8 French Anti-Aging Secrets

French women are known around the world for their natural and effortless beauty and style. They just seem to age so well. So today I’m going to be sharing with you 8 anti-aging secrets from the French that can help you look and feel your best no matter what age you are or what your skincare routine is right now.

1 Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize

I’m going to share with you a very special product that relates to tip number one and that is to ‘moisturize, moisturize, moisturize’. French women are taught from a very early age to focus on the quality of their skincare routine and ritual. And the foundation of that is moisturizing. Today’s video is actually in partnership with La Coéss, which is an American brand that has a French name. I’ve been using facial oil since I was in my early twenties and I’m about to turn 35 so it definitely works!

La Coéss is generously offering a free White Jade Gua Sha tool with every purchase of a Revitalisé Organic Face Oil. Click this link if you want to check out their product and you would like to claim your free gift. I have one and am in love with it.

La Coéss is actually a relatively new brand, but what I like about them is that they have an intense commitment to quality. And when we’re talking about moisturizing and anti-aging, this company absolutely gets it. As I said, I’ve been using facial oil since I was in my early twenties when I first got a job working for Whole Foods Market. I was introduced to the concept of vitamin E oil, Rosehip seed oil, and organic and natural beauty at an early age and I’ve stuck to it.

However, I want to up my game.

In my quest to start the anti-aging process more seriously in my own life, I came across La Coéss and I have to say that I am unbelievably impressed with how this facial oil works for my skin. The thing that you have to keep in mind is that your skin is the largest organ in your body and it’s your body’s first line of defense, so what you put on your skin goes into your skin.

Anti-aging starts from the outside. It also starts from the inside. And so you really want to choose skincare products that are 100% organic and that are the equivalent to taking a supplement.

You want to make sure that the ingredients in your skincare products are not going to be harmful to you or to the planet, and that they are active, meaning that they have a purpose to them. They’re not just chemicals that are included to either change the color, smell, or the texture of a product.

Each ingredient must have an actual active purpose for changing the look and feel of your skin either instantly or over time. And the great thing about this La Coéss is that it has 15 all organic hand-selected ingredients from around the world that are active and nutrient-dense.

French women really obsess about the products that they use on their skin, even though they’ll never openly admit it. However, when you look into their medicine cabinet, you’ll see a wide variety of products.

Personally, what I really appreciate is a simple routine. In that sense, I’m not quite French because I don’t use a ton of products. I keep it really simple and really minimal. And what’s great about La Coéss is that there are 15 active ingredients, so it’s really like combining a lot of different products into one.

2 Keep cleansing simple

French women keep cleansing, very simple and they focus more on the moisturizing, which we already covered. But cleansing could look like using gentle cleansing milk, or lotion, or even a specifically designated facial bar soap. You don’t want to use body wash or bar soap or anything like that and you always want to cleanse before bed even if you’ve not worn any makeup throughout the day.

3 Step away from the mirror

Just forget about wrinkles and avoid magnifying mirrors! As you start to age, step back from the mirror a little bit so wrinkles and fine lines don’t appear visible to the naked eye. As women age in France, they tend to embrace their age more boldly than women do in the United States. In the U.S., cosmetic surgery is a huge deal even for women my age and younger, which leads me to the next secret.

4 Ditch aggressive treatments

Secret number four is to avoid all aggressive or overt anti-aging procedures.

You definitely don’t want to use aggressive or harsh exfoliating treatments. You also want to avoid going to the dermatologist and asking for loads of new treatments. That’s not something that French women typically embrace.

Even though it’s not very common for French women to get cosmetic surgery, if they do, they’re not going to talk about it. And there’s a particular way in which they approach it. In my research, I found a lot of prominent French women like Garance Doré and Caroline de Maigret speak about this. In her book ‘Love. Style. Life.’ Garance talks about this concept of cosmetic surgery not being completely off the table. You want to focus on one area that you would like to see the result in.

Focus on one particular area of your face or body that you would like to change or enhance. Don’t tell anybody that you’re getting this procedure done, not even your boyfriend or your husband. Just do it and just do one place at a time. Wait as long as possible to get it done. Don’t get plastic surgery or cosmetic surgery when you’re in your thirties or forties. Maybe even wait until your 50s or 60s and consider it a secret weapon, not something that you shout from the rooftops. It’s certainly not something that you want to change your overall unique and beautiful face.

5 Get lots of sleep

And along those lines, secret number five is to get lots of sleep. In Ineès de La Fressange’s book ‘Parisian Chic’, she talks about getting one hour of sleep or one hour of sex before you opt to get a procedure like Botox. I would also add one hour of walking or working out and one hour of laughing.

I firmly believe that using your body and feeling beautiful on the inside reflects on your face. It projects to the whole wide world and that’s definitely a French philosophy that I fully adopt. If you’re happy and you’re smiling and you’ve got wrinkles on your face, nobody is going to care. People care about how you make them feel and the energy that you bring to the table. True beauty has nothing to do whatsoever with the outside. It has so much more to do with what’s going on on the inside. Trust me on that one.

6 Customize your skincare

Secret number six is to customize your skincare, tailor it to the time of year and the time of life that you’re in. Plus, you want to use masks on the regular. This is something I’m really trying to work on. I used to use facial masks a lot when I was younger, but I’ve since stopped using them not for any particular reason, maybe just for the sake of time.

However, now there’s such a resurgence of these quick and easy facial sheet masks that you can just put one on, do it, and be done with it.

Use more moisturizer in the winter, more water, and skin-healing supplements. In the winter of your life, as you age, increase more specific treatments that repair and facial massages.

7 Avoid heavy foundations

This might seem like a little bit of a counterintuitive secret, but I have heard in a lot of my research is that French women don’t really use foundation.

Why is that important? Why is that anti-aging? I think because you’re letting your natural skin do its best for you. You’re never going to appear more perfect than you actually are and this way people’s perception of you over time is going to stay consistent.

I don’t wear foundation (in the conventional sense). I use it occasionally and more as a spot treatment. I use La Coéss’s facial oil. I use hydrating serums and SPF every single day. I wash my face morning and night and let my skin stand as it is.

And more than anything, I just take really good care of my diet. And that leads me to the next secret. Also, one last point before I move on to the next secret is that most conventional makeups and foundations contain tons of chemicals in them and that will age your skin over time because what you put on your skin goes inside your body, your skin absorbs everything that you put on, it absorbs the toxins around you in the air. So whatever you’re using, make sure it’s the absolute best stuff around available. Make sure that you could eat it and then if you do accidentally eat it, it’s not going to harm you. It’s actually going to nurture your body and nurture your skin.

8 Stay very hydrated

Our final French anti-aging secret is that you want to stay very hydrated. You need to drink loads and loads of water.

I personally drink three liters of water a day, give or take. I’ve been doing this for ages. When you drink lots of water, especially if you’re drinking purified water, it’s going to flush out toxins from your body and is going to hydrate all the cells in your body, including your skin cells.

Your skin needs moisture. It needs water to stay plump and fresh! My tip is to bring a liter water bottle with you wherever you go and fill it up three times if you can.

Free white jade gua sha

La Coéss is offering a free white jade gua sha tool with every purchase of the Revitalisé Organic Face Oil. It is a beautiful tool that is fantastic for anti-aging. That’s not a French beauty secret, but I guarantee it soon will be because gua sha and jade rollers, or things of that nature are so wonderful at helping the skin to stay healthy by clearing out the lymphatic system, stimulating growth and circulation in your face.

Check out La Coéss if you want to get that free Jade gua sha.

Let me know in the comments section below which one of the eight French beauty secrets really jumped out at you, and which one you will start incorporating into your own beauty routine.