school for years. She breaks down ingredients and how they might impact the skin as well as what skin types they may or may not be best for.
I’m a big believer in “eating your skincare” meaning essentially that everything we put in our body either positively or negatively impacts us, especially our skin. Mathilde also touches on nutrition and gives a very digestible (pardon the pun) chart of what foods do certain things for our skin and why.
I won’t give the whole book away, but here are some of my biggest takeaways:
6 lessons to take away from ‘The French Beauty Solution’
- RELAX LIKE THE FRENCH. If you’re familiar with my blog you know I’ve struggled with managing my stress and high cortisol issues. So I’m sure it’s no surprise that I loved her chapter on relaxing the French way. She states, “Stress shows on your face.” And I’ve found with myself and others, that’s 100% true. Mathilde goes over how to create a relaxing atmosphere in your own home to bring peace as well as giving yourself an at home facial to not only relax but also to firm and bring circulation to your skin.
- EAT LIKE THE FRENCH. I touched on this a bit above and there were great takeaways but this one didn’t necessarily age well for me either because it does somewhat insinuate eating less is important and as a lot of us know now is that we need to have a lot more protein in our diets for healthy hormone balance. However, I did really appreciate that the French love to sit and enjoy their meals and eat fresh, whole ingredients. Again, they eat to bring themselves pleasure and nourishment, not just to scarf something down and move on with their day. They also put a big emphasis on not eating processed foods which as a crunchy American I, of course, love as well.
- DO SKINCARE LIKE THE FRENCH. Something I absolutely LOVED about this book is how much she talks about making masks and products at home with simple, whole, ingredients! She grew up with her mother and grandmother passing down simple recipes for healthy beautiful skin, so not only was this form of skincare full of rich familial connection she also knew exactly what was going on her skin. No mystery ingredients that she couldn’t pronounce! At the end of the book she even has a chapter that has some of the recipes for her favorite masks, oil combinations for moisturizing, etc.
- DO YOUR MAKEUP LIKE THE FRENCH. As crunchy as I am, I am also a makeup artist. So I’m familiar with how much makeup goes into a “full glam” face. She talks about how the typical french woman embraces, “the less product the better” meaning that they’ll only use maybe a gloss, a bronzer and a mascara. Or a bold lip and mascara. The simple makeup combinations are endless. But basically, when they’re applying their makeup they are trying to accomplish simply highlighting their natural beauty, not covering it up. Makeup can do amazing things, it can contour your facial structure into a completely different face. But what an amazing thing, to just embrace what is beautiful about yourself and simply use your makeup as a tool to highlight that!
- YOUR SKINCARE ROUTINE DOES NOT END WITH YOUR FACE. I’m extremely guilty of this. I will have a full skincare routine and lather my face in great moisturizer and sunscreen, meanwhile my hands and legs are so dry and scaly they look like they belong on a completely different person. I love that she emphasizes the importance of caring for the skin of your whole body with also taking hydrating/soothing baths, luxurious scrubs, hair and nail care, and even treating your senses with luxurious fragrance. She also gives recipes for all of these body, nail and hair treatments at the end of the book.
- ENJOY YOUR SKINCARE LIKE THE FRENCH. This is perhaps my favorite takeaway and I try to live it every night during my skincare routine. Mathilde talks about making your skincare routine a luxury experience that brings your pleasure instead of something you have to force yourself to do and subsequently pick apart everything wrong with your skin while you do it. No, she walks you through tips and tricks to make your routine a more pleasurable experience like how to perform a facial massage on yourself and setting the mood just solely for your benefit. One more thing to bring joy to your day instead of stress.
Whether you want tips or tricks for your skincare routine, a new insight into a different way of doing beauty, or even a breakdown of the science of skin and how we age and damage our skin and how to prevent it, this book is honestly a wealth of knowledge. I picked it up to read through the whole thing a second time but it’s also a book i pick up to reference on a regular basis especially if I’m looking for new DIY masks to try out. If any of the above intrigues you, I recommend getting your hands on a copy and giving it a deeper dive; I think you’ll enjoy it.
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