The Curated Life Brings French Charm to Laguna Beach

Three years in the making, The Curated Life Shoppe opened in Laguna Beach this past April, and it was worth every moment of the wait.

Owner Michelle Trotter spent years traveling to France, handpicking products on each trip and putting them into storage until she found the right space to present them. She was specific about what that space needed to be. "I just knew that the base of the interior had to be white to highlight the beauty of each product," she says.

The result is a boutique destination filled with one-of-a-kind home goods, tabletop pieces, textiles and lifestyle products sourced directly from France and across Europe. Think French turbans, scarves and velvet pillows, hand-painted pillows, beach towels with matching duffle bags, Turkish towels and robes, wine glasses, 24-karat gold-rimmed cups and saucers, and soaps that might just replace your entire skincare routine.

The products have stories behind them, and Trotter sought them out intentionally. As she traveled and sourced, she listened for the makers who lit up when they talked about their craft. It was almost always women. "It wasn't just trial and error," she says. "It was apprenticeship and intention in crafting."

Two items have her particular attention. Her favorite beach bag and weekender, available in shades she calls mango and mojito, comes from a small-shop artisan in Toulouse who has scaled to meet growing demand without sacrificing quality. Then there are the soaps from Marseilles, which she stocks because they transformed her own skincare routine. "Allow such an indulgence without the flight to France," she says.

Trotter's love affair with French culture started in her teenage years, flipping through fashion magazines and gravitating toward the avant-garde color and design of the 1980s. Decades later, she traded holiday gifts one year for a family trip to Europe and never looked back. The experience became the foundation for her future travels, friendships built across the Atlantic, and eventually the inspiration for one of her children to settle in Paris permanently.

What she brings back from France is harder to bottle than any product. "When in France, I am always at peace, moving quietly, absorbing the ease of the people around me," she says. She describes sitting in a friend's brasserie, watching regulars place a coin on the counter each morning without a word, just a nod. That kind of easy exchange is the spirit she's after at The Curated Life.

Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday. 

The Curated Life is at 1540 S Coast Hwy in #104 Laguna Beach. 949.818.5433