French | Hello World!

I am always amazed when abroad to meet people who absolutely adore French cinema. France is such a small country, you would think you could hardly notice it on a map! In the other hand, it is a country appreciated for its history ,culture, gastronomy, fashion and of course passion!

I love when my foreigners friends tell me « Paris, oui l’amour ! », this is so charming! I enjoy seing my country through their eyes, listening to their favorite spots in Paris and their impressions about the Frenchies or the « sacré français ». I feel bad they know so much about my country when sometimes I know so little about theirs but I am willing to learn and to keep exploring the world!

Anyway I had a discussion about French movies with my lovely friend Nasim: she is from Iran and she has been living in Adelaide for 8 months. It turned out that her sister and herself enjoy watching French films and they wanted me to recommend a few. The real challenge is that they have already seen a LOT of films. So I have been thinking about it and I made a list covering different years and I thought it could be a nice idea to share it with everybody on my blog!

Un héros très discret (A Self Made Hero) – 1996 – directed by Jacques Audiard – Starring Matthieu Kassovitz, you have probably seen him in the film: Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (Amelie)

When you are watching this movie based on a novel, keep in mind that «the most beautiful lives are those we invent ».

Ridicule (Ridicule) – 1996 – directed by Francis Leconte – Starring many well known French actors.

Decadent Versailles in the 18th century where social status can rise and fall depending on your ability to play with words and demonstrate how cultivated and clever you are!

L’ Auberge espagnole (The Spanish apartment) – 2002 – directed by Cedric Klapisch with the famous Romain Duris and Cecile de France

Fun, good feelings, friendship… and how you become a different and a more complete person when living abroad and surrounded by so many different cultures. Hey! does it sound familiar?!

De battre mon coeur s’est arrêté (The beat that my heart skipped) – 2005 – directed by Jacques Audiard with the talented French actor Romain Duris.

Human drama, vibrant, vivid, sincere… You will be moved for sure!

Molière à bicyclette (Cycling with Moliere) – 2013 – directed by Philippe Le Guay with the very French Fabrice Luchini.

Comedy about friendship and the search of the creative spark! Fun, inspiring and shoot in a beautiful part of France!

If you are passionate about French movies, please let me know and I will keep posting from time to time about this topic! I called it “5 French films to watch with your in-laws” because these 5 movies deliver a message, they are powerful and well written so it is a good selection to impress somebody and especially your in laws!

Feel free to give me your feedbacks and maybe I can adapt my selection accordingly.

The next step to fully appreciate the experience would be of course to learn French… haha « sacré français » 😉

A bientôt!

Tuesday, after English class I had an interesting conversation with my friend Gabriela. She is from Venezuela (South America) and has been living in Adelaide for 3 years.

Somehow we started to talk about beauty products (ah girls….) and she told me that she was in love with a famous French brand called: L’Occitane

Actually when I was living in London, my friend Joyce (from Brazil) told me exactly the same thing! Each time she had an opportunity to travel to France, she would buy L’Occitane beauty products! I mean they ship worldwide but it is way cheaper to buy the products locally! Although I would not say either that these beauty products are what I would call “cheap” in France.

Anyway, I thought since this brand seems to be pretty successful abroad, let’s write about it!

In my opinion L’Occitane is a good brand and their products have a wonderful fragrance and a good quality.

Now close your eyes and imagine the Lavender fields in Provence in the South of France! Try to picture the local Mediterranean culture, artisanal bakeries, purple eggplants, ripe tomatoes, grapevines, lavender perfume in the air… Now you start getting a taste of the beautiful Provence in France… L’Occitane beauty products are all made there and also in Corsica (also a beautiful area)! They believe in the art of healing through plants and they use natural ingredients.

My favorite products from this brand are:

Aromachologie repairing shampoo: I just love this shampoo, it smells amazing, it makes your hair very shiny and beautiful! Frankly all their shampoos are the best and I always get compliments when using them! I have tested other brands but so far these are my favorites and my hair is very demanding.

Shea butter hand cream: again, it smells so good and will leave your hands as soft as a baby skin! This product is so successful it is said that they are selling this hand cream every 3 seconds around the world! For the record, it is so good that when I was living and working in Paris in finance, I was sharing my office with a man. Guess what, he had this shea butter hand cream on his desk (a present from his wife)! Sometimes his male colleagues would have a chat with him at his desk and use the cream too while talking to each other… it was hilarious to see these “macho men” having a little chat while hydrating their hands! Actually it was like watching an episode of ‘Sex and the City” except that in this situation Carrie Bradshaw was a French man named Philippe wearing big black shoes!

In my mind, all their products smell divine and a lot of my French friends like this brand too. It is quite common in France to offer these beauty products for Christmas or a birthday or any occasion actually… like I said it is popular, it is a good brand and it makes a perfect gift!

Now you are starting to get curious?! Hopefully there are many L’Occitane shops around the world so you don’t have to buy a flight ticket to go to France: http://www.loccitane.com

What about you? What is your beauty routine? Do you have many L’Occitane products in your bathroom?

As for me, in my twenties I used to be a huge fan of their products and owned many of them (facial care, body care, soap, candles)… Now I only buy their shampoos and hand/foot creams.

Don’t get me wrong I still like them! But now I am getting older, I favour other wonderful natural beauty products to pamper my face, my body and my soul… but this is another story… coming soon 😉