Saturday, July 17, 2010

Not your Maidenform

French women spend a lot more of their spendable income on fine lingerie and beauty care than their American counterparts.

In the under-thing category we are talking pricey exquisite "frillies" , the more provocative the better.   A  beautiful bra (soutien gorge) and three matching panties (slips) can run you well over 250 euros.

As far as beauty care, a well brought up french girl will, starting as a teenager, have regular manicures and pedicures, facials, waxing, and body scrubs and purchase all manner of creams.  Many french women are big believers in creams and scrubs. There are hundreds of brands on the market from those designed for eliminating cellulite to those for losing weight.

 I wish!

So in the name of journalistic research.... yesterday I went to a day spa called "Paradiso" to have the" full monty" on my eyebrows and lashes.  That meant having them tinted and even in the case of my lashes, CURLED!   Curling wands be damned, this was a permanent wave and smelled exactly like the one I had on my head in the early 60's.

I entered a dim room with pan-pipe music playing softly in the background and lay comfortably on a bed like a massage table.  After an hour of ripping and tearing, smearing and daubing,  I am pleased to say that I emerged with dark lashes coquettishly wavy and dark perfectly shaped brows like the actresses of old black and white's.

How much did it set me back?

Well there are some beans a girl just will not spill....but I will say that I could have bought a gorgeous "soutien gorge" for the same amount...

 and might have instead.....if my gorge was in immediate need of sustaining.

2 comments:

  1. your readership would like to see a photo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah what of....the bra, the "gorge" or was that the eyelashes?

    ReplyDelete