French Pharmacy Finds

Beauty writers are forever cataloguing their must-have French pharmacy finds and giving lists of exotic products to friends should they happen to be hopping over the channel. I too could spend hours in French pharmacies using my GCSE French to translate labels and searching the aisles for make-up bag additions. Here I add my two euros worth:

Made famous by Gwyneth Paltrow’s recommendation on her GOOP pages, Avibon is a Vaseline-type product containing vitamin A which despite the thick consistency doesn’t’ feel greasy or clog pores. Originally formulated for irritated skin, the cream is now often used as a night cream or for dry skin on face, hands, cuticles etc.. It’s a really versatile product and although not everyone likes the thick textures, I love the hydrating-mask feel. Not readily available outside France, and usually only over the counter; get practising your conversational French for when you’re next in Paris.

 

 

La Roche-Posay is now widely available and even stocked in Boots, although the products available represent just a slither of the full range. A sensitive skin hero, the brand boasts state-of-the-art formulations whilst treating an array of sensitive skin complaints. I love the suncare range and in winter the Nutritic lip balm is a saviour for extremely dry lips. Look online for full ranges and the website for tips and advice for badly-behaved skin.

 

 

Bioderma Crealine H2O is a really thorough cleanser that won’t irritate or upset skin.  Make-up artists use it on models when make-up is constantly being removed and reapplied.  It’s quite expensive outside France as pharmacies often do bundle offers and larger sized bottles so its worth getting it from France rather than paying premium internet prices.

 

 

Other amazing pharmacybrands that are now readily available in the UK include: Avene, Caudalie, Nuxe & Klorane. 

If your French is as bad as mine make sure the products you’re buying are suitable and safe for you to use, especially when buying over-the-counter skincare.

Frances Ives, illustrator extraordinaire

The Place des Vosges is my favourite place in Paris, perhaps even one of my favourite places in the world. When my boyfriend proposed to me there, we decided to commission a watercolour sketch of it by the lovely Frances Ives for the wedding invitations. I’m going to frame the original – my first piece of commissioned art, how grown up!

After researching various different invitation options I realised if you have a beautiful, unique image, you can print some simple postcards very cheaply. I have some friends who are freaks for paper thickness and weight, but I personally think it’s worth investing in the perfect, personal illustration and cutting costs on the actual printing.

Frances’ style is quite flexible and she’s a genius for putting your ideas onto paper. I love her loose, pretty watercolour sketches (she even adapted the colours to the tones in my bouquet!), but another friend of mine commissioned a more detailed painting of a Spanish building (above) which was also beautiful.

Frances did a degree in Illustration at Kingston University in London, and takes commissions starting at £50. Her website is currently under construction, but you can see some more examples of her work on her blog. Contact her on frances@francesives.com for more information.

Didier Ludot // Designer vintage in Paris

I was lucky enough to go to Paris for a couple of days last week, and took the opportunity to ask a vintage designer expert if my grandmother’s dress (which I wrote about recently) was a Balenciaga.

Didier Ludot‘s shop is a treasure trove of designer vintage goodies in Galerie Montpensier near the Louvre in the heart of Paris. I made my way through the Chanel bags and Hermès jackets to where Didier Ludot himself was negotiating a sale with a chic Parisienne. He told me the dress was a beautiful example of an early 1950s evening dress, but that the boning in the corset needed repairing, and that it was missing its petticoat. (He offers repair services, ideal if you have any precious vintage clothes that need a little TLC.) As for the Balenciaga question, he was rather sceptical – without a photograph of my granny modelling it with it a caption about the designer, we won’t ever know for sure. Apparently, Balenciaga wasn’t super keen on zips, so the fact that it has a zip throws a bit of doubt on its origin. And so the mystery continues…

Didier Ludot, 24 Galerie Montpensier – Jardin du Palais Royal 75001 Paris - Tel.: 01 42 96 06 56

Marie Laurencin at L’Orangerie, Paris

Sick of this late winter? Tube delays and leaky shoes? Me too. It seems that with every fresh sprinkling of snow, I’m forced to don yet another layer of mismatched knitwear and navigate through the streets of London, looking like a demented Russian doll. Suspicious looks tell me it’s not a hot look.

Deciding that enough is enough, I booked a last minute Eurostar to Paris last week, hoping that that a few spontaneous (and slightly warmer) days in a foreign country, complete with vin chauds, might help to charge up my batteries like an injection of Vitamin C. And the one place I find myself drawn to each time I visit the city is L’Orangerie – the beautiful museum situated just beyond the Louvre and home to eight spectacular Monet water-lily paintings.

But this time, my pilgrimage to the museum held less charm than it had in past years. Teeming with students and pensioners, the atmosphere was more manic than meditative. I decided to leave the Monet behind and ventured into the museum’s underbelly to explore a temporary exhibit instead – dedicated to a man named Paul Guillame, one of Paris’ most famed art collectors and cultural patrons.

Looking at the works on display, Guillame’s collection is prolific. There’s a Picasso here and a Gaugin there. A healthy smattering of impressionists too. All fairly dull fare because of their ubiquitous presence on Paris postcards and guide books. No, what truly left me reeling was discovering a tiny display of work by Marie Laurencin.

This series of pastel portraits – some of women dancing, others playing with flowers and dogs – were quite simply stunning. With their candy-coloured hues and exclusively female subject matter, I would have thought her work would be more well known over here in the UK, or more widely discussed in art history books. It turns out her largest body of work is currently housed in the Musée Marie Laurencin in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Handy that.

Reading up on her back at home, I soon found that Laurencin was also a pioneer of sorts: a close friend of Pablo Picasso,you can see influences of Cubism throughout her art – albeit a more feminine and refreshing take. It was also rumored she was a sometime lover of the poet Apollinaire and the closest thing he had to a muse. She designed costumes for the Ballet Russes in the mid-twenties and became famed for her society portraits (her painting of Coco Chanel formed part of L’Orangerie’s current exhibition).

I am always sceptical when people recommend art or artists to me. Call it the effect of verbose press releases or some seriously crap modern art exhibits, I rarely come across something that really moves me. But this did. And standing in the corner of the temporary exhibition, I found that unexpected burst of sunshine I was looking for

What do you think of Laurencin’s work? Give us a tweet @Style_ThenSome to let us know your thoughts

Picture Credit: L’Orangerie/ ADAGP Paris

Doing it for the Boys: Menswear Week to hit London

Menswear Day.  Yep, if you are a regular on the London Fashion Week scene you will be familiar with the one day that British fashion has deemed sufficient enough to collectively show all of its wares every season.

Trailing behind an intense week of non-stop womenswear, almost like an after-thought, Menswear day isn’t given much time to breathe.  Bish, bash, bosh, and it’s over.  And unlike the Womenswear shows, which follow on seamlessly (okay, we are still hoping that will be the case come September) from one city to the next, Menswear day in London sticks out like a sore thumb.

However, this week the British Fashion Council have unveiled plans to add much needed credibility for London’s menswear designers on the international calendar, and plan to align it with the established Menswear weeks of Paris and Milan.  With London poised to take the lead, 15-17^th June will see our first ever Menswear week, entitled London Collections: Men.   And with some big-boy names getting involved, such as Mr Porter and Topman, hopefully in time it may persuade some of the UK’s brightest menswear designers to return home.  Yes Paul Smith, I’m talking to you.

Check out all the manly details over on the LFW website.

Stella Tennant and the Teapot Trust’s ultimate art cause

With our fingers firmly on the creative pulse here at Style & Then Some, it is never far from our minds that creativity is one of life’s most important emotional outlets.  We are taught from a very young age a variety of lessons through the art of drawing, painting, colouring in – even gluing ourselves to anyone and everything.  Yet many children who suffer from life-threatening illnesses are denied their fundamental right to creativity due to long stays in hospitals, and so forth.

So we are over the moon that the Teapot Trust, set up by John and Laura Young, who became aware how much art in hospitals meant to their daughter during her stays there, have enlisted the help of model extraordinaire Stella Tennant, to raise money for their cause.   Ms. Tennant, whose own children were at the school that John and Laura’s daughter attended, modelled this gorgeous pendant, designed by the Teapot Trust, commissioned by Lyon & Turnbull Auctioneers and made by Eric N Smith Jewellers Glasgow, will go on sale on November 30th.  The money raised will help the Teapot Trust provide art-as-therapy for children suffering from life-limiting illnesses at Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children and will be branching out to the RHSC in Glasgow and Yorkhill as well.

The image of Stella above was captured in Paris by Peter Lindbergh and may also be auctioned off in the near future.  So with such a beautiful cause behind it, and such a gorgeous, guilt-free necklace up for grabs, why not get bidding on the 30th?

The Tea Pot Trust Charity Auction will take place at Lyon & Turnbull, 33 Broughton Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3RR, on Wednesday 30 November 2011. See www.teapot-trust.org for more info.

Why I was disappointed with Midnight In Paris (SPOILER ALERT)

Everyone kept telling me I should go and see Midnight In Paris. A Woody Allen film set in Paris with appearances from literary and artistic giants Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds and Picasso, you would think it would be right up the street of a Paris-obsessed English Literature graduate. The truth is, I thought it was pretty bad. The script was poorly written and stumbled along as I cringed at heavy-handed stereotypes, caricatures and cliché after cliché. The concept was sweet and fun – not particularly original or anything, but it had potential. But, being relatively new to Woody Allen, I expected such a famous film maker to be able to at least… I don’t know, make a good film.

For one thing, he presented a very black and white view of Americans versus the French. In this world view, Americans (except for Gil, the protagonist, who one assumes is heavily modelled on Mr Allen) are obnoxious and don’t appreciate beauty and culture even when it hits them in the face. The French, on the other hand, are sexually liberated, sensitive and artistic people. From the start of the film, it was very clear that Gil’s fiancée and her parents hate Paris and don’t want to be there, complaining about the barbarism of French politics and turning their noses up in disdain at the thought of strolling around the city to see the sights. There was nothing sympathetic at all about Inez, Gil’s fiancée – she was a one dimensional character through and through, doing nothing but complain and belittle her fiancé the whole time. It was completely unbelievable that they would have ever got engaged in the first place. As Gil says at one point, the only thing they seem to have in common is that they both like pita bread.

But the caricatures don’t stop there. When you meet Hemingway, he quotes his own books, downs a bottle of champagne and then shouts ‘Who wants a fight?’ at no one in particular. We get it, Hemingway was a macho alcoholic. The most appealing characters were Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, and I found myself wishing they had been given more screen time. Or that it had been a film about them, instead of the dull, gormless Gil Pender who eyes up every woman who came in his vicinity but has the shocked look of an innocent puppy on his face when his engagement falls apart. Really, you didn’t see that coming? Really?

But what’s strange about this film is that all the critics seem to love it. Did no one at Cannes notice the awkward and clumsy script? It has been hailed as a return to form for Woody Allen; I’m far from an aficionado on the subject (I saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona and thought that was terrible too), but if this is a return to form, I dread to think what he is like on a bad day.

Want to make up your own mind? Midnight in Paris is in cinemas now. If you’ve already seen it, let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

GUIDE: A weekend in Paris

I love the order and elegance of Paris. I love how aesthetically pleasing it is, the architectural coherence, the fact that you can look at almost any street corner and know instantly where you are. For a capital city, the centre is pretty compact, and it’s easy to explore on foot.

My favourite area is the Marais district, near the Saint Paul stop on the metro. You can wander past the artisan chocolatiers and arty boutiques through to the Place des Vosges, and sit under the beautiful red brick arches in Cafe Hugo to enjoy a croque monsieur (grilled ham and cheese sandwich).

Cafe Hugo, Place des Vosges, Paris

Just a few minutes away from Place des Vosges is my favourite hotel, Hotel Jeanne d’Arc, with rooms ranging from 64 euros (for a single room) to 162 euros (for a quadruple room) a night. It’s the perfect location, simple and stylish with friendly staff.

Hotel Jeanne d’Arc, Paris

The wonderfully eccentric Shakespeare & Co bookshop on the left bank just opposite Notre-Dame cathedral (about a 20 minute walk away from the Marais district) is a great place to drop by. With a piano and several type writers tucked away amongst the piles of books, there are always a few interesting characters (struggling poets, famous philosophers?) around.

While Notre-Dame and the Sacré-Cœur are worth visiting (the Sacré-Cœur partly because it has such a good view of the rooftops of Paris, plus, you can re-live that Amélie moment on the steps…), my favourite church is Saint-Étienne-du-Mont on the left bank, a short walk from the Jardins du Luxembourg (a lovely leafy park). It’s all delicately carved white marble on the inside, a gem tucked away next to the imposing Pantheon.

For a little taste of Parisian luxury, try a macaroon cocktail in the Ladurée bar (75, Avenue des Champs Elysées – use the side door entrance for direct access to the bar). Famous for making the best macaroons in Paris, it was definitely worth the 16 euros price tag… As I sipped my cocktail and nibbled on a macaroon, I couldn’t help feeling a little like a modern day Marie-Antoinette. At least, Kirsten Dunst’s version in Sophia Coppola’s film.

Macaroon cocktail in the Ladurée bar, Paris

Pimp my Palace: Marie Antoinette’s Versailles

They say you should never meet your heroes.  And I generally believe this to be true.  I mean, I can pretty much guarantee an encounter with Liam Gallagher (insert mockery here) will leave me with the feeling that my years of hero-based worship at the altar of Oasis was a tad dramatic.   

But when you are also a Grade A History geek (actually A* G.C.S.E, I’ll have you know), like me, a chance to visit the home of one of your favourite Horrible History characters is pretty  much up there, nerves wise.  But as it happened, my inner geek lucked out big time when I visited the palace of Versailles a.k.a the home of Marie Antoinette.

Having developed a major crush on the femme fatale after seeing Kirsten Dunst’s celluloid portrayal of what is, arguably the most fashionable woman EVER (in my opinion, fashion police) this trip only helped to turn my admiration into a complete obsession…

 

Oh and by the by, entry to Versailles is free for art students, as is the Louvre.  Good one Sarkozy!