There’s no denying the effortlessly cool aura French women have. It’s something that seems so simple, yet almost unattainable. While we might not have a chic apartment in Paris, or a front yard view of the Eiffel Tower, here are a few ways you can bring a bit of French style into your life this spring.

Start your days slowly

French women don’t catapult out of bed the same way we have a tendency to do. While you may not be able to spend every morning at a local cafe sipping an espresso and eating a croissant, you can still take half an hour to nourish yourself in whatever way works best for you. If you were in France, you would notice that people in a cafe are never buried in their cellphones, but rather reading a newspaper or a book or simply watching the day unfold. Try avoiding technology in the morning and instead sit outside with your coffee and just absorb the possibilities the day has to offer.

Indulge without feeling bad

French women enjoy wine, carbs and chocolate each day, just in small amounts. They also go for quality over quantity, so investing in a gourmet bag of espresso beans is worth it when you’re going to be slowly sipping and enjoying them. It’s also important to sit while you eat and put your fork down between bites. It may seem silly to you but you’d be amazed at how many people eat on the run or at a rapid pace, barely tasting the food they are consuming. Indulge, enjoy and know when to be done.

Enjoy a walk for leisure, not for exercise

You won’t find too many gyms in France, and you’ll rarely see a French woman spending hours on the treadmill. This is because exercise is incorporated into their daily lives through walking. Try increasing your steps each day, but for leisure, not for exercise. Park further away from your destination and enjoy the stroll. Take your time and take the stairs instead of scurrying into the elevator. Movement should be a part of your daily life, as opposed to something you try to cram into an allotted amount of time.

Fine-tune your style

Now that spring is approaching, we can start to ditch the bulky outerwear and streamline our wardrobe once again. A quality pair of jeans, a few dresses you love, a tailored blazer, these are all crucial elements of French-girl style. If you need more guidance on incorporating French style into your own closet, check out the 6 brands French “It Girls” love and you will too.

Ditch perfection

The key to effortless French lifestyle? Getting rid of the need for everything to be “perfect.” This includes your beauty routine, your wardrobe and your home. A French girl’s home is always lived-in and never perfect. Trying “too hard” just isn’t the French girl way. This spring, try easing back from the need to have everything designed and decorated down to the very last detail. Opt for quirky vintage finds and art instead of trying to streamline everything in the space. Curated, perfect lives are boring and unrealistic, so why waste your energy when you could be enjoying life instead?

Simplify, simplify, simplify

Instead of a full face of makeup, swipe on classic red lipstick on an otherwise bare face. Invest in a quality pair of flats (since you’ll be walking a bunch now anyway!), and a set of linen sheets that look good whether you’ve made your bed or not. Most importantly, try to simplify your day-to-day. We are overscheduled, overworked and overtired. This spring, I challenge you to really take a look at how you spend your day to day and see where you can make adjustments to simplify your life. Simplicity, at its best, removes all the obstacles from where you’re going, and where you want to be.

Main + featured image by Scotty Vance via our home tour with Alex Noiret.