It's fair to say that French women have an excellent reputation when it comes to their skin. But the routines they use to achieve such flawless complexions remain somewhat of a mystery. A brand that might be able to shed some light on that is Guinot. Available in salons across Australia, this brand has embodied French skincare practices since it launched in Paris over 50 years ago. Today, it counts Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere as a fan.
Guinot international head of education Sandrine Carliez, sat down with BEAUTYDIRECTORY to share more about French beauty, and the wider cultural influences that inspire the brand today.
What it takes to be a long standing French skincare brand
Guinot is not a new brand, we have been on the market for over 50 years. It's French through and through, the place where cosmetics were born, and part of the education of French people is how to take care of their skin. Guinot has followed a very French skincare principle…respecting the balance of the skin.
We have our own factory in France and we are very proud of this because we were one of the first cosmetic factories to manufacture our product on the same level as medication. We manufacture alongside pharmaceuticals which is a testament to the safety measures we use in the making of the products.
We are now in more than 1007 beauty salons and in more than 65 countries but we're continuing to expand everyday. We have recently moved our head office to a much, much larger space so we can grow as the brand grows.
French vs American skincare philosophies
When it comes to cosmetics there are two different schools that look at how women are ageing. You have the American school and you have the French school.
French women tend to have lines, but we take care of the skin tissue. This is important to us, and why Guinot does so well in France, because the products treat the skin's tissue specifically. In France we know that the ageing process starts at birth, not 30 years old. Girls start looking after their skin at 13 years old - not with anything too strong - just a mild cleanser and something to hydrate the skin.
The Americans tend to have no lines, but they care less about the skin tissue. They tend to treat the skin only when they see an issue, so fine lines or pigmentation for example. Some of the products used to treat these issues quickly can be aggressive and therefore create sensitivity in the skin and often mild irritation.
The French have the same discipline with dieting as they do for skincare. Even when we want to lose weight, we will still eat a little bit of everything but in smaller portions because it's important to keep that balance. It's not a quick fix but over time we will lose weight. An extreme version of this is like only eating fruit for a couple of weeks and losing 3-4 kilos immediately. It's great, but think of the damage your doing to your metabolism. When you start eating again you're going to gain even more weight.
It's the same with skin because your skin cells have memories. As soon as you do something extreme and harsh to the skin, it starts to defend itself. This is why balance is important to us at Guinot, if you keep the balance, the skin will perform as it's supposed to.
The importance of balance and relying on the skin's natural defences
Everything is a question of good balance at Guinot. We try and embody a natural way of living because we are already unbalancing so many things in the world.
I think Botox is an effective compliment to a good skincare regime but remember that the Botox cells paralyse the muscle meaning no movement is happening in that area. When you're not moving, the cells are not being stimulated and the skin tissue can lose elasticity meaning it could end up ageing twice as fast.
Again, if you are using too much SPF protection under the sun, the skin forgets how to defend itself completely. Of course, we need to use a certain amount of protection, especially here in Australia, but if you use too much all the time, you are preventing the message getting to the skin that it needs to protect itself. With no message, little by little the skin will forget how to defend itself in those harsh conditions.
Image: face of Guinot Iris Mittenaere.