“I am French—I’m from Paris, I grew up in Paris. It’s true that French are not very sophisticated in the sense that they don’t dress up for dinners. They are not like Americans where they are always perfect—the girls are not very sporty; they don’t take care of themselves as much as Americans, who always have very white teeth, and are so fit. The French are a little more chic, very classic. I think it can be boring too, because they don’t take any risks. They don’t wear too many colors. Like when you walk the streets in Paris you don’t see too many colors. When you are in London or New York it’s all crazy styles. When you’re a girl, you cant really wear very sexy things, because you will have trouble. If you wear a skirt all the guys will be like, 'uh-huh!' For example this morning, I went out in my pajamas, and people were looking at me funny, but I feel like in New York or LA people wouldn’t even notice.

I guess people wear red lips, here. There are no nail salons in Paris—it is very expensive to do a manicure. I sometimes get one done. But you don’t have the same culture, the beauty culture. They’re not very coquette. I think I am both—I think I am coquette, but also simple. The thing is, when I wear too much makeup, or I’m too dressed up, I look like a clown. I would love to take more risks—have pink hair—but it doesn’t look right on me. I really like more simple, men’s-style shirts, men’s jeans and jackets. Very simple. I am feminine—I like a black dress—but at the same time masculine. I feel like a woman, but not girly-girly. For events, I feel weird if I’m too done up…it doesn’t fit me. I feel awkward. My good friend Sarai Fiszel is a makeup artist—she did my makeup today—she is French but lives in LA. So when I go there or she comes here, she does my makeup. I don’t really wear makeup every day. I feel like being an actress, we wear a lot of makeup, but when I am not working, I need to let my face breathe, and be very comfortable. And sometimes I do like to wear makeup—I have makeup, and I put it on. But sometimes I like to be ugly, and very natural. Because when I work I always wear makeup every day, all the time.

Sometimes if I have an important appointment, I will put some makeup on. If I go out at night, maybe I will put a red lipstick on. I have one by Guerlain, 422 Intense Matte, but you can’t find it. I wear mascara, no eye shadow. And then I wear foundation—I like the Armani Luminous Silk. I wash my hair every two days, but if I don’t have time it gets greasy and I use Klorane dry shampoo. I really don’t like to have greasy hair…for me, it is disgusting. I prefer to have a big spot [pimple] than greasy hair. I wash my hair with Opalis—it’s amazing. It’s French, I love it, you can find it here. There are all different kinds, I like one called La Crème, it’s really nice. I go to David Mallett for hair color. The salon is beautiful, it’s like a dream! It’s like a movie. I let them do what they want, because my hair grows very fast so I can do what I want. I have had all the cuts, I had very short hair, blonde, dark, curly.

*Ed note: at this point we walk into Léa’s bathroom. It is overflowing with products. We break into laughter because she’s been saying, ‘Oh, I’m casual with beauty, etc etc’

Ok so I have lots of products. [Laughs] I like to be clean, I like to smell good. I don’t like to be searching for something that I don’t have. For example, this is for the blackheads— Darphin Overnight Refining Lotion. I don’t use it all every day. I would say maybe I am bohemian, with all of my stuff out, a mess. But I still know where everything is. This brush is the best, Mason Pearson. This is a spray for your ears, to clean your ears but I don’t really use it…well, I haven’t used it yet.

*As I’m shooting, she assembles the ear spray and I hear‘Ksshhhhh!’ followed by a peel of laughter. One ear down, one to go.

You know what, in France we have amazing pharmacies and amazing products and you have many things. I see it, I’m attracted to it so I buy it. And sometimes when I’m travelling, I forget something and I have to buy it again. I have Leonor Greyl hair products I like—I have the mask, I have the styling spray. I have a lot of toothbrushes because I travel. I also have [Bioderma] Créaline, the spray. I’m not loyal to many brands, except perfume. I’m wearing Prada Candy perfume; I like it because there is something very joyful about it. I also like Commes des Garçons. I tend to buy a lot of things when I travel, but I also have a few things that I get sent for free. I like to use products from other countries—I have Tom’s deodorant. For makeup, I have so much stuff…I don’t know which [makeup] bag I would pick, but I like to have the choice. I like this Armani No. 4 blush. My favorite packaging is Yves Saint Laurent. I like the Sun Powder—it’s a bronzer. And I like the Lancôme bronzing brush that I bought on the plane. I don’t like to fly, and I bought it when they were coming through the aisle. That’s my problem: I love to try new things.”

—as told to ITG