The idea of the ‘French girl‘ as a beauty and style icon is inescapable. Everywhere you look there’s advice on how to eat, dress, shop, wash your face, and do your makeup like one—so much so that selling around the idea of being French and female has become a billion-dollar industry.

The global obsession makes sense. Effortless beauty and chic minimalism are as captivating as the icons, like Carine Roitfeld, Jane Birkin, and Catherine Deneuve, who helped create them. But even despite our society’s evolving views on beauty, the depiction of the French-girl archetype has remained shockingly stagnant. This picture-perfect ideal is still mostly seen as thin, white, and as many Parisian women told us, “carrying a baguette under her arm.” Surprise: Real French women don’t bicycle to work with a bucket bag full of croissants every morning. (Although, that does sound nice.) More importantly, what gives them that je ne sais quoi is the differences that set them apart from that Brigitte Bardot stereotype.

So for Bastille Day this year, we’re putting the spotlight on the French beauty bloggers who defy the trope. These women know what they want the France of the future to look like, and they’re working to make it a reality. Ahead, they share how the diversity and body positivity movements are changing beauty perceptions in their country. And, yeah, because we couldn’t resist, we asked them about their favorite French products of the moment too. Read on.

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