The November French Vanity: 6 Things I’d Actually Add—and Everything I’d Leave at the Store

By 4:30 on a November afternoon, it is already getting dark.

You are wearing the sweater you wore on Monday, the kitchen needs attention, and you catch your reflection while looking for a permission slip that was definitely on the counter an hour ago.

By November, moisturizer goes on because your skin feels dry, and concealer because you look tired. You pull your hair back with seven minutes until everyone has to leave, then fish lip balm out of your coat pocket at the door. Lately, you have missed putting something on because you like how you look in it.

Perhaps you have considered buying a little something new, then stopped yourself. I’ll use it twice, put it in a drawer, and be annoyed that I spent the money. A reasonable thought, especially when the holiday displays are offering enough glittering temptation to stock a small theater.

This November beauty edit begins with six products with jobs you can name, plus one hair move that costs nothing. You may find that most of those jobs are already covered in your bathroom. Start with the one that would make the most difference on an ordinary jeans-and-sweater day.

Let’s begin.

The November 4 + 2 + 1

The Morning Four belong to the getting-dressed rush: serum, tinted balm, a hair move you can manage, and perfume. The Sunday Two are lotion after a shower and a scalp scrub on wash day. If wash day falls on Wednesday, please ignore the name. Then there is the Vanity One: a pillowcase you can put on the bed tonight.

The Morning Four

1. Rest: Look at your skin before adding more concealer

November can leave skin looking strangely flat. The heat comes on, the air gets drier, and the bit of color you had in August has made other arrangements.

It is tempting to add more concealer, then foundation, then powder to settle the foundation, only to find that your face looks more made up and your skin still feels uncomfortable. If it feels tight after washing or your usual moisturizer no longer seems quite enough, try a hydrating serum underneath the moisturizer you already like.Typology’s Hydrating Serum is the one I would consider for this slot.

Use it for a few mornings before deciding whether it belongs in your routine. It needs to sit comfortably under your makeup as well as feel good on your skin. If it pills when you put concealer over it, you are hardly going to enjoy conducting that experiment again before breakfast.

2. Color: The tinted balm I would buy first

Of the purchases in this edit, Typology’s Replenishing Lip Balm is the one I would look at first. The balm itself is tinted, so one swipe gives you lip color along with moisture. It does not ask you to add lipstick on top.

As sweaters get heavier and colors deepen, the barely-there shade that looked charming in summer can disappear against your face. Choose a tint with enough depth to show up beside the clothes you actually wear.

Take the shade out of the imagined holiday party and put it at 3:47 p.m., just before school pickup. Would you apply it then, with no liner and no mirror more sophisticated than the one in the car? Would you still feel comfortable stopping for milk on the way home? If so, you may have found your November lip.

See the tinted balm shades →

3. Shape: Hair at 7:45

Mine goes into a ponytail. We have seven minutes before everyone needs to leave, and I don’t want to discover halfway through a low twist that it won’t hold.

After a few mornings, you’ll know if the style is easy enough to keep doing. Put your hair where you like it and get on with the day.

4. Remember: Wear the perfume on a Tuesday

Perfume is the least necessary item here if you are measuring necessity by whether anyone else can see it. That is part of its appeal. Wear it while you are buying bananas, and tant pis if nobody notices. Wear it while folding the clothes that have spent two days in the dryer.

You can begin with the bottle you already own. If you are looking for a new scent, Maison Louis Marie No. 03 L’Etang Noir Perfume Oil is one to try on your skin. Give it time before deciding; the scent you admire on a paper strip may be quite different from the one you want to smell on your sweater that afternoon. A sample is more useful than an eloquent description of the notes.

Once you find the one you enjoy wearing, put it where you get dressed. At 8:10 in the morning, a bottle reserved for special occasions can be remarkably easy to overlook.

The Sunday Two

These are for the shower you already take, whenever it happens. The body lotion may earn a place after every shower; the scalp scrub is for wash days when your roots need it.

5. Soften: Use the body lotion while your skin is still damp

There is a point in November when you realize you have been moisturizing your face faithfully while the rest of your skin has been left to deal with central heating on its own.

Diptyque’s Comforting Moisturizing Body Lotion is the more luxurious option for a step you may already mean to take. Keep it near your towel, and after a warm shower, pat your skin until it is mostly dry before applying it. You will probably skip it if the bottle lives in a cabinet you never open until you are already in pajamas.

If you wear perfume, see whether you like the two scents together. And use the lotion. I would be pleased to finish a good bottle by Christmas; the precious one saved for evenings that never quite arrive has offered very little pleasure.

6. Reset: A scalp scrub when the roots feel heavy

I have little patience for a full wash that leaves the roots feeling heavy again the next day. If that keeps happening to you, Typology’s Exfoliating Scalp Scrub is what I would consider on wash day.

Follow the product directions, then notice how your scalp and roots feel. Dryness through the lengths is a different complaint and calls for conditioning, perhaps from a product you already have. There is no reason to add a scrub to a wash day that is working perfectly well.

The Vanity One: Something lovely you will actually use

Slip’s Silk Late Checkout Pillowcase gets the last spot. Put it on the bed and it becomes part of an evening you already have, even when the evening contains no leisurely routine whatsoever. Buy it because you would enjoy putting your head on it, rather than expecting a pretty object to reorganize your nights.

You spend a great deal of the day making sensible decisions. This one can be for pleasure, provided it is a pleasure you will use.

What I would leave at the store

The holiday displays make it remarkably easy to buy a whole solution to a problem you have only just noticed. I would pass over the complete new winter skincare routine unless your skin has given you a reason to change it. Try one addition and see what it does before introducing five things at once.

I would also leave the giant holiday palette if you know you will admire every color and wear the same two. The beautiful lip color that needs constant supervision can stay there, too, unless you actually enjoy checking it throughout the day. This edit is built for the school run, not for the version of November featured in a store window.

The same goes for a seven-step hair system when your hair has one obvious complaint. If it is buildup at the scalp, consider a scrub; if it is dry ends, use the conditioning treatment you already have. And please leave the perfume you respect more than you love. You are the one who will smell it all day.

Choose your first addition

Ask me what to buy first and I’ll point to the tinted balm. If your skin feels tight after washing, I’d put the money toward the serum instead.

At 4:30, it may still be dark outside. You may still be wearing Monday’s sweater, and the permission slip may still be missing. But the lip color in your coat pocket is one you like; you did your hair quickly because you knew how; and when you pull up your sleeve, you catch the perfume you remembered to put on this morning.

You were right to be wary of buying things you would use twice and resent. Choose the addition that will earn a place in your day, and enjoy using it.

November can have your sensible shoes. It does not need every inch of your vanity.

Bisous,
The Glamtorious Mrs.