GOOD PEOPLE: LILI B.

 

Happy Monday my little cats! 

I start this week with a new episode good people... This column, if you're new here, is about my everyday heroes, the people who are dear to me, who inspire me, who make me howl with laughter, who make me feel good... And today I'd like to talk to you about Lili Barbery Coulon. If her name rings a bell, it's probably because you used to read Vogue or Grazia, and now you go out and buy M du Monde as soon as it comes out every Friday, or because you subscribe to her wonderful blog: Ma Récréation. Lili is one of the most beautiful people I've met through Make My Lemonade. She's one of my closest friends, part of my urban family. I know that when we call each other, I have to have my hands-free kit ready, or at the very least, 50 minutes to spare. And I'm not even telling you about the miles of text messages Mai and I send each other ( happy 3 years old by the way! I love listening to her, she always has 100 stories to tell, a rant to share, ideas to develop, anecdotes to howl with laughter, good words to reassure me. Lili is also someone I love working with. I don't know if you remember, but it was with her that we did the series "Ice ice baby" series with her. series last year, and I'd love it if we could continue with other stories! 

I leave you with Lili, benevolence incarnate, genius of words, Parisian multitasking genius, professional chameleon whose common thread is excellence and beauty.

 

 

"Important question: When did you open "Ma récréation", and what was your initial impetus? 

I put Ma Récréation online in November 2010. The project had been simmering inside me for almost 9 months. The time of a pregnancy, in fact. I wanted a playground where I could express myself on subjects other than those I was covering at Vogue at the time. I was their beauty editor, and even though I love that world, I wanted to write about my travels, share my addresses, talk about cooking and find excuses to meet people who weren't in my usual field. I'd wanted to start this blog for a very long time, but I kept myself from doing it. I was afraid of putting myself forward, afraid of being judged by my counterparts in the print media, afraid of being illegitimate or ridiculous. But the urge was stronger than the fear.

 "Curious Question: How do you manage everything in your life: your job, your daughter, your husband, your blog, do you have superpowers? 

I'm underwater all the time, and like all working mothers, I often feel like I've got nothing under control. I work way too much, so I try to discipline myself to work less. But it's hard. A friend of mine told me the other day that I had to learn to fill myself with emptiness. Which is what I'm trying to do with meditation. But it's against my nature. I feel more alive when I've taken on challenges that seemed unattainable. It's a real pathology, I know. In any case, I make it an absolute rule to spend Wednesday afternoons with my daughter. I stick to it almost all the time. And it does her as much good as it does me. 

 

 

"Question that puzzles me": Are perfume, cosmetics and beauty in general things that have always made sense in your life, or have they just crossed your path?

When you look back at the road you've travelled, it always ends up making sense. When I was a child, like many little girls born in the 70s, I collected perfume samples. I loved sniffing them one after the other. I remember very early on, I had a very strong taste for unexpected fragrances, like Egoiste by Chanel, a masculine fragrance that I started wearing at the age of 14, with an all-consuming passion. I could have drunk the stuff for all I cared (don't, eh?). But I never imagined that one day I'd be working in the industry. I saw myself as a singer, an actress, a clothing designer, a costume designer, a fashion designer. In short, I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted. After my studies, I had to work very quickly because I didn't have any financial help, so I found what I thought was a small job: I started working at Colette, the Parisian concept store, thinking it would only last a few months. Then, one thing led to another and I started working for their press office. They sold lots of lovely brands that were unknown in France at the time: Nars, Kiehl's, Bliss, Aesop... It was wonderful to meet the designers and hear their stories. That's how I met Lyn Harris, the perfumer behind Miller Harris. Immersing myself in her laboratory in London made me want to know more. I then left my job as a press agent and started writing for Vogue's beauty section in 2003. I became more specialized as I met new people and took various olfactory training courses to feel more at ease with this particular vocabulary.

"Substitute question: If you no longer had the right (deprived of dessert) to talk about beauty, what would be your other favorite subject?

I already write on lots of other subjects for M le magazine du Monde or for my blog. I love to travel, I think it's my favorite thing to do, and I really enjoy finding addresses. I feel like a detective, it's so exciting. And then, you mention dessert: I'm such a gourmet, I could spend hours with pastry shops and chefs listening to them talk about their work. 

"Question madeleine de Proust: What is your first olfactory memory?

I remember the smell of damp earth in a country house that I loved very much. It's a rather happy memory, of short fingernails scratching the soil in the garden in search of earthworms. I remember well the smell of the little room where I slept. But strangely enough, one of the smells that stuck with me the most as a child was that of the cellar of the apartment we lived in in Orléans. There were lots of happy memories in that cellar: old toys, treasures. It smelled of stone, wet wood and dust. Every time I'm in a wine cellar, it moves me deeply. It's as if it summed up my childhood hopes. 

 

 

"Question outre tombe": If you had the chance to bring back a departed personality, who would it be?

Without hesitation, I'd bring back my father, who died nearly 25 years ago; in a few years I'll be the age he was when he left. I'd love to have an adult discussion with him. Ask him questions, hear his voice...

"Question Doudou: What do you make yourself to eat to cheer you up?

 It took me a long time to realize that what I thought was feel-good food (whipped cream, pastries, sweets, raclette and greasy stuff) was actually putting me in a bad mood. At the moment, I'm pretty stressed because I have to turn in a lot of numbers before I leave on vacation. So, in the mornings, I prepare dinguo fruit salads as if I were in a palace, I buy good cheeses, corn bread, I make eggs... In short, a queenly but rather healthy breakfast and I'm ready to face anything after that. If I open the fridge in the morning and there's nothing there, I feel like hanging myself in a second... 

"Nostalgia question: What job would you have hated doing as a child?

I was a doctor. My health was very fragile. Everything about the hospital made me nauseous. And even today, I know I could never have been a doctor, I'm not cut out for it, I'm far too much into empathy. 

 

 

 "Question: It's clean": What's under your desk?

 Today, there's a pair of ballet flats in addition to my heels so I don't stub my toes and back, a bag full of nail polish I want to test this weekend and a pack of water bottles. That's at the newspaper. At home, my desk is swamped with a ton of paperwork, there are three pairs of shoes lying around and lots of stuff that should be put away where it belongs. Husband's exasperation...

"Trick question: What's the worst present anyone could ever give you?

A vacuum cleaner. 

"Unwanted question: What question (never asked) would you like to be asked?

I don't know. I'm the kind of person who says everything, always too much, maybe I don't leave time for other people to ask me questions, hey hey hey!

 

 

"Question Madame Soleil: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I don't really know. I try not to project myself too much. But to be fully in the present is already so difficult.

 "Question from Elle: What do you always have in the bottom of all your handbags?

My beeper to enter Le Monde, lip balm, hair elastics, cab and credit card receipts that I keep, I'm not sure why, a pen, headphones for my Iphone, a notebook to take notes.

"Survival question: If you had to take just one item with you this summer, apart from your suitcase full of clothes, what would it be?

My SLR camera. This is going to be the time when I'll have time to settle down, watch my daughter grow, cook, observe the grass turning yellow, the rock whitening in the Cévennes. Jen is dreaming! and I'm going to shoot like crazy. 

( speaking of suitcase contents... Go to her blog, there's a great contest!!!)

 

 

A beauty tip?

Yuzuka; a very successful massage institute offering one-hour treatments at 70 euros. That's a lot cheaper than other Parisian institutes. And the masseuses are top-notch, as is the decor.  YuzukaYuzuka, 62 avenue Bosquet, 75007 Paris, and the parapharmacy on rue du Four, where all the American women come to buy Avène and La Roche Posay because their prices are so low City Pharma, 26 rue du four, 75006 Paris.

 A good shopping plan?

I'm not a shopaholic, I always go to the same stores, I love Merci but it's not a good plan, because everything is pretty expensive, I love Astier de Villatte but it's the same, it's pretty expensive. Not to mention Le Bon Marché, which is still my favorite department store in Paris. Right now, just for fun, you have to check out Ventilo 7 quai Voltaire and Chez Moi Paris on rue Hérold (although I think it's closed this summer); two new-style concept stores that give you the impression of being in someone's home. And in Chez Moi Paris, it's not just an impression! And for the little gadgets behind the till and the impeccable selection of books, I keep going to Colette, which brings back fond memories. Further afield, there's the 0.F.R bookshop, which is really perfect if you like fashion, photography and design, not to mention the brilliant owners. 

 A good idea for dinner with friends?

I'm stumped! I love entertaining friends at home, I love organizing dinners, I do them all the time. It's a pleasure to prepare my table, to try out recipes, to see them all together, happy. I just love it.

 A good idea for a romantic dinner?

Guilo Guilo, it's an exceptional Japanese restaurant, you travel, you fly away, you're far away... Guilo Guilo8 Rue Garreau, 75018 Paris.