‘Never Wash Your Face In The Morning’... Beauty Secrets From A French Insta Star | InStyle.co.uk

Published on InStyle.co.uk, October 18th 2017

Every now and then you stumble across someone on Instagram who quickly has you wishing you could do a life swap with them. Which is exactly what happened when Jeanne Damas, the model/ founder of cult fashion brand Rouje, popped up in my feed. With her signature bangs, red wine stained lipstick pout, not to mention an effortless looking wardrobe featuring pretty dresses, perfectly cut jeans and chic silk blouses - all from her own label Rouje, Jeanne has quickly become an Insta star amassing over 630K followers.

Then there's the posts of her French lifestyle - think morning coffee on her Paris apartment balcony, jaunts to the South of France with her boyfriend, bike trips to the local boulangerie with her equally stylish girlfriends, plus plenty of posts of her gorgeous cat Charlie. A quick scroll through her feed and you'll be wanting to book a one way Eurostar ticket to try and emulate her sophisticated yet nonchalant French attitude. Here she talks hair tricks, lipstick secrets and why not washing her face in the morning is the key to her glowy skin...

'Joëlle Ciocco is the guru of skin in Paris and I go to see her every couple of months. The most important thing I have learned from her is that in the evening you need to get rid of all the dirt and pollution on your face. She taught me to double cleanse. It's like what you do with shampoo for your hair. So I'll lather with a milk, rinse, repeat and then afterwards apply an oil with a cotton pad. If you do this every night you will have perfect skin.'

'I never wash my face in the morning. Over night your skin releases natural oils and Joëlle taught me that if you remove these in the morning then you're basically removing all your natural protection. So instead I'll just rinse my face with water but I'd never cleanse it.'

'I wear an SPF every single day. Even in winter. And I never lie in the sun, even when on holiday. If you want to look young for life, you can't do that. I like my skin to look like me skin so I would never wear fake tan. I like to look pale. I drink a kilo of water every hour. I drink a lot but I don’t know if it’s a trick. It think a lot of it just depends on the type of girl you are.'

'I go to David Mallett to get my hair cut once a month as I don't like to have it too long. But I cut my fringe myself. I'll just snip it in front of the bathroom mirror. I only wash it every two days. My trick is afterwards, when it's still damp is to put it in a diffuser for 15 minutes. That way I get a really natural curl. Then the next day I'll fill a spray bottle with water, spritz all my hair and then spend five minutes scrunching it with a hairdryer to add texture. I just don't like it when it looks perfectly straight.'

'I don't like to wear makeup. I rarely wear foundation or powder. Today I'm just wearing lipstick. I always mix them. My two favourites are Viva Glam and Russian Red, both from MAC. I do have a secret way of applying them. So I never apply a lipstick directly. Instead, I'll mix the two on the back of my hand. Then I'll tap them all over my lips. It goes everywhere, but then I'll get a cotton bud and neaten it. That way it looks much more natural. Then I'll just curl my eyelashes and put some gel through my eyebrows. For an evening look I might do a stronger lip and sometimes apply a bit of mascara to the corner of my eyes.'

'I founded my clothing brand Rouje because I really just wanted to design clothes for me. I wanted to create the perfect wardrobe every six months. I like designs that are simple and timeless. I'm 25 and my stylist friend Nathalie Dumeix who works with me is 50 years old. And she will wear all of the collection too. I think that is a very Parisian outlook. In Paris, mothers and daughters will go to say Isabel Marant and share the same jumpers and shoes. There are no rules. It's more about an attitude.'