A Chic Paris Lockdown – Part 2: Day 8 – Add Color!

 November 10, 2020

Fiona Ferris encourages us to “Welcome colour” in Day 8 of her book, 30 Chic Days At Home. Exercising our creativity by adding pops of color into our day can lift our spirits. Bringing out a set of bright table napkins or pulling out a colorful throw blanket can perk up a room and our mood. She points out that while we are home, we have the perfect opportunity to experiment with stronger colored make-up than we might ordinarily try. Another good suggestion is to add some pops of color to a salad. I implemented this one today at lunch – I “dressed up” my green salad with thin slices of bright red pepper and creamy colored, lightly toasted pecan slivers. The extra 30 seconds of effort that it took me was well worth it when I sat down to my lunch with my pretty and delicious salad.

Here in Paris, I am very fortunate that my furnished apartment is full of soft colors. Most Paris apartments are painted entirely in a bright, sterile white. Everything – walls, doors, trim.  It’s a great look for a hospital surgery room. Happily for me, my apartment has soft golden-green walls with medium grey-green accents. The furniture is a mix of creams, pale watermelon reds, glowing wood pieces and ancient, gently faded, Aubusson rugs. My husband and I knew this was “our” apartment the moment we walked in. When the sun streams through the windows in the afternoon, the rooms glow with warmth and soft colors.

As far as colors and clothes go – now, I can get definitely perked up by that subject!  Last April (2019), I treated myself to a solo trip to London in search of “color counseling”. I had read about a company called Red Leopard (at redleopard.co.uk) – who does color &/or style consultation with people. One of the bloggers I follow did a very positive write up on them here (https://thesequinist.com/my-red-leopardification/ ). It sounded so interesting that I booked a color and a style consult with them for the next week and then bought a Eurostar (chunnel train) ticket to get my self to London. 

(A little back story –  for the past several years, every time I looked in the mirror, I just looked tired. (I had two young children and a husband who traveled alot – I just told myself, of course, I’m tired. But, did I have to actually look that pale and washed out? It made me feel even more tired!  It turns out that there was another reason (along with motherhood) for looking so wan….)

It was a fun 4-hour adventure at RedLeopard with Annie Castrano! It was also VERY educational.  All these years I had thought of myself as a “winter” color person – jewel tones like rich ruby red, deep fuscia, true black, snow white.   It turns out that, in fact, I’m a “cool Spring”! Salmon pinks, coral reds, aqua marine, apple green, ivory – all those types of “Spring” colors (with just a bit of warmth) are much more flattering to my skin tone. With those colors up around my face, suddenly I looked pink-cheeked and bright-eyed.

One of the biggest conveniences introduced by the visit was that I finally had a great “red” lipstick for my complexion. (I love red lipstick but never could find one that I could wear easily. My lipstick requirements are stringent – in a perfect world, I could apply lipstick right after breakfast and it would last (completely non-drying, non-fading) until my evening shower.) Annie introduced me to Jane Iredale “Just Kissed” lip and cheek stain in Forever Red. It feels non-drying and the color looks good on me and lasts pretty well – not all day as we would all like but longer than other lip stains that I have tried. Lipstick can be a bit of an issue these days with all of our mask wearing but my Jane Iredale stain seems to be staying mostly in place on my lips (and not transferring – too much – to my mask.)

Ever since my visit to RedLeopard, I’ve had a wonderful time experimenting with shirt and sweater colors. I’m so happy that I got to take advantage of France’s fantastic winter sales at the end of January this year (before the big CoVid-19 crisis hit France’s national radar and everything shut down.) I purchased several cashmere turtlenecks on super-super sale that were perfect cool Spring colors. They definitely kept my spirits up during our first lockdown. I can’t wait until colder, winter weather when I can break out my “new” cashmere turtlenecks in “my” colors. Until then, I have several long-sleeved cotton turtlencks (in coral pink, aqua blue, ivory and a lovely rich dark chocolate brown) to swan about in here at the apartment. (Very nicely, Manina at RedLeopard has been very patient and insightful when I have emailed with color “shade” questions this past year.)

While I was in London, I purchased a beautiful silk scarf in “my” colors at RedLeopard that I wear on a weakly basis here.  (Note: everyone in Paris – men, women and children – wear scarves almost all year round. It is cool and drizzly most of the time so a scarf keeps me feeling comfortably warm. In my town in the US where it is much warmer and more humid, I wear scarves during the cooler months but definitely not during summer.) I also have fun studying other “Spring” scarves on the RedLeopard website and watching their color tutorial videos on Instagram (redleopard_uk). 

France and the UK are in lockdown at the moment so there are no quick trips to London for me right now. But I can add fun to my day by enjoying all my pretty colors and planning new adventures for the future.