It’s that time of year again, the time where you wear
a woolen jumper in the morning - but by midday, you’re dying of heatstroke.
Galerie Lafayette is already sneaking out Christmas decorations and Starbucks
has released a Spiced Pumpkin Latte, which is an abomination and ‘franchement degeulasse’ (frankly
disgusting) according to all my French colleagues. Yes, it’s mid October: Fashion Week is well and truly over and
people are getting back to doing whatever it was they were doing before Kim
Kardashian got held up at gunpoint and it’s all we talked about all week.
Everyone is more or less back to their daily routine (oh,
except for Natasha Oakley of course who continues her private ‘jetscapades’
whilst the rest of us are suffering from the current epidemic in Paris, “The
Fashion Flu.” (At least we have an excuse to drink liters of the highly caloric
french soupe à l’oignon!) Either way, if you are most of Paris and take
the metro to work, let’s be honest: you’re screwed and probably already have ‘une parano de la bacterie.’ On top of
being ill and having a flaky red nose, October is also a fairly lonely month in
Paris. It’s post- fashion week and luxury shop workers are back to being bored
as f**k - the celebs have left, taking their credit cards and A-list events
with them. Even I’m feeling the hit as a lot of my friends and colleagues did
not make it back for la rentrée, seeking
new adventures elsewhere and to be frank, Paris is an extremely tough city to
meet people. If only I created “Tinder Friends – For Expats in Paris” I would
be rich and meet someone I could discuss The Bachelor with (no harm in wishful
thinking)
So I’ve started my first full time job since
graduating university here in Paris. My
role is assistant beauty editor at Stylist magazine. “La
beauté “!? Sorry, what! Come again? Did she just say beauty section? My knowledge of
beauty products is as low as the IQ of Spencer from the Hills. Growing up in a
family with 4 males and a natural beauty, my feminist mother (aww) let’s just
say I know s**t all about beauty products! Receiving new products on a daily
basis from my mates at Chanel, L’Oréal, Laura Mercier, Benefit and Nars and
having to decide whether to write articles about them (in French) - coming from
a girl who from up until yesterday did not know that strobing/contouring was a
thing (still don’t get it!) Yep, let’s just say I felt hopeless on my
first day. I’m now in my third week and my current smugness is enough to say
that my first collab article will be published next week (firework and
champagne emojis) however, I can’t be too proud. You would be surprised how
many English words are actually used to create a quirky form of ‘franglais’ in
the world of fashion “Le trick pour ce look” (The trick to get this look.) Yep, that’s actually how they asked me to
phrase that sentence. I am not complaining. It makes my life easier. I must say
it is very interesting, learning about all of these brands and testing all
their products. Although I would prefer to be writing about a different topic,
you have to start somewhere. Mind you, when you have a boss who’s openly testing an
unflattering face mask whilst typing up an article in front of the rest of her
colleagues, it really is hard not to appreciate the whole thing.
Come at me adulthood.
Until next rant...
XX
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