London’s 10 best beauty shops

A forerunner of the organic movement in the early 1980s, Neal’s Yard has retained a loyal following, despite competition from younger companies with similar ideologies. These days, the Covent Garden-founded brand has 10 shops in prominent shopping locations in London, including Upper Street, Spitalfields and both Westfields. The prettily packaged products, in their distinctive blue-glass bottles to safeguard the ingredients, smell delicious without being overpowering. The products find the happy medium of still feeling premium (even Aesop doesn’t use glass bottles any more, while NY does), with prices that won’t break the bank. The Covent Garden shop is also home to luxury treatment rooms that offer a wide range of therapies.

Best for: Luxurious-feeling natural products that don’t cost a million pounds. 

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 a section dedicated to ‘viral drops’ for whatever the internet is obsessing over that week, with sweetie machine-style 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. 

Originally from Margate, natural skincare brand Dulcie (formerly known as Haeckels) has its only London shop on Broadway Market, selling cult-status skin and body care products and intoxicatingly fragranced candles. Upstairs is a colourful treatment space offering unique facials, massages and body treatments. The magic not-so-secret ingredient is Margate-grown seaweed (and it’s the hero in many of Dulcie’s’ products) so for the full experience, go for the invigorating seaweed and walnut scrub, which also comes with a dreamy massage. You’ll gain a whole new respect for kelp.

Best for: People who like Aesop but want a local alternative. 

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.

Cruelty-free cosmetics shop Lush has been a beloved fixture on UK high streets since it was first founded in the mid-nineties – and not just for the amazing floral smells that emanate from its stores. At its three-floor Oxford Street flagship, you’ll find the usual towers of delicious smelling, neon-coloured cosmetics, as well as the first-floor Poetry Pharmacy, a haven of curated poetry and books on beauty and wellness where you can self-medicate with a cosy cuppa and some Emily Dickinson. Downstairs, you’ll find the quaint, country kitchen-styled spa, where you can experience a mineral bath, a multi-sensory massage or a reflexology session all to a tailor-made soundtrack. 

Best for: Cruelty-free bath products that smell amazing. 

In a city overtaken by characterless chain pharmacies, DR Harris has remained unfazed – it’s hung on tight to its identity since 1790 and even boasts a royal warrant. Inside polished wooden cabinets are filled with bottles and jars with old-fashioned shaving brushes and manicure kits. Its own elegantly packaged products have appealing names; there’s Almond Oil Skinfood, Bay Rum Aftershave and Old English Lavender Cologne. Keep your eyes peeled too for Marvis toothpaste and Roger & Gallet soaps. Traditional it may be, but DR Harris appeals to modern sensibilities – none of the products are tested on animals and beauty editors continue to clamour over cult favourites such as the bright blue Crystal Eye Gel. Prices are reasonable too. 

Best for: Feeling like you’ve stepped back in time. 

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. 

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. 

One for the old school gentleman, this traditional Mayfair barber has been pampering men since 1875. It sells a range of luxurious men’s fragrances and grooming producits, including aftershave balms, razors, shaving brushes and shower gels coming in flavours like leather, sandalwood and lime extract. Because who says men can only use a Radox two-in-one shower gel and shampoo? Geo F Trumper also offers an indulgent range of treatments from wet shaves to manicures and facials.

Best for: Distinguished fellows who like to smell of leather and cigar smoke.  

Kiehl’s started life as an apothecary in New York’s East Village back in 1851. Now entering its 175th year, it has opened its first European flagship across two floors at 43 Carnaby Street. And it’s a real corker. Start at the Brew Bar, which matches ingredients to your mood and your skin worries, then get a Derma Reader analysis to find out what’s really going on with your face. There’s a photo booth and custom screen printing to play with, and the whole upper floor is a content studio for creators and community events, so keep an eye out for what’s on. Stock up on the cult Ultra Facial Cream or a tub of Crème de Corps, and hang on to your empties, because bringing them back earns you loyalty points. 

Best for: Skincare nerds who want a diagnosis with their moisturiser.