Silvie’s 7 Signature Must-Haves

Beauty trailblazer Sylvie Chantecaille shares 7 of her favorite products, places, and people that she considers absolute must-haves

sylvie chantecaille1) Favorite gardening style

My mother was a crazy gardener. I certainly learned a lot from her. I have a few gardens at my Hamptons home, and they are all different types—a wild garden in the back and another with a big English border. I have an herb garden and a garden behind a little French boxwood. Then I have a newer garden of blues and purples that surround a fountain that’s really lovely.

2) Favorite flowers

I love daisies, lilies, and tulips, as well as David Austin roses for their amazing fragrance. I have a climbing white clematis that’s gorgeous and mixes well with roses. In general, I love massive amounts of things that bloom at the same time, like hydrangeas. In the springtime I grow vast amounts of Siberian irises that bloom in a wild garden by the river. The garden is full of blue flowers, except for a big orange tree.

3) Favorite time of year in the garden

Fall is really good because it’s still warm, there’s beautiful light, and you get good rain. You can do planting and move things around but it’s still not cold.

4) Favorite travel destination

For me, I love to go to Africa because I love animals, and I love nature. My great joy is to hang around the elephants.

5) I never go anywhere without

My husband! Other than him, I never go without my Chantecaille rosewater, which I spray in the morning, on the airplane, and in the evening. But I also like my iPad because I can’t go to sleep on a plane. On these 17-hour flights, after I’ve seen five movies on my iPad, I put on eye mask gels made of seaweed. It’s transparent so you can put them under your eyes. I also have a great cashmere shawl that a friend made me from his company Montesogno.

6) My interior design style is

sylvie chantecaille
“The basis of Chantecaille was to have a great natural line that is incredibly healthy for people and doesn’t use preservatives or fragrances. I believe at a lot of companies they feel they can’t afford high-quality products. I thought, I’d rather have slower growth and better products,” says Sylvie.

I live in an old, old house, originally from 1780. It has low ceilings, so my style had to become much cleaner. All the floors are white; otherwise the house would be too dark. I like lots of windows. I keep tons of plants in the house, including orchids, which I keep for years. My house is full of color—a lot of green and white and orange.

7) On looking great after 50

Exercise is vital. I do pilates in the pool, which is great. I think that drinking juice and taking vitamins is really good. Of course, I love our products, and I use them all (though not at the same time, of course!). Our masks are great because you can sleep in them, and we women don’t have much time to do that kind of thing during the day. At Chantecaille, we believe we should do things that work for every woman.


By Kirk Reed Forrester

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