Health and Beauty at Wholefoods

Wholefoods, a health-oriented US supermarket that is popping up across London as fast as you can say ‘organic’, now has its own mini spa in Piccadilly. While it’s not exactly a sanctuary (positioned next to one of the busiest tube stations in London, then past a stack of shopping baskets and checkouts) it’s a handy beauty bolt-hole for the eco-minded. Real effort has been made to ‘zone’ the beauty area as distinct from the aisles of quinoa and coconut water. The beauty department has been dolled up with boutiquey wallpaper and neatly presented stacks of brilliant natural brands and lines – many of which you won’t find anywhere else – from Studio 78 make-up to beautiful Palestinian soaps by Nablus. This considered approach to beauty is carried through to the treatment room, a cosy little spot tucked away off the shop floor. Wholefoods have picked their best beauty brands, and assigned them each a day in the room: Monday is tough-rub day with World Massage; on Fridays natural nailcare pioneers Pinks Boutique dispense manicures and pedicures using Zoya products, shunning an ungainly mani chair in favour of a back-to-basics bowl of warm water filled with aromic herbs and petals, and their own sugar scrubs and natural creams.