Emily in Paris is back – makeup artist tips to get the French girl look
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Speaking with the leading marketplace platform for beauty and wellness, Fresha, makeup artist Saffron says, “With Emily in Paris hitting screens again in August, we’re seeing a big resurgence in people looking to replicate the French girl makeup aesthetic across TikTok and socials.
Thankfully, this look is as effortless to achieve as it promises. You really only need three products—a concealer or foundation, an eyeliner pencil and a red lipstick or cream blush.”
Follow these steps to replicate Emily’s French girl makeup aesthetic:
1. Apply a Flawless Base
“The base of this look is an even and smooth canvas, with the aim of looking like you’ve not used any products at all. Start by applying your preferred base. A CC cream or lightly tinted moisturiser with skin-nourishing ingredients like hyaluronic acid or squalane will help you create that barely-there, fresh-faced look. If you like more coverage, opt for foundation, but to keep the illusion that you’ve barely got any makeup on, instead of applying the product directly to your face, brush or beauty blender, put a small amount of product on the back of your hand and sheer it out with your preferred tool, then apply this to the face in light tapping motions. This will give you a more natural finish and also allows you to build coverage as you’re not using lots of product at once. Concealer alone also works nicely to create a seamless base. Apply small dots to your target areas and gently press them into the skin with a clean ring finger, sheering it out so it blends seamlessly with your skin. You can also warm up a drop of concealer between your fingers and then tap this into the skin about a cm below your eyelash line to conceal any darkness without looking like you’ve got any product on. Just be sure to set the under eyes with some pressed powder using a light, fluffy brush to minimise the concealer highlighting any fine lines.”
2. Define Your Features
“As mentioned, the French girl makeup look is all about a seamless base, so you’ll want to subtly enhance your features. A cream contour or cool-toned cream bronzer with no shimmer works best. Apply it just slightly above your cheekbones to lift your face and bring it into your temples and forehead. You can also gently trace your jawline on either side of your chin and apply a minimal amount where your jawline meets your ear. The French girl makeup look is all about enhancing your natural beauty, so apply contour with a light hand and really blend it out to avoid any harsh lines. You can also use a light layer of bronzer over the bridge of the nose where the sun would naturally hit your face if you like a more sun-kissed look.”
3. Create a Siren Eye Effect
“A siren eye complements this look. Of course, if you want to keep steps to a minimum, you can curl your eyelashes and leave it at that or add a light coat of mascara. But to make the look pop, I like to go in with a pencil eyeliner on the outer corner of the lashline, create a thin wing outwards and drag this out towards the temple with a warm finger to elongate the eyes and create a foxy look. You can also apply a small amount of eyeliner to the tight line of your lashes to help accentuate your natural lashes and mimic thicker lashes. Complete the look by layering the lashes with a lengthening mascara. You can also add mascara to the bottom lashes to amplify your eyes or take the look from day to night.”
4. Find The Perfect Shade of Red for You
“The key product for this look is a cream blush or lipstick. However, the real challenge of nailing this look is finding a shade that best suits your skin tone. For people with warm undertones, shades like coral or orange-red can enhance the natural glow, while cool undertones may shine with blue-based reds or berry tones. Eye colour is also an important factor to consider. For instance, green, hazel and brown eyes often pop with warmer reds, while cooler shades may complement blue eyes. Your natural lip and hair colour can also influence how lipstick appears. My advice is to dedicate some time to finding the right shade. Thankfully, nowadays, there are some great online AI tools to test out shades against your face without going in-store. A lot of brands also offer plenty of images of their shades on different skin tones so you can compare them against your own. You can also search for specific brands and shades on TikTok and YouTube to see how these look on other people.”
5. Seal the Look with the Iconic Bold Lip:
“French girl makeup wouldn’t be complete without a classic red lip. This look is all about looking and feeling effortlessly beautiful, so you want your lips to be the centre of attention without looking too overdone. A lot of people think that red lipstick doesn’t suit them, but often, it’s either because they haven’t found the right shade for their skin tone or it’s down to the application. A refined, old Hollywood red lip finish, tidied up with lip liner and concealer, is striking and always looks beautiful, but the trick to the French girl aesthetic is to look as though you’ve swiped the colour on with minimal effort. Instead of bringing the red right up to the outer lines of your lips, concentrate the colour directly from the bullet to the centre of your lips, pat your lips together to disperse the colour, and finally, gently press the colour towards your lip line for an almost airbrushed red lip effect.”
6. Add a Rosy Glow on the Cheeks and Eyes
“The look is finished with a generous amount of blush on the apples for a doll-like effect or you can bring it slightly higher than the cheekbones to lift your features. While you don’t want to go overboard and succumb to blush blindness, don’t shy away from building the colour to mimic a flushed face. If you have any residual red on your fingers from applying your lipstick, you can press this into the cheeks with your fingers for a cohesive finish. I also love adding a touch of cream blush to the outer eyelids and into the temples using warm fingers to tie in the colour on the cheeks to the lids.”
