CLÉMENTINE BUREN
Co-Founder of Green Barbès, DIY homemade cosmetics.
THE BEAUTY TALK
WHAT PART OF YOUR FEMININITY DO YOU FEEL EMPOWERING?
My energy! I am definitively what you can call a “hyper” person. This helps me a lot in building relationships. And my big butt (laughs).
HAHA. TELL ME MORE ABOUT IT.
Well, when I was younger I remember it wasn’t such a big trend. Guys would make remarks and I would not be happy about it. But now I am super confident and I learned how to love myself. I love myself very much! I know my body is an asset.
DO YOU FEEL IN FRANCE YOU ARE FREE TO LIVE YOUR INDIVIDUALITY WHEN YOU MIGHT NOT MATCH THE STANDARDS OF BEAUTY DICTATED BY THE INDUSTRY?
I know for myself that I am glad I received the education that I have which made me independent and confident. I don’t really care about what people might think and I feel great to be like that. Nevertheless, I think it must be super hard for young women nowadays, living their life through the lens of Instagram, comparing themselves to impossible beauty standards. You and I were lucky enough to grow up without social media and all the pressure around it. We were the last generation like that. I also surround myself with people uninterested to live in such a scrutinized world. I feel pretty “safe” living in such a healthy environment. Even though Paris can be really tough with all its fashion weeks and trendy venues; you can easily be drown under this show-off world.
DON’T YOU THINK THE PARISIAN WOMAN (IF SHE REALLY EXISTS) IS ACTUALLY LESS CARING ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE THINK?
I think it is true that we have this effortless routine, or as it seems… My friends and I don’t really do a lot. We are not surrounded by people who care that much. It is funny because I am geeking around on Instagram stuff about injections, botox, etc… I don’t know why I am fascinated by looking at before/after interventions but I feel disgusted when I see the results. I am thankful that this trend doesn’t take so much here in Paris. I feel we are more concerned about the best slow cosmetic brands or food. I even heard that the current trend is now “slow-listening” which means listening to a music album from beginning to end at once. I guess we are still more into intellectual ways of thinking beauty. Brain is pretty.
HOW HAS YOUR ROUTINE EVOLVED SINCE YOU STARTED GREEN BARBES?
Obviously I am not using Green Barbès all the time because I don’t always have time to make my own products and I like some other brands too like Mademoiselle Bio or Weleda. I don’t go systematically organic though. I’d rather have a good natural product than a “organic” marketed product. Sometimes I also have to focus on a specific problem like when I had adult acne. I went to the dermatologist and she told me to stop all my natural products for a while because it was not good for my skin then. Sometimes we need different treatments. So I had to go back to using cold cream from Avène for a while. Basically my routine is that I spray some mineral water on my face every morning. In the evening I put some cold cream and as it is so rich, I still feel hydrated in the morning and do not feel the need for any additional product. I only use organic shampoo, usually from Cattier. As for make-up, I only wear natural products. There is one brand that I love, it is called UNE. It is a 100% natural ingredients brand. I use their mascara which I love. And you know that a great part of what you put on your eyes ends up in your eye balls! This means that if some beauty products have metal in them, you will get some in your eyes. Same thing with lipstick, we end up eating a lot of product. I am very concerned about these things. Toothpaste in general can be quite toxic too. I only use Weleda but I used to make my own. It was made with coconut oil, green clay, peppermint essential oil and lemon essential oil. The taste was amazing.
But I am not perfect and lately I even bought a non-organic detergent just because I was craving the smell of it (laughs). I think sometimes you have to loose it a bit and find a good balance. For me the most important thing is to understand any product’s ingredients list.
WHO IS YOUR BEAUTY INSPIRATION?
Definitively my mom who always gives me the best beauty advices like “do not sleep with your panties at night! Let your pussy breathe!” (laughs).
I’M GLAD TO HEAR SOME NEW KIND OF BEAUTY ADVICE HERE!
But it is true! She also has the best advices regarding wrinkles. She is a natural red head so she has always been very serious about using sunscreen. She would always tell me about the best ones or new textures like this La Roche-Posay one which is a 50 SPF mist.
I FEEL SUNSCREEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN A TOUGH BEAUTY PRODUCT; BECAUSE OF ITS THICK WHITE TEXTURE IT ALWAYS FEELS LIKE IT WOULD RUIN MAKE-UP. BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY.
Yes! I know that vegetal sunscreens exist and some of them such as karanja oil work really well. But it is true that the sunscreen industry is usually bad for your skin and for the planet!
WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL?
My DNA? Haha. More seriously I think the love I am surrounded with from my family, my grand-mother, my mom and dad. Lots of love and lots of respect. Because of that I am caring, empathetic, and I really always try to understand people from their point of view.
THANK YOU BEAUTIFUL CLEMENTINE.
CHECK OUT CLÉMENTINE'S INSPIRATION TALK HERE AND CITY TALK HERE.
GREEN BARBÈS ON INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK AND HERE.
Interview & Creative Direction : Lisa Debatty
Photographer : Stanislas Liban
Production : OuiSimone
Special thanks to Brasserie Barbès.
