Looking for happiness? Start with self-confidence

You guys, it's summer. The beautiful weather is finally here to lift our spirits. Everything has a gold filter on and yet, you can't seem to fully enjoy it. It happens, you just spent months in the cold hibernating.

It is time to shed your dreary skin and embrace your brand new one full of colorful ideas and accomplishments. The good news? You already have all the tools in you.

Aim for long-term happiness

In case you didn't know, the true form of happiness isn't in the things you own. Maybe you will get those butterflies in your stomach because you just bought that pair of shoes, but it will only last for a couple of hours at the most. The real happiness is something that grows over time, to stick around for your entire life. It’s waking up with a soft and light feeling, and start your day with a smile on your face. And this requires constant work. If you don’t know where to start, we have some tips for you.

Cultivate self-love

If you want to reach happiness, you have to treat yourself like you would do for your best-friend. Be grateful for everything you are and everything you already have instead of focusing on what you think you lack.

Don't talk down or belittle yourself. Your mind and body have been carrying you for a while and if you're still standing, you're already on the right path.

Self-love implies that you can peacefully be alone with your thoughts and don't have to constantly take care of other people. It is putting your needs first because you know you deserve it.

here comes self-confidence.

Happy people can see what they have accomplished, big or small steps. They don't dwell on the past and they don't see mistakes, they see lessons. We all need to f… up a few times to get something right. By learning to grow your self-confidence, you will be able to take the positive out of every situation, pick yourself back up and try again.

You need to learn to celebrate yourself often, to be proud of your accomplishments and most importantly: to acknowledge your self-worth.

If you are thinking “Blah, I haven't accomplished anything", we are gonna slap you silly because we know 100% that it is not true. Shift your mindset, if you made it this far, you have probably been doing something good, and this is what you need to focus on.

Talk to professionals

If you feel like you are too deep in negativity, you may need help, and that's totally okay. Thinking happiness long term and putting all of the efforts required to get to it is a freaking ton of work.

Asking for help from someone who knows their sh*t is far from being a weakness, it’s actually giving yourself a chance and taking a step in the right direction for a better you.

That’s why we actually decided to partner with a lovely mindset consultant to help us elevate you as high as we can, so you can keep going forward in life with a light heart and get the tools to face the curveballs it throws at you.

We will be launching our new program with Eden soon, sign up to our newsletter to get all of the details! We hope to be a part of your journey towards long-term happiness!

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Is it wrong to want to feel sexy?

It is in our nature to want to be admired and respected. On top of that we want to look strong, confident and just beautiful in general and we are not scared to say it out loud. However, we don't really say out loud "HELLO I AM SEXY!" or we don't even dare thinking it. But what's so wrong with that?

What does sexy even mean?

Some people would tell you straight up: you are "sexy" when people want to have sex with you. Period. And it's actually not entirely wrong since we have the tendency to qualify someone as sexy when they radiate a sensual feeling and a lot of time, it comes from a physical aspect.

We have met countless women and men saying "oh gosh, I am so NOT sexy" sometimes with a chuckle, sometimes blushing, sometimes with regrets in their voice.

We are in 2018 and the word sexy should and has a lot more different meanings. To us, being sexy is pretty much a way to say you are attractive and you have a little je-ne-sais-quoi.

And since being attractive is so suggestive, it means that no one will ever have the perfect definition of sexy, but it also means that everyone can actually be sexy in their own way.

That's a pretty good news, right?

Throw away the clichés

Non-exhaustive list of sexy things according to the Scandaleuse Dictionary, 2017 edition by Capdevielle J. & Lelorrain F.

• confidence

• a woman's neck

• ambition

• nice hands

• determination

• kindness

• heels

• a smile/smeye

• tattoos

• and way more...

Is there any links between all of these? Not really. Maybe your partner finds you sexy when you're changing a lightbulb for that matter. Because being sexy does not fall into one and only one category. It is more a feeling, an attitude and not only the way you look.

Now that we've seen these, I can honestly say that I would definitely love to be seen as confident, ambitious, kind with nice hands, a tattoo while smiling. It brings me closer to the version of myself I want to be in my life and it makes me happy.

So if I follow this logic, I then want to feel attractive. And since all of these factors can also be considered sexy, it also means that I do want to feel sexy too, but in my own way.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

So no, there is nothing wrong with wanting to feel sexy.

Because it makes you feel good. And when you feel good, you also do good things. And this makes you feel good too. You see the snowball effect of goodness here?

So why wouldn't you want to be sexy? 

We are getting further and further from the cliché of "sexy = trashy" that it is time to reappropriate the whole concept and turn it into something positive. off you go you sexy beast.

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VIDEO | Is it wrong to want to feel sexy?

Short answer: Absolutely not.

The truth is: there shouldn’t be anything wrong with the word “sexy” nowadays since it can mean a lot of different things. It is perfectly normal to want to sexy, and you can learn why in the video below:

Don’t be scared to say it out loud, sexy beast!

The Unstoppable Project

Here it is. One of our most nurtured projects is finally seeing the light of day! Let’s welcome: The Unstoppable Project.

Because every woman deserves to be herself loud and clear. Special thanks to Florent Magere who created this awesome music and Jonathan Delgado for animating the tag lines for us!

Don’t feel like reading? You can watch the making-of video!

What’s that now?

Scandaleuse is in its second year now and one of its main purpose is to encourage women to be openly proud of themselves and to stop caring about other people’s opinion in their everyday lives. About a year ago, Fanny and I started to hear multiple sentences which just didn’t sit well in our minds.

“I could never show those, I am a lawyer”
”I love these but my family/friends/husband/boyfriend would totally disapprove, I don’t want to make them upset”
”People are going to think I am a slut”

We are advocates of the “no hell given” movement. We truly believe you should be able to do whatever you want and whatever makes you happy. It is safe to say that absolutely all of our clients leave their boudoir experience with us feeling happy, confident, strong and determined to make their world their oyster. Some share their photos right away, after a slight hesitation, others cannot go pass the potential judgement from others.

The sad truth? as women, we work a lot harder to build a strong reputation. And There is a risk of being taken less seriously from coworkers, friends, family members if some of these pictures were to see the light of day.

And that’s killing us. Why sharing photos of you in a boudoir set up, in which you feel fantastic and beautiful, should have an impact on anything else in your life? There is nothing wrong with those photos; it is the people who are too narrow-minded who create the actual problem.

So we gathered our little army of Scandals…

All from different backgrounds, different paths and careers. All badass in their own way. Women who decided to say “screw it”. Women as determined as we are to stop the hypersexualisation of the female body.

We don’t know about you, but when we see these women, we don’t doubt their abilities to keep rocking their lives because we just saw them half naked. If anything, we applaud them for owning who their really are.

Becky is still a kick-ass business owner, Caitlin is still a qualified environmentalist, Victoria is still a talented goldsmith and Sonia’s talent as a super mom is still off the charts.

Now remember: Showing your true self should complement your image, not compromise it.

Watch our making-of below!

Before we end it here, let us go against the comment we know we will get…

”Yeah but you don’t need to put yourself outhere naked to prove that, ugh, there are other ways”

Yep, you’re right. But we are boudoir photographers so we use our skills and our work to defend a matter that we care about. If your talent is to bake cookies, you are welcome to start your own campaign with pastries. Just make sure you share it with us! Bisous, bye!

Camera Roll - Fall Edition

Here we are, so close to winter and its festivities. Where did fall go? No clue, once again, it flew by for us. Ready for a flashback sequence?

We did our (very likely) last outdoor shoot

As you may know, we love doing outdoor sessions for the most adventurous Scandals and we manage to get a decent amount of these per year. By we do depend on the weather and we were happy to conclude the 2018 outdoor boudoir journey with a lovely woman, who wanted to celebrate her femininity in the middle of our beloved river. Unless we get a super adventurous Scandal willing to hop in the upcoming snow (contact us!), it looks like it is it for 2018!

We did our first business trip to France

This was definitely the biggest fall project: we organized a whole boudoir marathon in Paris & Lyon. Was it a lot of work? Absolutely. But oh so worth it. We met so many lovely people, have great portfolio pieces and we can’t wait to plan the next trip!

Our top secret project took a big step

We have been nurturing an idea for over… 4 months and we finally put it together. We gathered a bunch of our lovely Scandals and the outcome is pretty sweet. All we need now are the final pieces and The Unstoppable Project will see the light of day early 2019!

We started working with companions

Yep, that’s right, Scandaleuse is happy to work with providers! If you are looking to upgrade your branding, give us a shout!

It was such a busy busy fall, just the way we like it! Looking forward to get in our cocoons and work our butts off on the upcoming projects. Saty tuned and hold on to your panties, you’re in for a ride!

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Camera Roll - Summer Edition

Well Scandals, we only have a few weeks left of summer, and if there is one thing we can say is that: man it flew by. Let us take you through what we have been up to...

New Scandals, New Locations

Hard work pays off, we have met over 10 new Scandals in the span of a few weeks and had to look for more locations so we can keep giving you original work! From Nakita who wanted to highlight her post-partum killer body to Madison who was looking for a true Victoria Secret moment, we have met so many wonderful women, We can't wait to meet our fall Scandals!

An express trip to France

Juliette hopped on a plane to France for some shoots and family time. Just enough to load up on French sun and get over the jetlag and deal with it on the way back. How can you go to France and not take advtange of the scenery? Mama Scandal was dragged in a sunflower field, butt naked, for some beautiful shots.

New shiny headquarters.

One the biggest surprises of 2018 is that both of our lives took a 360 turn and we started living together again. The minute Juliette landed back from France, we unpacked our boxes in our new apartment until midnight. It is coming together slowly but surely and we are pretty excited to show you our new home!

The project with an advertising agency

Back in June, we started working with Zulu Alpha Kilo, who were kind enough to take us on board as a pro-bono project. We are happy to finalize the details of the project we have been keeping secret for weeks now. Stay tuned!

The Scandaleuse Sweet Escape in Tiny, ontario.

We finally allowed ourselves to take 3 days out of the city, in a cottage kindly lent by one of our friends. This little vacation was so refreshing (we did spend it naked after all) with so many news photos and videos.

What about you Scandals: what have you been up to this Summer?

How I Met My Business Partner - Episode 2

Episode 2 : From London to Toronto

In case you missed it, you can catch up on how two French girls ended up in London at the first place here. Grab a cookie, get comfy, here is the second episode of your Scandals-en-chef's story.

London, Wood Green, October 2012.

Our suitcases are heavy, so is the rain, but we don't care. We found a house. It looks cozy (turns out it wasn't), the rent is fairly cheap (for London), the landlord seems friendly (turns out she wasn't either) and the rooms were just re-painted (that was true. Our first night with the smell of the paint is a delirious and hilarious blur. Don't do drugs kids.)

First step was getting a job and quick. Knowing that our English was not that great, our first bet was to apply in bars & restaurants, hoping to get something fast. That's exactly what happened: we looked for 2 or 3 weeks before finding jobs as a barmaid and waitress. This is when the 17-hour shifts and the going home at 2 am started. I am not going to lie, little Scandals, it wasn't easy. But we were okay. We made enough money to pay for our basic needs. We didn't need much and we had each other. Our main activities were cooking, watching movies snuggled in one of the bedrooms (we didn't have heat for the longest time ever, told you it wasn't that cozy), and going window-shopping because with our wages, going real-shopping was out of the question. (They don't tip in the UK, guys!)

This is when you need to know one of the key element to our story: a 5"7 Canadian guy swept me off my feet and gave me the idea to start the paperwork and pack my bags to go over the Atlantic. After giving a lot of tears, time and dollars to the Canadian government, my paperwork went through and 6 months after our British arrival, I was about to leave again.

This situation was quite a bit of a pickle. See, we were kind of used to live together Fanny and I and we even started a wife/wife relationship there (our common shopping cart can be a witness of that).

Thinking of giving it up wasn't easy so Fanny decided… not to.

A blurry photo from when she took me to the airport in London

Fanny's second day in Toronto

Toronto, Yonge & Eglinton, February 2013

I will always remember when she told me "you know what, I'll come too". She applied for a working holiday visa, which she got a few days before I left, in February 2013. I landed in the Torontonian winter (during that ice storm we had back then, remember?) and I am not gonna lie, the months before Fanny's arrival were not a lot of fun. Getting accustomed to a new country, a new culture, a new job, while being away from my entire family was tough. Everything seemed just... so far. It was also the first time I was dealing with a time difference between my loved ones.

The minute Fanny landed in June 2013, everything felt like a little more like home. It was even better when she found a place literally across the street from mine. We were ready to conquer Toronto, one glass of wine at the time.

We have now been living for almost 5 years in Toronto, but trust me, it wasn't all pink and unicorns. But that will be the next episode…

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