Filipino chefs have been carrying their kitchens far from home—Erica Paredes brought hers to Paris. The chef and founder behind Reyna Paris and Mischief has built a name for herself by reinterpreting comfort food, weaving Filipino flavors with French technique, and creating emotionally driven dishes rooted in her heritage, precision, and creative vision. 

That instinctively extends beyond the kitchen, too: she moves easily between food, fashion, art, and culture, placing her among Paris’s new generation of tastemakers with a modern and effortless sense of beauty and creativity.

But ask her what beauty means, and the answer has nothing to do with plating or precision. It’s about her freckles—something she used to feel insecure about—and how years living away from home, moving between cultures, slowly taught her to stop measuring herself against a single idea and metric of what beautiful is. 

What Paris taught her about skin

Erica Paredes has lived a life abroad, filled with travels and new experiences. This, she says, has helped her embrace her natural features more than ever. “Traveling and experiencing different parts of the world have made me more accepting of my own features,” she shares. “When I was younger, I used to feel insecure about my freckles, but now they’re something I genuinely love about myself.” 

Social media has sold us on French style as effortlessly chic—skin that looks lit from within, makeup that reads as “no makeup” at all. Paredes would agree, but for her, that effortlessness isn’t an aesthetic. It’s a shift in priorities. 

“Here, skin care is valued more than makeup. And even though the French are stylish and undeniably chic, it still feels effortless and understated. Their overall approach to beauty is very natural, with the ‘no makeup’ makeup look being especially prominent,” says Paredes.

It’s a mindset that mirrors her own shift in how she sees herself. The same acceptance that let her stop hiding her freckles is what she now sees reflected in the way Paris treats beauty—not as something to correct, but something to work with. 

Her go-to product on her travels: Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré

If there’s one thing that living in France has taught Paredes, it’s the beauty of keeping things simple. “French pharmacy skin care is so good. I always have a mix of Korean and French skin care on rotation, but whenever I’m traveling—or just feeling lazy—I find myself reaching for Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré,” she shares. 

For someone who spent years learning to work with what she has—her features, her heritage, the flavors she grew up with—reaching for one dependable product instead of a routine built on fixing things tracks. Erica Paredes’ beauty philosophy, like her cooking, isn’t about reinvention. It’s about taking what’s already hers and doing it well—in her own way. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Erica Paredes is a Paris-based Filipina chef and the founder behind Reyna Paris and Mischief. Her cooking reinterprets comfort food by weaving Filipino flavors with French technique, rooted in her heritage.

Living and traveling outside the Philippines made her more accepting of her own features. Paredes was insecure about her freckles when younger, but now counts them among the things she loves about herself.

She says skin care is valued more than makeup in France. French style reads as chic but stays effortless and understated, with the “no makeup” makeup look especially prominent in everyday beauty.

Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré, a French pharmacy staple. Paredes keeps Korean and French skin care in rotation, but when traveling or wanting a low-effort routine, she reaches for this single product.

She describes French pharmacy skin care as “so good” and keeps it in regular rotation alongside Korean products. Its skin-first, minimal appeal matches the understated approach to beauty she absorbed in Paris.

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