How to Avoid NEGATIVE FEEDBACK

Here is the context: you managed to score a gig on a very nice project. You gathered all of your creativity, worked without counting your hours (for the greater good!), maybe ended up losing money rather than making some but you put your heart on the table and did not regret it. Until…

Until you received feedback. Negative feedback. This is when your client took your heart out of your chest and kicked it like it was just a piece of garbage.

I experienced this in the past and I would be lying if I said that I handled it okay and it did not affect me whatsoever.

This unfortunate scenario happens more than you would think and more importantly, hurts a lot more than you would expect. Because it is your craft. Because we are human. Because our visions are different. Because you were not prepared. Because there was a misunderstanding. Thankfully, learning the hard way can also force you to move forward quickly and efficiently.

Since this feeling is definitely something we would rather avoid, here are some leassons that I learnt from this experience:

Get your client's vision

Congratulations, you made the cut, your client believes you have the talent to accomplish their request and are ready to pay you for it! Now it is time to get down to business and understand what the hell they need you to do. Ask for inspiration photos or other examples. Ask as many questions as you need to, to make sure you understand exactly what they are looking for.

Educate your clients

Chances are that whoever will contact you for your services has no knowledge whatsoever on how to do your job. That is probably why they are reaching out at the first place. Now that you have a more precise idea of what they need from you, you MUST evaluate the time and budget allocated for this project and let them know exactly what they will get for this price/time. Is it very unlikely they will get 500 edited photos for one hour of coverage for their event. They probably won't get a very complicated studio lighting for their corporate shoot for $200.

Have a contract

Sounds simple but it actually isn't, at least for me. I got blinded by the excitement, agreed to work fast, didn't take the time to write everything down and have it signed. Bad, bad idea. This can only backfire. Write something that can protect you in case something out of your control was to happen the day of the shoot that would stop you from giving what you were asked.

Explain the final product.

While it does relate to the previous point, I believe it needs a different paragraph. People need to know prior to shoot what they will get at the end. Edited, RAWs, low res, high res, your watch, whatever. This needs to be set in stone. If you have delivering  RAW previews for your clients to choose, it is important to explain that this step is not the final product. Again, they might not know what a RAW photo looks like (and it looks pretty bad usually.). If I REALLY have to show some RAWs - which I try to avoid as much as possible - I like to give an edited example with it to show the before/after process. This also give you a chance to get approval for the editing style you went for.

Charge a fee for additional hours.

Make it worth your time. If after giving exactly what you were asked, you get additional requests, you need to charge for it. This will avoid wasting money on billable hours. And no one likes to waste money.

Let it go.

This is the hardest point for me. And this is still something I need to learn myself. Despite of all your efforts, sometimes it just doesn't work. It happens. If you feel like you gave your best and there is nothing else you can do to adjust the products, it is time to let that boat sail away. There is only so much you can do. It doesn't make you a terrible artist, it just means that people are different. Take what you can from it and move on.

That's it dearest Scandals. Now go work on new amazing projects and blow people's mind, we are right behind you.
Love,

How photography can change the way you see yourself

Today I wanted to write about me, myself and I. It can sound a bit pretentious but this is not the point of this article. I am going to share with you a part of my life that was pretty difficult with a life experience that happened 8 years ago. 

Believe it or not, it’s not because I have a Boudoir photography business that I always felt in harmony with my body. Let’s go back in time and see how photography helped me to feel more self-confident.

When you are 15 years old and you look like 11!

Middle school was rough

If there is a period of my life where I don’t want to go back, it is definitively middle school. I hated it, even if I met one of my best friend then, I don’t have lots of good memories. You are still young, but yet old enough to care about other people's opinions. It was pretty much when my self-esteem went "hasta la vista baby!".

When I was a teenager, I was very thin. Too thin. Some people told me I was anorexic (you know how children can be mean!). I come from a tiny little family and I took everything from my mom side: small boobies, not tall, thin bones. We could have been a lilliputian family (the only interloper is my butt, my mom got it too, I truly don’t know where it comes from!). I was and I am still a pretty short person but on the top of it I had buck teeth. Not because I was sucking my thumb, no I wanted more than that, I was sucking 3 of my fingers (at the same time!). Then of course I got braces at the age of 15.

When you are in your teenager phase, you are way more vulnerable and you take all of the negativity from others as if it was the truth. Even if I never felt ugly, I had no self-esteem for several years because of all of the tough teasing I got from others.

Apprenticeship, the beginning of freedom

Long story short, middle school sucked and I was happy it ended. What hapepned after? Well, before we start, just know that, in France, you have 3 options after middle school: you either go to high school, university or apprenticeship. I went for the last one because I wanted to learn a profession and get a paycheck. It works like this: first you need to find the field where you wanna work in, second you find a business ready to hire you and then a school who teaches the profession you choose.

I have done 7 years of apprenticeship (2 years of dog grooming, 2 years of sales and 3 years of photography) and every year was one more step towards freedom and self-development.

The time I won back my self-esteem

When I started my first year of photography school, I was still a bit shy. My arms were often crossed and my shoulders were tense. I remember my classmates telling me to relax and put my shoulders down.

When you learn photography, you also have to learn how to pose. It is very important to understand how modelling works if you want to be able to guide your model in a better way. The first times as a model was tough for me. I felt awkward, stupid. It was so not natural and I was afraid of smiling. Then there is a moment, you decide to take it as a game, an experience that happens few times in a life. After a few times, you start to relax, smile more naturally, pose by yourself and you take off your clothes more easily.

For me it was pure freedom, especially when I saw the results on the screen. I was like: “oh man, I look gorgeous, is that me?!”

The final step of my self-confidence goal, was to pose fully naked, which I did! Trust me, once you put down your vulnerability and your clothes, you feel ready to dance naked in the street!

As a photographer, it has been a while since I met someone who loves 100% of his/her body.  Even me, sometimes I catch myself thinking that I would like to change a physical part of my body. But what is the point of those thoughts?

Here is a good exercise

Find a mirror where you can see yourself, from your head to your feet. Go naked and look at every centimeters of your body, even your intimate parts. Start to think about what you like in yourself, don’t let negative thoughts coming through.

Then everyday you are facing a mirror, take 5/10 min to think about the parts of your body you don’t like and for each of those, start telling yourself out loud that you are beautiful, those parts are awesome, it is not a big deal to have something physically different, that it doesn’t change the fact you are strong, smart, sexy and pretty. It sounds silly and ridiculous but trust me it does work if you work on it daily. Telling yourself something positive everyday will help your brain to believe in it.

And you, what is your story?

With love,

5 reasons to spend more time in adult stores

Sexy Sunday talk: Sex shops! I am pretty sure most of you have been to an adult store before, if not then it’s okay, you probably will after reading this.

The first time in an adult shop is like the first time you make love. It is confusing, we don’t really know where to go, what we can touch… So yeah, not the best experience. Like sexuality, you need to practice to make it feel better and be more confident about it.

It's very likely you will end up doing what 99% of people do: go once, feel weird and you won't try again because you will just rehash that first experience. I personally do not go often, but when I do, I aim for the classy and friendly ones.

Before giving you the reasons why you should embrace your curiosity and take this step, let me tell you about my first time there... when I was 4. Yes, you read right. I actually had to ask my mother to remind me this story, as you know, your memory is not the sharpest at that age.

My mom, my godmother and the four-year-old me were walking downtown Paris, in les Halles area (if you're familiar with Paris!) after our casual Toy Story moving outting. We turned into a street full of sex stores and peep-shows at that time. Because I was very curious, I could not stop asking my mom about those “shops”. She thought it would be a good idea (because of Toy Story) to tell me they were selling toys for adults. Oh mom...

I was just staring at the windows, while my mom and godmother were talking. And suddenly, I just crawled under the curtain (for people who never been to les Halles, lots of those peep-shows don’t have entrance doors per se but velvet curtains instead).

My mom had to go in, get me out and the young salesman was too surprised to catch me while I was running towards the dildos. It was such an awkward moment for the clients who ended up leaving the store because they felt too embarassed to stay. Talk about cockblock.

It took only 2 minutes to my mom to take me out not without bumping into a gentleman going in. He became as red as a tomato and pretended he was going in the wrong store.

I apparently created a big mess that day!

I went back years later with my friends, when I was a teenager. I have lots a great memories about laughing and making jokes at the products.

Here are 5 reasons to spend more time in sex stores:

An other world

I am always amazed to see the diversity of products you can find for sexuality and desire. It is open for all level, either you are looking for something sensual or erotic: massage oils, dildos or silicone vagina, you will find something for you. They have amazing and high quality pieces, like those colorful glass sex toys, they are captivatingly beautiful.

Body-positivity

Sex stores are part of this category of few places where you are free to be yourself. No judgement and everybody is welcome: young adults to older people, women and men, straight or LGBTQ community… No one cares about the way you look or your career, the money you have or the places you are going to. 

Educational

Believe it or not, you can learn very interesting things. Lots of sex shops organize different workshops, from learning how to do a blowjob to communicating your desires to your partner or even getting prepared with your next challenge (being half naked in front of a camera) with a boudoir photography workshop. Oh wait, the last one is done by us!

Personally, I found pretty interesting ones like: “Bigger, better, multiples: orgasms for every body” or “compassionate communication: crossing the bridge to connection”. If you feel attracted by those workshops, Good for Her has great ones.

Amazing lingerie

Oh ladies, the lingerie they have is marvelous and so tasteful.  I am in love every time I am going in a sex shop. Bras, panties, bodysuits, jumpsuits, tights, stockings, thongs, sexy, fancy, with straps, lace, leather… Disneyland for women! Prices are affordable and you have lots of choice.

Great people

Why are adult stores great? Not just because of the products they have but also because of the people who work in those places: open minded, professional, friendly and knowledgeable. They will guide you, answer your questions, show you the new arrivals and make you have a great experience. But no worries if you prefer to not talk to anybody, they will leave you alone.

The time of creepy and crappy places is over! We love clean and friendly stores.  For our scandals who live in Toronto, BlogTo did a great article about the best Sex Shops in town.

It is now your turn to tell us your first experience or best memory from those adult stores!

With love

Scandaleuse gave up on meat

Bonjour bonjour our vegetarian, vegan and meat lover scandals.

For those who eat meat, have you ever asked yourself what life is like for people who gave it up? Have you ever been curious about how they can still be healthy? Have you ever heard this little voice in your head saying: “come one…Try it, you might love it!”? I'm sure you know what I am talking about…

Well ladies & gentlemen get ready, Scandaleuse will demystify all of the meatless urban legends!

Why and when?

About a year ago, Juliette and I decided to stop eating meat. But we didn’t do it at the same time (believe it or not, sometimes we do take our decisions separately, we are not always Thomson & Thompson).

Juliette was first. She started decreasing the amount of meat in her diet, after reading a few blog posts about how it is not necessary. She tried it for a couple of weeks and now and she doesn’t want to go back!

Concerning my experience, it was an article on a french online magazine called “Mademoizelle” that was the trigger. It was about the founder who stopped eating meat right away after watching Cowspiracy.

Two days later, here I was, in front of my computer, with my pasta dish and my boyfriend Ivan, watching this famous documentary. Let me tell you, we both got slapped in the face big time! We looked at each other and knew we had to stop eating meat. All we cared about (sustainability, deforestation & global warming) was right in front of us and we were able to change things starting with our plates.

The decision was easy to make but educating our brain wasn't…

How?

While it is not complicated to give meat up, it is not easy either. It takes time, knowledge and willpower. Our brain is a little evil, it can make you crave something you don’t need and this is the toughest part!

I never really ate a lot of meat except things that people don't enjoy such as liver, veal tongue, duck gizzards and of course chicken, ham, prosciutto... (well I am gonna stop here cause now I am craving Italian ham!). But truly, when you are strong enough to fight for what you care about and you can see your actions lead to results, this is a damn good reward!

Take your time, you don’t need to stop meat or animal proteins in one day. Start with beef because it is the worst for our planet, then remove the chicken. And please don’t listen to those people who try to rush you. Like in politics, they can be too extreme.

If you are thinking of becoming vegetarian, pescetarian or vegan, you need to know why. You need to have a solid reason to be able to go through it. Is it because you want to be healthier? Do you care about animal cruelty? Do you want to change the way we act on our beautiful planet? Finding your own purpose will make it much easier.

If you feel ready or want to satisfy your curiosity, check the Cowspiracy website (they have lots of great articles, videos and tips) and of course watch it. For those who are worried about seeing blood and disgusting slaughterhouse scenes, don’t worry you won't. This documentary is full of datas, interviews & facts but no awful footage.

 Meatless urban LEGENDs:

-Did you force your partner to give up on meat? Yes totally. Every night I handcuff Ivan at the bed, feed him with broccoli and order him to call me his Green Mama!

 -You don’t eat meat! How can you be so healthy? I grow this magical plant on my balcony which is perfect for baking little muffins. It gives me wings and makes me indestructible! No let’s be serious, I just make sure to replace all of the animal proteins I don’t eat by a plant-based diet. And I still eat a bit of fish, eggs and cheese.

-Ok you eat fish but don’t you know it is also animal cruelty, fish have feelings! Yes you are right but my first reason in this choice was not animal cruelty, it was sustainability. I never wanted to think about animals suffering in slaughterhouses when I was eating meat. But since I stopped, I now care about it.

I am not against hunters, farmers or meat itself. I am against industrialization, big factories and against all of this waste of energy we consume to produce meat. Oh and also palm oil, but this will be an other topic.

-No meat? Cooking must be sooo boring!!! I am actually having more fun than before. I love transforming regular meal into vegetarian/vegan ones. You have so many way to be creative while cooking. And I feel lucky to live in Toronto because Canada has lot of options for non-meat eaters.

 -I am a man, a real one, I will never stop meat! Good for you my friend… but you’re right we never know... A vagina could grow between your legs if you become vegetarian! Starting a plant-based diet or just being careful with your consumption is not gonna make you less of a man. Lots of male athletes for example don’t eat animal products, does it mean they lost their testicles on the road? Of course not!

I have a friend who told me once “Fanny I will never ever give up on meat, I love it so much!!”, then guess what: he doesn’t eat meat anymore. Please gentlemen, don’t let your fears stopping you from trying. I promise you will still look handsome.

-I truly don’t give a damn of our planet! Well no comment but one day you will change your mind…

Voilà folks, it was just an introduction. We promise to write an other article with more details, tips, advice and recipes (but only if you have been good followers, Green Mama is watching you!)

 With love.

Fanny

Behind-the-scene - The Scandaleuse Logo

Your logo is the face of your business. It needs to be smart and strong. It needs to illustrate perfectly your quality of work. After all, it is the first visual aspect of your branding people will see and, hopefully, remember.

While we can do many things, drawing is definitely not one of them. We then had two options: try designing something by ourselves and have something completely messed up OR find the person that already had the talent to do it for us. Needless to say we thought about this for exactly… 2 seconds. Why wasting time and end up with a sketchy (pun not intended) logo that will follow you forever (oh the internet) when you already know a wonderful, talented soul who could help you make your logo dreams come true?

This is when Deanna appeared like an angel, her and her magic fingers.

Deanna Colosimo is an illustrator based in Toronto and she also turns out to be one of our Scandals! We have had the opportunity to work with her on multiple occasions and we always came back over the moon with the results.

Fanny and I already had a fairly precise idea of what we were looking for. We wanted something hand drawn, edgy and sexy.

It took one phone call with Deanna to found ourselves with a few differents sketches the next morning. Talk about being efficient.

Because, of course, on top of being talented, Deanna works fast. She is seriously an illustration ninja. We could never thank her enough for standing by our sides when we were debating the amount of freckles or when the nose needed to be changed by a few millimeters. Over and over.

Do not underestimate the power of having talented people around you, little Scandals. It is not about competition, it is about building amazing things together.

Thank you Dee.

Find Deanna
Her website | Her instagram

More than just a parade

Hello our little scandals and happy Canada day!

Today’s blog post is about Pride. One more fabulous year, full of happy people, colors, fun and most importantly: love

A month ago we received an inquiry for a boudoir shoot, from one of our customer who was wondering if we were open to homosexuals and same-sex couples. We are always surprised to see in 2017, some people still have anger towards the gay community and refuse to help or serve people who are different. It always breaks my heart when I hear stories about homophobia but even if those people are making it difficult, it is important to focus on the ones who fight against that.

We enjoy the Pride because it is not just about homosexuality anymore but about us, Human beings. It is about the right to love whoever you want. It is about owning your body and sexuality, about welcoming the difference with open arms and a warm heart. It is about freedom!

We all deserve to live the life we want and it starts with being ourselves.

Bonjour Monsieur Trudeau!

We were at the pride parade this year and found a great (and tiny) spot to enjoy the show. We danced, laughed and yelled for 2 hours. We caught some gifts and we got wet (take your mind out of the gutter, it is not what you think!)

Budlight had a pretty sweet setup!

But it was not the best part. You know the French have a reputation to naturally be kinky right? Well, we decided to own up to it.

We went down the street in the village, and we asked strangers to kiss while we were taking pictures. Kisses. Kisses everywhere! We only have one thing to say, you guys were brave! Believe it or not, kissing in front of two photographers you meet for the first time is though (and there was no foreplay).

Some couples were passionate, others were shy but they all were beautiful. It was few hours of pure love and this my friend, is more important than all of those frustrated people who can’t understand what being Human means.

Thumb up for our lovely Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, always nice to see him in the parade. This guy is amazing.

Love you all!

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How I Met My Business Partner

Episode 1 : From Paris to London.

Hello Little Scandals,

Juliette here! As you know, there are two Scandals-en-chef behind Scandaleuse. Fanny and I are lucky to have a rare relationship. A very strong bond that was built over the years. Not to say that we agree on everything, we are not Barbie dolls surrounded by unicorns, but we have been pretty lucky to find each other.

So that's the story for today: how we met.

(Fanny doesn't know I am writing this at the moment. Surprise!)

2012, and already taking lingerie photos....

Paris, September 2009. I am 17, Fanny is 19. I am from the middle of nowhere in the North of France and Fanny grew up in Paris' suburbs. We officially met for the first time when both of us sign up for Photography school in Northern Paris. Two young women trying to chase their dreams and learn the craft that Photography is.

The first things I remember about Fanny are:
• She was ALWAYS wearing heels
• She had to have her coffee from that crappy machine we had in the hall multiple times a day.
• Her nails were different color every week. Like seriously, that was the fun fact of every other Monday.

I felt like she was such a grown-up compared to me & my black nails, because y'know I am rock'n'roll.

We spent the first year of school becoming friends but nothing crazy. We both had other girls we bonded with. Turns out both of these lovely girls ended up leaving after the first year and Fanny and I kept going for the second part of the program.

I guess this is when we started becoming close. I was slowly struggling with this school that I didn't like, seeing Fanny was pretty much the only thing that made me go. We modelled for each other's assignments. We did random shoots when no one was taking care of us.

She was always game to follow my crazy ideas of creating dresses out of curtains and go shoot in a public park in Paris.

Yep, this was one of first sessions!

#artplease

I wanted more than the school. I wanted to travel. I didn't go through the program and didn't do the last year. Fanny kept going and I found another school than led me to London to work as an assistant for a photographer there.

Surprisingly, my leaving made us stronger than ever. Over the span of 8 months, I did my internship and went back home. Fanny had that tickle to travel then and I desperately wanted to go back to London. "You should come with me" I told her one day on October 2012.

Later that month, I got a phone call:

"I am coming with you, let's do it" she said.

Tickets were bought the same day, we packed our bags and left two weeks after.

The day we left for London with 3000 bags.

To this day, the moment when both Fanny and I were in the Eurostar, on the way to London-St-Pancras, is one of the most powerful moments of my life. We were both very serene. We were doing something kind of crazy, leaving our friends and family behind, to go to a city Fanny didn't know and I was barely familiar with. City where people speak another language we didn't really know. No jobs, no apartments, just our thirst for adventure. Yet everything felt like it was meant to be.

After writing this, I realize than we are going to need at least another post to tell you guys how we ended up in Toronto.

Stay tuned Little Scandals.

I had to end this blog post with some vintage pictures of us. Here we go, yours truly!

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When the photographer becomes the model

You know we care. You know we would do anything to treat you the best possible way. We know there is always room from improvement. That's why we decided to put one of the Scandals-En-Chef - Juliette - on the other side of the lense for a change, to experience fully what it is like to be half naked in front of a camera.

Dear little Scandals,

Both of us went to Costa Rica last February to participate in an amazing Aerial Silks retreat. We stayed in a beautiful lodge and totally took advantage of it. We woke up early morning before the heat made us sweat more than usual and off we went, shooting!

Disclaimer : Like many women and men, I have always had body issues. They are like ghosts from my 14-year-old self when I was hiding my face with long bangs and wearing horrible push-up bras, and other uncomfortable attire to pretend my body was something it wasn't. Over the years, I became "okay" with my reflection in the mirror. Not hating it, not loving it either. While working out has helped me a lot, I still have to battle my demons here and there. This shoot was a huge challenge that I set for myself.

Now, buckle-up, you are about to jump in my head...

7:01 am - Today is the day. Can I catch up on years of non-squatting in 2 minutes?
7:02 am - Probably not. At least we are doing this before breakfast. No swollen belly, yay!
7:05 am - My hands are shaking and my buttcheeks will too. Why did I think this would be a good idea?
7:06 am - Shoot boudoir sessions they say, it will be fun they say….
7:08 am - Enough talking to yourself, more getting ready.
7:30 am - Hair? Decent. Make-up? Complete. Wardrobe? Minimal. Sex-appeal? In process.
7:35 am - I am SO ready for this.
7:38 am - Here we goooo.
7:40 am - Wait, what am I supposed to do? Listening to Fanny should be a good start.
7:45 am - I have to contract my abs.
7:50 am - Daaaaamn, I feel like a sex bomb.
7:55 am - I have never been this self-conscious about sitting on a bed. How do people sit on beds and look naturally sexy?
7:56 am - American movies are full of lies.
7:58 am - What the hell should I do with my arms? What do normal people do with arms? The human body has way too many parts.
7:59 am - Hold the pose, hold the pose, hold the pose.
8:00 am - Worth it. Looks sick. Let's do more!
8:15 am - I have never arched my back this much before. Flexibility here I come.
8:17 am - The garderner is taking a hell lot of time to pick up his lime on that patio here. Enjoy the show buddy.
8:25 am - I am getting the hang of this.
8:27 am - Call me Sexy Beast from now on please.
8:30 am - More! More! More!
8:32 am - Bra's off. I am a savage. Free the nipples!
8:37 am - There is something very cool about walking around breast-naked, let me tell you.
9:00 am - Wait, it's already over?

What I learned from this experience:

This shoot confirmed everything I thought would happen and more. I blanked for basic poses, went from feeling vulnerable, super nervous and questioning everything I did to jumping around, boobs au naturel. It is amazing how fast you become aware of your own body when it is the main focus. Every natural movement does NOT feel natural anymore for no reason.

Thankfully, I did not have to do too much thinking with Fanny guiding me every step of the way. I felt more and more comfortable after the first 5 minutes and was completely at ease by the end of the session. Even better, I am actually super proud of myself for accomplishing this.

This session also helped me become a better photographer. I am even more aware of what a model needs to hear in order to feel taken care of.

Conclusion: Will definitely do it again!

Things you should know:

• Your photographer (aka us!) does NOT judge your appearance. That is not what we are here for.
• It does take guts to pose half naked in front of a stranger. That's why we make a point of ensuring you are 100% comfortable with us, our personalities and the way we work.
• Posing you is part of our job. You shouldn't worry about having to come up with poses by yourself.
• You are allowed to say no. I personally felt comfortable enough to show my breasts.  Maybe you won't, and that's okay.
• Make the most of your session and have fun. You've come this far, you might as well go fierce!

This makes me happy for what we are currently doing with you Little Scandals.

Love,

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Our Boudoir Approach - Between sexual harassment and body shaming

Scandaleuse was born over coffee in Toronto. When Fanny and I first discussed the concept of shooting boudoir, we were surprised at the positive reception from our friends and family. If anyone was going do it, we realized, it was going to be the two of us.

Let's face it, human bodies have always been fascinating, and risqué. Whether it was in the 1920's in Paris where it was forbidden but secretly exciting, or in the 70's to encourage women's femininity, we have always photographed people showing skin. There are no rules, no average, no limits.

When starting Scandaleuse, our main goal was (and still is!) to provide a high quality session in which our models, women or men, would feel completely themselves. No disguise, no theme, just beautiful people in beautiful places. Where did this thing start you may wonder? While we don't have a straight answer, we do have a few pointers.

As simple and juvenile as it may sound : body shaming sucks. Come to think of it, we spend so much time comparing or underestimating ourselves. Beauty standards will always be here unless we break them. You should feel comfortable in your own skin. After all, you only have one. Who's to say that if you are not a size 0, you are not beautiful? Who can tell you what to wear and what not to wear to fit in society? As far as we know, there are no fashion gods, only people with strong beliefs that don't always make sense.

Shooting boudoir photography is our way to contribute to stop body shaming, one shoot at the time.

Here comes our second but just as important trigger to what we are doing today. Growing up in France and living quite a bit of time in Paris, we can officially say that being girls over there is not the nicest feeling on Earth.

Take Paris for example: all of our friends, ourselves included, have suffered from sexual harassment while minding our own business. Between daily insults (or physical assaults in the worst cases), all of us have wondered if this skirt was too short, or if this outfit showed too much skin even if we felt comfortable right before passing the front door.

Once we set foot in London and in Toronto, we realized that this kind of behaviour was not okay and far away from the norm. We have never been bothered by anyone walking down the street in Toronto in 4 years (and still counting!).

That being said, we are happy to say that we took something good out of this nasty behaviour: promoting women. Showing off their bodies by giving them the respect they deserve and make them feel beautiful.

Don't worry gentlemen, we got your covered too. Wellnot "covered" per se. You get the idea!

We are game if you are.

Dear Future Scandals...

This is iT. Scandaleuse is finally ready to see the daylight, ready to conquer the Torontonian streets with a touch of Frenchie-ness.

Photo credit: CreativeX

After many sleepless nights, creative outbursts and double espressos, your Scandals-en-chef have arrived, and together, we are ready to work our bums (no pun intended) off to bring boudoir photography to the next level.

We are very excited to meet you all, Scandals-to-be.
Hold on to your panties, we are up for a ride.