Investing in your face / 2 colour-rule

Inspired by the comments on my last post about massage (many of you have regular facials), I booked myself in for a facial with a French beauty therapist. I last had one with the same woman about eight months ago and before that, I have no clue. In my mind they are extravagant and unnecessary, but the one I had in December proved me wrong. Shame it's taken me this long to realise it.

A French woman would not skimp on care of the skin and body (and hair, but that's for another day) and then spend that same money on crappy snacks, fattening drinks and takeaways. The new and improving Francais me invests in self-care and forgoes anything Sabine, the ideal French girl would say non to.

I found out about my current beauty therapist in a way I'm too embarrassed to talk about (I especially didn't tell her). I was searching for images of 'French beauty therapy salons' and came across a Paris-trained French beauty therapist here in the city where I live.

Of course I had to take a look at her website and found that her prices were very reasonable (about half of what salons in town cost). She does work from a salon at her home, but I also know at least two others who do this, and they seem to benchmark their prices against city salons.

Does how I found about her sound too stalker-ish? I feel a bit like it does, but I'm really not one. What would she say if she knew about my French obsession though?

My second facial was just as good as the first one with her, even better maybe, as I knew what to expect. An organic French skincare range called Centella is used, and every single product smells divine - herbal, floral, fresh. The scents are very concentrated, but in a way that you think there are lots of active ingredients, not in the highly perfumed way.

What I like most about these facials, which is different to any other facial I have had is the massage. She spends quite a bit of time massaging the neck, shoulders, upper-arms and decolletage in big, sweeping, side to side movements.

Then she moves to the face for another lovely long episode of massage. Some of the movements are actually quite aggressive, she slaps and taps along the jaw-line with very quick strokes and then slows to an irregular tap. Part of the massage was fingertips all over my face which felt like falling rain. Amazing.

This time, as last time, my skin looks very poreless, yes, pinkish and shiny as I had no makeup on and I'd just had massage and exfoliation and a mask and steaming, but very fine textured.

I studied her skin as I paid and asked questions. You can tell she's not 20, and isn't trying to be. She definitely looks her age, but the texture of her skin is very fine, no pores anywhere, and plumped up (with hydration rather than dermal fillers). She is a good advertisement for her services and her products.

And, I could listen to her French accented feminine voice all day.

Now, I did something as a service for myself, and for you, dear reader. I possibly made a fool of myself, but I would have been annoyed if I hadn't taken the chance. Normally I don't talk at all during a massage or facial, just rest and relax with my eyes closed.

The therapist picks up on that and it's lovely and quiet. But when she was washing off my floral mask I plucked up the courage to ask her about the two-colour rule, since she is a French woman (I know, not generalising at all).

Do you want to know what she said? She had never heard of it and laughed a little tinkly laugh. She did know what the person being interviewed was getting at though. She said 'people here, they are so...' and then threw her hands up in the air and shook them all around. Basically we wear everything at once. I asked her how it was different in France. 'People are more... classy, classic'.

I felt like a bit of a dill asking her, but now I know not everyone French knows this two-colour rule secret they're not telling us about. If you hear anything, please let me know!