London’s best beauty shops

Charlotte Tilbury’s Covent Garden flagship is her biggest in the world, and it’s as gloriously over the top as her ‘darlings’ TikTok voiceovers. It’s three times the size of the old shop, with a Pillow Talk Bar where you can play with the whole of the iconic collection and the brand’s first ever Skin Spa, offering four facials you can only get here. There’s even a Pillow Talk Parlour and a Beauty Boudoir you can book for masterclasses and private parties. 

Best for: Making a statement, darling.

London Glossier girls, don’t panic. The brand hailing from New York might be closing nine of its 12 shops worldwide, but the King Street one is staying put. It’s in the oldest building on Covent Garden piazza, a 17th-century townhouse now painted Glossier pink, with little G rosettes set into the wooden floors. Head to the Wet Bar to swatch Cloud Paint until your cheeks look like you’ve just come in from a frosty walk in Hyde Park, slick on a Balm Dotcom flavour you’d never normally go for and spritz Glossier You until you smell like the coolest girl in the room. The pink pouch everything comes in has a cult following of its own, so don’t be surprised when it becomes your makeup bag for the next five years.

Best for: Dewy skin obsessives and pink lovers. 

You no longer need a plane ticket to experience the madness of a K-beauty haul. As the UK’s biggest Korean beauty store, Pureseoul’s Carnaby flagship packs over 2,000 products across two bright floors. Yes, they stock the viral Medicube masks, but the real treasure is the SPF section, stocking magical Korean sunscreens that are weightless and leave zero white cast. Downstairs is where the fun happens: the makeup section. K-makeup is usually about achieving that dewy, ‘your skin but better’ glow. Instead of heavy foundations, you’ll find sheer Clio skin tints and Peripera lip stains that give a soft flush for a fraction of department store prices. Toss in some COSRX pimple patches and Sulwhasoo’s First Care Activating Serum, and you are good to go. Go with a list, and prepare to completely ignore it and buy double.

Best for: Sheet mask hoarders. 

If you haven’t been to Oxford Circus since Topshop closed, here’s your reason. Space NK has taken over part of the old building, and people literally camped out overnight to get in when it opened. There’s section dedicated to ‘viral drops’ for whatever the internet is obsessing over that week, with gumball machine dispensers you can use to fill one of Space NK’s see-through makeup bags. Try the blush and lipstick matching service, where you tap in what you’re after and it picks out your shade. Or get your perfume engraved at the fragrance bar, so there’s no arguing about whose it is when your sister ‘borrows’ it. And if your blending skills peaked with Collection 2000 concealer in Year 9, book in for a makeover and let the pros fix it. 

Best for: Knowing about it before the internet does.

This make-up shop has the feel of a high-end store like nearby Mac or Benefit, but the product prices rarely hit a tenner. There are big well-lit mirrors to play with shimmer eyeshadows, multicoloured lipsticks and everything else on offer (and take selfies after!) and the staff happily offer up advice. You can even book to get your eye make-up done for £15 of products.

This south London beauty wholesaler is one of the few Afro-Caribbean hair specialist shops in London owned by an Afro-Caribbean woman. Sandra Brown Pinnock started the business as a hair extension company before developing her own product when she was disappointed by the quality of other brands. XSandy’s stocks super-reasonably priced and great-quality hair extensions, wigs and treatment products.

If a great beauty shop equals department store luxe then Liberty offers both a beautiful environment and an unrivalled selection of beauty products. The people who work there always take the time to consult you. Plus, while you can pick up a £70 moisturiser there they also have more affordable cult products like Weleda skin food for £9 and Pixi Glow tonic for £18. (And they always have great deals on.)

Want to indulge in a day of treatments? Harvey Nichols’s beauty lounge recently had a refurb and is now an ideal spot for every pamper sesh of your dreams (and others you haven’t even imagined yet). For example, why not have a facial using LED lights to brighten your complexion? Experimenters, welcome to heaven.