P2YL | 44. Five little French feminine ways
Brought to you from Southwest France
If you follow P2YL | Part 2 Of Your (Love?) Life on Facebook you’ll know that I love using it to share our holidays in mainland Europe or Ireland.
Freshly back from a break in France, I’m going to comment on some feminine life touches I noticed while I there, hopefully avoiding the clichés.
1. There was a more relaxed, unselfconscious atmosphere
* A pair of canvas espadrilles left on a seat inside the door.
* Makeup and brushes jumbled together in comradely fashion in a comfortably bulging toiletries bag, left open at the side of the washbasin.
* I got the impression that women felt less pressure to wear themselves out trying to keep everything immaculately perfect.
* This frees up time to live life more fully.
2. People weren’t overdressed but individualised their appearance with one detail
* Such as a gipsy-like headscarf, sometimes with a 1970s vibe, combined with statement sunglasses pushed onto the forehead.
* Or an ordinary white linen shirt and inexpensive cami given a lift by an intricately-patterned skirt.
3. People were dressed in the shorts and T-shirts you’d see in any average UK town, but…
* People mostly seemed to be of a healthy and comfortable weight.
* I noticed people seemed to eat more slowly and mindfully, enjoying talking and socialising at the same time.
* From my own experience I think this practice means you eat less and feel satisfied sooner.
* I noticed when eating breakfast pastries with two French nationalised citizens, that they handled their food differently from my typically British technique.
* Whereas my husband and I would lift an entire pastry to our mouths and take hearty bites out of it, our companions used their fingers to break off small, individual pieces of the pastry or croissant and eat them unhurriedly and delicately.
* A bit like gently sipping wine instead of gulping it down.
* I decided I could take a leaf out of this particular French book.
4. Short, neat, natural nails without excessive colour or length
* The fetish for nail-bars seems less in evidence in France.
* I wonder if French women take the view that over-colourised, fake, or nails like talons make a woman appear painfully self-obsessed?
* Trying too hard and making it glaringly obvious?
5. Thumbs down to baseball caps
* A simple straw hat, the brim pinned back with a small brooch, was fairly typical of what I saw.
* Baseball caps seemed to be avoided.
* Hats or headgear are great to experiment with as they can gently enhance your features.
* They also punctuate your appearance, rather like just the right pair of footwear.
More photos of our trip on Facebook.
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