Let's talk about French style for a minute (because it's definitely not overplayed, okay?). I recently interviewed a woman with so much je ne sais quoi that I could hardly concentrate while speaking with her because I was just silently hoping that I could absorb some of it through my proximity. Like some of her chicness could maybe just hop off of her tousled hair and berry-stained lips and land on me. Or that by standing in her color explosion of a living room, which was decorated without an ounce of planning or effort but looks like one of those images we tack onto a dream-home inspiration board (a mustard yellow couch against a green carpet, pink pillows thrown haphazardly and serving as seating for last-minute visitors, candelabra and cacti decorating the dining-room table), I could become more stylish, too.
Of course, I had to ask her the age-old question: what really makes French woman so effortlessly alluring? And why can’t we (me, you, Americans in general) seem to figure it out? Why do we always look like we're trying so hard all the time when the Caroline de Maigrets and Emmanuelle Alts of the universe seem to put little to no effort into their outward appearance yet continually look basically perfect? It's simplicity. They don't bother with the nonsense that a lot of Americans do and I’m betting they don’t spend hours in a YouTube k-hole watching makeup tutorials from a 14-year-old either. Instead of putting on a mask of makeup or contouring their cheekbones until they're razor sharp, they invest in their skincare regimes and bypass foundation all together. It seems simple, no? And simplicity is kind of what we hope to bring you, our readers—whether that's in the beauty, fashion or career side of your life. And this week isn't any different.
The aforementioned apartment of the chic Parisian woman who is a career boss in her own right will be coming at you this week, so if your home is in need of some zhuzhing, consider this your inspiration. Along with beauty treatments you can do while you're in the shower, so you can finally master the art of actually showering and going. Because what's more low-maintenance, and therefore more French, than leaving the house with damp hair that's maybe, hopefully going to dry into loose waves, a little lip and looking *just so* as you walk to work. Nothing, really.