Wannabe A French Girl?

Wanna be a French girl? Silly question - who doesn't??
Well now you can!
Just send me a nice CLEAR head shot of YOU and I'll put you on a French bod. More details of the cost $$ here:
The February $100 Deal ends Sunday Feb 28th...well it was going to, till I paid AirFrance for their horribly$$$ ticket to Paris. There's been an extension until Friday midnight MARCH 5!
More $ details here:
The deal is I put your head on a French body, wearing French togs and carrying a high-end Designer shopping bag.
Here is Parisienne Anne. She's holding a designer bag...maybe pastry, so what.
And here she is at Guerlain. Voila!
Darling PB readers- when you send me your photos to do your painting, you forget the feet.
Like here for Alex's Mom's birthday gift

I put Alex and her mom in French trench coats, tight jeans and ballerinas.

You can wear a Burberry raincoat and a Hermes scarf too.

And I won't have to bother you about the FEET.

If you want a portrait of you pet, I do need feet however...

Speaking of designer bags-a special promotion with Madame Figaro Japon and if you're lucky enough to find the March 3/5 copy...

BONJOUR FRENCH GIRLS out there!

L'Heure Bleue

Are you enthralled with l'heure bleue in Paris too?

Wiki says "The blue hour" refers to the period of twilight in Paris that is neither full daylight nor complete darkness...

Mlle Paradis said...J'adore l'Heure Bleue! referring to the perfume...
Intense blue is soooo French is it not?
How clever of Guerlain to allude to the most gorgeous time of day in Paris...
Photo from Guerlain

In fact, when Jacques Guerlain was creating the perfume in 1912, he was referencing the Impressionists painters he collected...
Who captures l'heure bleue better than Monet?
Standing in Place Vendome at l'heure bleue is the perfect time of day...
Why is Paris so damn poetic?

Hoop la...l'heure bleue est fini
Bonjour L'heure Bleue!

Guerlain

Are you a fan of Shalimar?

Or Guerlain perfumes?

Over at Peter's Paris I spotted a story on the 68 Champs Elysées flagship store and I had to share with you. (These are Peter's photos of the facades by the way...)
The Champs Elysées is a natural home to what was a family owned business for 5 generations from 1828. Only in 1994 did Guerlain become a subsidiary of the luxury group LVMH. The founder, Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain, initially studied chemistry in London. And in many ways the uniform apothecary-style presentations stayed true to the foundation of the business as a perfumeur vinaigrier (perfume and vinegar maker).
(The text is Peter's too)
I got a mad urge to paint Guerlain's facade...
Elfie at Guerlain, original watercolor, 9" x 11"
And Peter's daughter has a pup, Elfie, in dire need of a portrait at Guerlain. She's a frequent shopper...
By the way Peter stole this lovely shot inside Guerlain...shhhh
After breaking the bank at Sonia, I headed over to Bloomies to take a look at their Guerlains. No one seemed to mind my shooting or testing a few out.

I'm still deep in Chandler Burr's The Perfect Scent and there's quite a bit about this perfume house. This is a "touche" - those white paper strips salesgirls aggressively wave at you, as you try to mind your own business. It's a way to sample the perf, but is it the same effect as spritzing your wrist? Qui sait. Still there has to be some way you can test these things without smelling yourself up like a floral hothouse!

Getting back to The Perfect Scent, I shall quote Chandler ver batim because there's not a snowball's chance in hell I can say it as well except to mention that people are obsessed with anything natural and organic these days. Yet,

~

"The natural creates a much greater allergy potential...and naturals (we're talking perfume ingredients here) pose a sourcing challange. What all-natural people don't realize is that synthetics are better ecologically.

The sandalwood forests of India are being destroyed at a terrible rate, literally disappearing (!) and the price of sandalwood is skyrocketing. Most perfumers I know...refuse to support them and it's a purely eco question...

...The idea that synthetics (in perfumes) are "modern" and "American" and naturals are "classic" and "French" IS COMPLETELY WRONG (my caps) There's no Frenchier house than Guerlain, no more classic collection of perfumes, and not only were Guerlain perfumers at the forefront of the synthetic revolution with the 1889 Jicky...

Guerlain's classic L'Heure Bleue (1912) derives its beauty from methyl anthranilate, its elegant Mitsouko (1919) uses the very elegant synthetic aldehyde C-14 (which smells deliciously of delicate, ripe peach) and the immortal Shalimar (1925) has quinolines...

~
If you really want to understand about perfume and The French (because the French and perfume are synonymous are they not?)

read this book.

And if you're wondering what l'heure bleue is...?

This is it!

BONJOUR GUERLAIN!

And thanks to Laura for these excellent perfume links:

Bois de Jasmin
The Perfume Court

Sonia Rykiel Regime

So how does one begin the Sonia Rykiel Regime (SRR) you ask? How can one eventually, hopefully fit into all of one's H&M fab SR booty?

With lips sealed, that's how.

The spare tire has to go!

I have on occasion mentioned various diets at PB -you have to balance out all the pastries here somehow or other non?
"THE EURO DIET"

THE PARIS BREAKFASTS DIET !
The End of Overeating Diet.

But for Sonia we take a different approach...
Think design and colors.
For example, if you eat stripey food or striated food like aspargus, you can depend on it - 10 pounds lost in a week.
And Sonia's signature colors are essential.
I do believe if you eat lots of red foods...

And black foods (eggplants for example)...

You can not go wrong. Red and black/rouge et noir is a Sonia standard.
Trying to attain the Frenchie XS figure by eating tons of leek soup?

Forgetaboutit. This is not a "Sonia" food, though chocolate is!

I have it on very good authority that most French girls stay remarkably thin with the aid of romantic stress and Xanax...

I'll have to change my one-a-day brand - ho hum.
Are you wondering where I got this adorable red and black T-shirt with the lips? Is it from H&M?

No, it is not. Yesterday, I tripped up to Bloomie's Sonia department for a quality check. You have to do shopping researche for authenticity etc. This litte T was only $90! A steal non? It will go perfectly with all the red peppers and eggplant I have to down to fit into the %$#@ SR things...ho hum

Back to the infernally thin French girl - ciggies, sadly are a very big factor in the pursuit of weight loss it appears.

Chanel made the ciggie look so damn chic :(

I assumed wrongly that Sonia was holding a ciggie here. SR definitely carries on the Chanel tradition of marine stripes, skinny sweater dresses, bla bla bla, so why not smoking too?

But a closer look reveals a PENCIL!

I do not have to take up dreaded smoking for the SR Regime.
Yay!

You asked to see what I bought at H&M.

I am embarrassed to tell, but I will reveal all in dribs and drabs.
Where you see a check mark= I bought it.
Where you see an X mark-I did not buy it,

well, maybe not in that color..ahem
More revelations to come, I promise.

I put my toe back into Sonia, et voila, I have been bitten again.
The Sonia obsession commence.

As does the regime.
Yesterday I finally bought my ticket to Paris and if that does not put me off my feed for a week, nothing will.

YIKES the prix!! Ouch
Next up The Air France Regime...
BONJOUR REGIME!!!