Stocking well-known and less familiar potions, lotions and pomades, London’s beauty boutiques are the place to buy the tools to primp, preen and pout your best all year round
Pout
32 Shelton Street
London
WC2H 9JE
020 7379 0379
Candy coloured walls, beautiful, wearable products, and trained make-up artists greet you as you step inside this gorgeous make-up boutique in Covent Garden. Whether you’re there to browse the make-up and beauty products that line the walls, or experiencing a quick makeover from the pros that work at Pout you’re in for a treat! Loved by celebs and marmaladies alike, Pout stocks its own fabulous range (Kylie loves the Pop My Bubble Lip Plump), as well as products from Ole Henriksen, DuWop, Lola and many more. A trip to Covent Garden isn’t complete without a purchase from the friendly ladies in this welcoming beauty boutique.
Kiehls
29 Monmouth Street
London
WC2H 9DD
020 7240 2411
Established in New York in 1851, women the world over now trust their skin to Kiehls products. The simple packaging and old-world-apothecary feel to the stores imbues you with confidence that this company knows exactly what they’re doing when it comes to taking care of you. Their body moisturiser Crème De Corps and hair styler Silk Groom are just two renowned products that show up again and again in best beauty product surveys. Staff have an impressively full knowledge of the ranges and certainly don’t scrimp on the free samples when you buy for yourself or for others.
Space NK
4 Thomas Neals
37 Earlham Street
London
WC2H 9LD
020 7379 7030
A one-stop shop for gorgeous cleansers, make-up and anything else you could wish to place on your dressing table or bathroom cabinet, Space NK holds all the luxurious brands you could ever need as well as their own fabulous products. Laura Mercier, Nars, Eve Lom and Dr Hauschka are just a few of the carefully selected brands that make Space NK a reliable and enjoyable place to spend your hard-earned money.
HQ Hair & Beauty Store
2 New Burlington Street
London
W1S 2JE
0871 220 4141
A salon and store in one, HQ Hair is a one-stop shop where you can be made over and then take home luscious products to help with the upkeep! Bookmark HQHair.com on your web browser; it’s the place to go to get those hard to find, lusted after, ‘miracle’ products that you read about in magazines. Their range is enormous and incorporates regular salon brands and luxurious ultra-expensive products in one easily digestible site. The salon within the central London store utilises the gorgeous Yon Ka, Dermalogica, Decleor and other products that they sell in massages, facials, manis and pedis, waxes (for men and women) as well as hair cuts and highlights.
Benefit
49 Brushfield St
London
E1 6AA
020 7377 2684
Benefit is, like Pout, a well-known flirty and fresh brand full of wearable pretty products that are put together and promoted with thought and care. Lip and cheek stain Benetint (first used to pinken strippers’ nipples) is a staple of many a make-up bag, as is its Moonbeam and Highbeam highlighters, and BADgal lash mascara. The products do exactly what they say on the tin, with colour correctors, line erasers, facial scrubs and divine bath soaks as just some of what’s on offer. Each season they produce beautifully designed catalogues that explain the thinking behind the products, it’s hard to find fault with a place in which even the packaging is first class…
By Beth Squires
