Make-up: the little marquise or Art Deco spirit

The debauchery of the Eiffel Tower, cameos or chubby angels… Christmas make-up awakens the memory and celebrates good taste in the French way.

The Art Deco style thus blows on Chanel's latest Exclusive Creation for Christmas: Camellia de Plumes (Illuminating powder, 56 €). The surface of this compact powder with precious platinum reflections is struck with a feather pattern forming a camellia flower. The Camélia Rosé spring blush is in the same vein, a romantic blush that blends two shades of roses in a raised camellia (Création Exclusive Jardin de Chanel Collection Rêverie Parisienne, 43 €, from 16 January).

 1930 aesthetic for the mythical anti-tarnish pen Touche Éclat by Yves Saint Laurent, which is adorned with a black fawn holiday print (Touche Éclat Collector "Wild Edition", 34 €, 3 shades), just like the Palette Collector "Wild Edition (90 €).

Pompadour atmosphere with Les Merveilleuses de Ladurée, shadows conditioned in kitschissimo oval egg cups or medallions, decorated with cameos (Blush cream, 41 € or Blush powder, 52 €, Duo Powder for the face, 46 €, at Sephora).

King of this outdated beauty since 1881, T.LeClerc creates a new Compact Cream foundation in the famous matte silver powder (40.48 €, 4 shades), as well as a Paris L'Hiver Compact Powder, decorated with an Eiffel Tower (36 €, limited edition).

As for Paul & Joe Beauté, we could see his Face Powder (31 €) and his Swan Powder (17 €) throne on a boudoir dressing table ! Engraved with delicate relief flower sculptures, her spring varnish collection is also a model of its kind (10 ml, 14.50 €, 25 shades, starting in January).

Even the ultra-contemporary M.A.C Cosmetics is getting into it and proposes, from December, complete pallets for the face (Keepsakes Palettes Visage Nude or Smoky, Collection Noël Heirloom, 56 €), or just for the eyes (Keepsakes Palettes Yeux, eight shades in Prune, Nude or Charbonneux harmonies, 42 €) decorated with a cameo, in white or black. Their originality? An aristocratic look tinted with gothic decadent.

But the palm of this graceful femininity and so frenchy comes back to Guerlain and his Météorites Perles de Blush Éclat Angélique, packaged in a"néo toile de Jouy" box, decorated with old pink angels on a powdery pink background, inspired by an old powder box called cherubim (Collection Maquillage Printemps 2015 Les Tendres, 46 €, limited edition, from January). Of course, when you are a brand steeped in history, with a rich heritage, vintage, more legitimate, flows naturally.

Care and soap, the"retro cosmeto" breaks under the tree !

Pretty old-fashioned packaging, cosmetic treats (delicacies are an inexhaustible source of inspiration), precious gift boxes… facial and body treatments also distill their puffs of nostalgia.

This is the case of almost the entire Les Merveilleuses de Ladurée range, which launches mini soap boxes (5 x 30 g, 47 €) or miniature hand creams with sweet fragrances (3 x 25 g, 46 €, at Sephora).

The Baume d'Amour du Couvent des Minimes body care line invents a recipe based on Cérat de Galien combined with silica beads in a pot decorated with a virgin and child (Le Gommage des peaux secches, 250 ml, 22,90 €, chez Marionnaud). The brand that surfs on the wave of the"retro monastic" also unites its care leaders in a pretty pink powder kit (Kit of the Best Christmas Recipes 2014, 25.90 €).

Paul & Joe Beauté proposes a Body Perfume Box consisting of a perfumed body milk (200 ml) and a soap (100 g), accompanied by a shell-shaped soap dish (40 €).

Atelier Catherine Masson packages her soap macaroons or madeleines in pastry boxes with golden friezes (23 €), or pink and white striped mini-cardboard hats (39 €).

Food codes still for Herborist and its CC Complexion Perfecting Mask, a cream mask with pearl powder, presented in a jar reminiscent of grocery stores of yesteryear (260 g, 39.90 €, at Sephora).

Star product in the Christmas collection, Coque d'Or by Guerlain is an iridescent fragrant powder for body and hair (79 €) that revisits the original bottle in the shape of a curved bow, adorned with a red pear and gold lacquered glass.

We can also mention the Ancian Rosa Flower Soap from Durance (75 g, 5.90 €), or Le Baume de l'Automobile de Detaille (125 ml, 75 €), not new (it dates from 1905!) but a prototype of the vintage facial care.

Perfumes: an air of the past

Reminiscences of the past have always been present in perfumery and holiday bottles are no exception.

Art Deco still triumphs with new fragrances : - of Acqua Di Parma (Rosa Nobile, eau de parfum, 100 ml, 126 €), - d'Estée Lauder (Modern Muse Chic, eau de parfum, 50 ml, 72 €), - and of course Chanel (Coco Noir Parfum, 15 ml, 206 €).

Created especially for the Jean Honoré Fragonard Museum, Moment Volé de Fragonard (Eau de Toilette, 100 ml, 28 €) evokes the Byzantine spirit and its magnificence.

Cherubin de Detaille is a delicious Cologne with orange blossom (100 ml, 69 €), dressed with ancient angels reminiscent of those of Fra Angelico.

As for the unusual Buly Water Perfumes, not only do they not contain a drop of alcohol (which does not prevent them from knowing how to stand!), but, slightly milky, they leave the skin very soft. Presented in delightful white opaline bottles, decorated with old labels chosen at the time of purchase, they are available in eight chords (including a very successful Tuberose) and two concentrations (Double Water or Triple Water, 75 ml, 110 €). More vintage, you die! As the brand so nicely writes to characterize the faithful discretion of its juices," a good fragrance should neither precede nor follow too intensely the wearer. It does not emanate in a compelling way. So it is never annoying and will please everyone. It is breathed on the wrist, in the movement of the hair and the air that the movement drives out. Modest as well as faithful, he imposes nothing. Persistent, never tenacious but politely perceptible. ". This spirit, in perfumery, seems furiously in the air of the times!

Ariane Le Febvre