Founder of cult fashion brand, Rouje, and French It-Girl, Jeanne Damas sat down (or stood up) with VOGUE to show us her lazy French girl makeup look.
With her hair clipped back, Damas starts off by applying Joëlle Ciocco’s Elixir Nutritif, a lightweight oil that “melts in with makeup” on her face, neck and décolletage. “My mother’s advice,” she says with a smile as she talks about how she applies SPF even in the winter. “I think the secret to beautiful skin is to not expose yourself in the sun too much.”
Jeanne dabs Glossier’s concealer (the only face makeup she uses other than blush) under her eyes, over blemishes and around her nose. “You can still kind of see some imperfections,” she says. “But I like it when you can see the skin.”
To keep brows in place, Damas uses only clear MAC gel, and curls her lashes using a Shiseido curler. “Maybe it’s because I’m lazy or because I can never get it off, but I never wear mascara,” she reveals. Jeanne goes over her lashes twice – once at the root, and next closer to the tips so that “they really curl”.
Next up! The Rouje palette—four creamy pink, berry, and brown shades that she mixes together and taps onto her wrist (a color-testing trick that she picked up on set). She presses her finger to her pout to achieve “a bitten-lip effect,” using the leftover pigment on her nose, eyelids, and the apples of her cheeks.
For night looks, Damas opts for something that “isn’t very French” – contour. Sweeping bronzer in a 3 figure on both sides of her face, she gets her face softly chiseled. Another favourite is the “classic Parisian lipstick”. Using a bullet from her line, Damas haphazardly dabs the shade onto her lips. “The trick is to put too much on,” she says, and removes the excess with a wipe.
Before heading out for the day, Jeanne shows us how she cuts her bangs. Grabbing a pair of scissors, she snips up into—not straight across—the middle of her fringe. “Be careful not to mess up . . . although it will grow back!” she laughs.
And there you have it. The art of (lazy) French girl beauty.
