6 Simple Steps To Perfect The ‘Morning After French Girl’ Make-Up

French girl makeup, which is the ‘clean skin, bold lip’ look, has been a hot favourite for a while now. It focuses on minimal make-up for the skin, favouring a natural, no-make-up make-up look with understated eyes and a striking lip—typically in shades of red or pink.

We adore this look for its simplicity and natural elegance, But there’s a new twist on this style that’s been making waves on social media, and we’re obsessed. It’s called the ‘morning after French girl’ make-up. This version still embraces clean, dewy skin and a bold lip with a few minute tweaks. The skin is slightly more hydrated and oily giving it a lived-in, sweaty-ish look. The bold lip is messy on purpose, unlike its neat counterpart. Imagine wearing a red lip all night long while you sip on wine and eat a baguette! It’s not the freshest look, but that’s what makes it so fun and, dare we say, pretty sexy.

Simple Steps To Ace The French Girl Make-Up Look

Ready to try it out? We’ve decoded this simple and sexy morning-after French girl look for you with easy steps and our product recommendations…

Step 1 – Skin Prep 

It’s essential to use a good hydrating moisturizer that makes the skin look radiant and plump. 

Manifest Recommends: EMBRYOLISSE Lait Creme Concentrate, MAC COSMETICS Hyper Real skin canvas balm

Step 2- Tinted SPF 

French girlies are all about that clean girl look with no foundation and imperfections peeking through. We recommend using a tinted sunscreen as it doubles up as a sheer tint and gives you all the sun protection you need.

Manifest Recommends: LA ROCHE-POSAY Anthelios light fluid sunscreen

Step 3- Concealer 

Concealer is every French girl’s best friend. While we’re going for the au naturel look minus foundation a little concealer is essential to brighten the under eyes and cover any pesky blemishes. Pick one that is fluid and doesn’t need to be set with a powder.

Manifest Recommends: NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Flawless Concealer 

Step 4 – Blush 

You can skip contouring and highlighting but blush is a crucial step to achieve this look. You want to opt for a cream or liquid blush that gives you a dewy sunkissed glow-from-within look. However, you can also swipe some lipstick across your cheeks and on the bridge of your nose. Who doesn’t love an on-the-go multipurpose product right?

Manifest Recommends: HUDA Beauty Blush Filter liquid blush in black cherry, RARE BEAUTY Soft Pinch liquid blush in hope

Step 5- Mascara 

Use a generous coat of brown mascara on your lashes to complete the eyes and use the leftover product on your eyebrows to get that bushy eyebrow look. Brown is better than black as it gives you the right amount of definition without being too much.

Manifest Recommends: TOO FACED Better than sex mascara in Chocolate

Step 6- Lips

The lips are extremely important in this look. Start with a lip liner that matches your lips and slightly overline them before going in with your finger to soften the outline. Follow that up with a matte red lipstick or a tint. The trick here is blotting. Apply the product and blot it well before reapplying some more to the centre of the mouth and blotting again.

Manifest Recommends: YVES SAINT LAURENT, Rouge Pur Couture R1 – Le Rouge, HUDA BEAUTY Lip Contour in muted pink

And voila! You’ve aced this tres chic look in six simple steps!

Cover image credits: Instagram/Jeanne Damas