A couple of weeks ago, I went to Paris to visit my old
friend, Sarah (http://sarah-serves.blogspot.com), who for the last five months
has been living what must be every foodie’s fantasy: fully immersing herself in
the French culture and cuisine. This
girl has guts and was one of my greatest inspirations when deciding to pack in
my old job and become a make-up artist.
Since I haven’t had a holiday since 2009 and have always wondered what
springtime in Paris is like, whom better to see it with than my fabulous,
French-speaking friend! Another lure was of course the make-up shops such as
Make up For Ever and Sephora (my idea of heaven- why we do not have one in the
UK, I’ll never know!) and of course the French pharmacies, with all their
amazing products that we have to pay considerably more for here in the UK..JPG)
High up on the agenda for my time in Paris was to find Sarah
her signature red lipstick. Red lipstick is the stiletto of make up! Red lips
are bold, sexy and never go out of style.
But many women find it hard to find the right shade and texture of
lipstick for them. The general rule of
thumb is that people with pink skin undertones suit shades of red with a blue
undertone, those with yellow/olive undertones suit orangey reds, very pale
skintones suit most reds and those with dark skin suit brick reds and burgundy
shades. However, rules are made to be
broken –especially when it comes to make up.
A blue shade of red tends to look more formal and grown up whereas
orange reds are a little more undone, so it just depends on what look you want
to go for.
As for textures, matte
lipstick delivers sophisticated, intense, full coverage colour with no
shine. It normally stays on longer than
other lipsticks, but it can be drying.
Sheer lipsticks provide a glossy, sheer wash of see-through colour that
allows your natural lip colour to show through.
It doesn’t have to be applied with great precision so is great for a
quick fix. Crème lipsticks provide a
full coverage of moist colour. It wears quite well, without being as
dehydrating as matte lipstick due to its emollient content. Crème formulas can
have a natural, frosted or shimmer finish.
A few tips to remember when choosing a lipstick in any
shade:
·
Glossy lips look more youthful than matte.
·
Dark lip colours age you faster than any other
make-up product. (The darker your natural lip colour, the darker you can go
with your lip colour and still look natural and youthful).
·
Wear lighter shades of lip colour on thin lips
to make them look fuller.
·
Warmer, more colourful lipstick choices always
make you appear younger because they bring out the warm tones in your skin and
add life to your face.
So back to my search for Sarah’s signature red – we decided
that she should go for a matte red with a blue undertone for that dramatic
look. We started off in Make Up For
Ever, where we found a gorgeous shade of red that really suited her. Make Up For Ever was also where I picked up a
foundation and lipstick palette and got a 40% professional discount (Merci
beaucoup, MUFE!). However, as it was the
first make-up shop we had visited and there were still many others on the
agenda we didn’t buy the red lipstick.
Next, we went into MAC, but couldn’t find one that was special
enough.
After a quick stop for refreshments at the quintessentially
Parisian Cafe St Regis, a macaroon and chocolate fix at the amazingly fragrant
Maison Larnicol and some sight-seeing around Notre Dame, we found our way to
City Pharma, one of the many pharmacies in Paris. Before I left, the main products I planned to
buy for my kit were Bioderma Crealine H2O, which is my must-have cleanser in my
kit, and Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentrate, which lots of MUAs swear by for
moisturising. I had been watching one of Lisa Eldridge’s
wonderful tutorials about French pharmacies and made a note of some of the
products she recommended from brands like Nuxe and La Roche- Posay. I was like a kid in a candy store in the
pharmacy and if they hadn’t been ready to close up shop after half an hour in
there, I would have happily spend hours
browsing the aisles, trying to decipher what each product is for. There were so many great products there at
more than reasonable prices. I ended up
spending more money than I planned but am very happy with what I bought.
 |
| Walking the red carpet in Sephora - I can't contain my happiness! |
The next day, we hit The Avenue des Champs-Élysées, lined with designer shops. After a quick browse in Louis Vuitton,
pretending that I could actually afford anything in there, Sarah and I get back
down to business. First, we went to a shop called Marionnaud, which Sarah described
as the French equivalent of a Superdrug, but I think it’s way classier. It has a huge selection of men’s and women’s
fragrances, skin care and make-up brands from Bourjois to Dior! Sarah tried on
and swatched many red lipsticks, including a gorgeous one from the Dior Addict
Extreme collection called Fireworks #756, but none were quite right. So we hot-footed it down the avenue to
Sephora. I have been obsessed with Sephora since I lived in New York. There, it was my ‘happy place’ where I would
spend hours on end smelling all the perfumes and testing all the make-up. Whenever, I’d had a bad day (which was quite often
in New York), Sephora would make it all better, so I was excited to be
reunited. And Sephora in Paris did not
disappoint... in fact, it welcomed me into its huge doors and onto its red
carpet with open arms! I think this
particular store must be one of the brand’s biggest stores in the world because
it was quite overwhelming. I instantly
wanted to run in every direction at once and had to rein myself in a bit, take
a couple of deep breaths and tell myself repeatedly that I was on a budget and
couldn’t afford everything!
Whilst I was
painstakingly looking over each product and asking myself “Do I really need
this?”, Sarah was off in search of her
red lipstick. When I caught up with her,
her hand looked as if someone had written a novel in Morse code with lipstick
and she was obviously a little bewildered by the choice. So there was only one thing to do: start from the beginning and try all the red
lipsticks on her lips until we found “The One”!
So that is exactly what we did! I kind of took over various make-up
stations in the store, found a lipstick that might be suitable and tried them
on Sarah, one by one, sanitizing the lipstick before and after, of course and
using the various applicators and make-up removers. None of the staff seemed to mind,
fortunately, and I even had a French girl approach me and ask me to suggest a
good foundation for her skintone! Sarah
and I spent a good half an hour at least trying on lipsticks from Clarins,
Chanel, Dior, Shiseido, Lancôme, MAC, Givenchy,
Guerlain, Giorgio Armani and Sephora’s own brand. But do you know what we ended up buying? That
red lipstick that Sarah first tried on in Make Up Forever, the shade: ‘Moulin
Rouge’! Which just goes to show that it
is often the first find that’s the right find, but when it comes to choosing
your signature red lipstick (and anything else worth having), it is always
worth doing a little work to make sure you find one that’s perfect for you.
