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The best speedy beauty treatments in London

These speedy treatments will have you party ready in a matter of minutes

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London has stepped up its grooming game recently, pushing cheap, fast treatments to the top of the menu. Rather than doing a bodge job on your commute to work, get yourself booked in for one of these speedy fixes.

CHECK THIS OUT: The best spas in London

Barber & Parlour
  • Health and beauty
  • Beauty salons
  • Shoreditch

Top treatment: The Quickie conditioning mask, £5 (10 minutes approx)
While you might arrive at the newly souped-up Barber & Parlour in search of an instant beauty fix, we can’t guarantee you’ll actually want to leave. Spread over three floors, there’s quick cuts, blow-drys and root touch-ups courtesy of colourist extraordinaire Josh Wood, fun fast mani-pedis from Cheeky and grooming for blokes by Neville Barbers. That’s not to mention the cinema, the juice bar and the in-house kitchen…

MILK Beauty
Patricia Rayner

2. MILK Beauty

Top treatment: 15 Minute Manicure, £16 (15 minutes)
Don’t have a manicurist on speed dial? Us neither. The next best thing is Milk, whose crack team of mobile beauty therapists mean that a salon-standard mani-pedi is just a click away. They’ve recently expanded their service area, too, so living south of the river no longer means you’re stuck in a beauty black spot. 

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Blow Ltd
  • Shopping
  • Covent Garden

Top treatment: Luxe Blow, £25 (30 minutes)
Blow Ltd’s brand of speedy blow-dry bar is one American import that you’ll never catch us moaning about. The ‘fast beauty’ guarantee means that even the most unruly of manes can be transformed from haystack to hit in a mere thirty minutes – simply choose from the eight styles available on the no-nonsense menu. 


Bobbi Brown: The Studio
  • Shopping
  • Covent Garden

Top treatment: Instant Make-Up, free (10 minutes)
Sod’s law states that with the arrival of a fancy party comes a sobering realisation: you’ve spent half your life applying make-up with the dexterity of an enthusiastic toddler wielding a box of finger paints. To soften the blow, book in with a pro at a Bobbi Brown counter: lessons range from the quick fix Instant Make-Up (10 mins) to Problem Solving Make-Up (45 mins, £30 redeemable), which is exclusive to the new Covent Garden studio.

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  • Shopping
  • Fitzrovia

Top treatment: Bleach Bar Parting Highlights, £30 (1 hour)
If you’re a not-so natural blonde who hasn’t hit the bottle in a while, drop in at Muse of London to ditch the inadvertent dip-dye – without spending an entire afternoon with your head wrapped in foil.  After a stylist has tended to your roots, you can either do a DIY dry – bring your own hairbrush – or upgrade to a blow dry for a couple of extra quid. Appointments available on the day or on a walk in basis.

PRIV
Victoria Dawe Photography

6. PRIV

Top treatment: Airbrush Tan, £30 (15 minutes)
New to London, Priv is like Uber’s better-looking sibling. Download the app to find a beauty pro in your local area, who’ll arrive at your home or office within the hour. Services include anything from a gel manicure (£25) to a full-on spray tan (£30). Available from 25 Nov.

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Leticia Haute Coiffure
  • Shopping
  • Marylebone

Top Treatment: Speedy Luxe Blow, from £25 (15 minutes plus washing time)
Favoured by the sort of crowd who are forever dropping in at the Chiltern Firehouse down the road, Leticia Haute Coiffure promises a sleek, voluminous style in just 15 minutes. Sound too good to be true? You do have to factor in some extra minutes for hair-washing, although the truly time-poor can book in for a speedy dry-blow (from £20). For out-of-hours hair ‘mares, there’s an impressive 24/7 service available, too.

MAC
  • Shopping
  • Covent Garden

Top Treatment: Eyelash Application, free (5 minutes)
Done properly, false lashes can get you party ready in the blink of an eye (sorry.) The only catch is that they’re almost never done properly, creeping spider-like down your face as the night progresses. Thankfully, MAC’s Lash Bars can prevent the accidental ‘Clockwork Orange’ effect: simply choose your preferred pair, then have a professional apply them there and then, at no extra charge. 

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Blo Blow Dry Bar
  • Shopping
  • Covent Garden

Top treatment: Holly Would Blo-Out, £28 (30 minutes)
After consciously coupling with Gwyneth Paltrow this summer, America’s biggest blow bar chain has swished its way across the Atlantic to open in Covent Garden. Cuts and colour are off the uber-streamlined menu, which features just seven blow-out styles, each christened with a fittingly Goop-y name.

Nails & Brows
  • Shopping
  • Mayfair

Top treatment: Quick Fix Pedicure, £34 (30 minutes)
Going against what you might expect from a well-heeled Mayfair salon, the Nails & Brows approach is as straightforward as the salon name. Appointments for brow-shaping, lash-tinting and nail buffing are all available on a drop-in basis, and despite the W1 post code, the prices aren’t eyebrow-raising either, starting at £15.

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Charles Worthington
  • Shopping
  • Fitzrovia

Top treatment: Dry Up Do, £15 (15 minutes)
Drop in at any Charles Worthington Salon to spruce up your hair (without getting it wet) in just fifteen minutes. Choose from a tousled, Sixties-esque up-do, a chic tailored bun, or the sort of fancy braid you’d never be able to attempt on your own. 

Duck & Dry
  • Health and beauty
  • King’s Road

Top treatment: Express Blow Dry, £20 (30 minutes)
In the King’s Road area? Pop in to this brand-spanking blow-dry parlour for a quickie. Choose from a menu of glam blow-dry or up-do options, with prices starting at £25 – or if you’re seriously pressed for time, try an express version on dry hair (starting at £20). A super-speedy Made in Chelsea-worthy mane, without the Made in Chelsea prices – what’s not to like?

Looking for some relaxation?

London’s best spa hotels
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London is vibrant, varied, exciting, seductive, sprawling... and just a little bit exhausting. At some point, you're probably going to need to pause to unwind.

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