Sans Makeup, S'il Vous Plaît

CHIC French women don't wear makeup. At least they pretend not to.

Their
goal is to glow, with invisible pores and highly polished skin. Too
much makeup, French women say, makes a woman seem older, or even worse,
as if she makes a living walking the streets.

"It really
astonishes me the way American women wear so much makeup," said Laura
Mercier, the French creator of a line of cosmetics and skin care who
lives in New York. "In America, even teenage girls are overly made-up.
And when you are overly made-up, you send out the message that you are
overly sexual, that you want to be visible to attract men."

By
contrast, Ms. Mercier said: "French women are not flashy. They must be
subtle. The message must not be, 'I'm spending hours on my face to look
beautiful.' "

Michèle Fitoussi, one of France's leading
social commentators and a columnist at French Elle magazine, described
the painted-doll look preferred by many American women with one word:
"vulgaire."