Aesop

Elegantly fusing beauty and design, Aussie beauty brand Aesop have just opened up shop in Covent Garden’s King Street. Inspired by Henry Moore sculpture and Virginia Woolfe poetry, Parisian designers/architects Ciguë have created a stark-but-homely white space, featuring stunning green Moroccan floor tiles and shelves molded from the walls – the curvy, tactile space has been masterfully plastered by traditional French craftsmen. Each of Aesop’s 60 stores around the world has a unique design – this setting is another perfect showcase for Aesop’s handsomely packaged and beautifully fragrant unisex hair, skin and body products which reassuringly combine natural ingredients with scientific research. Best-sellers include the fragrant Parsley Seed Facial Cleanser, £25, with lactic acid, for deep cleansing, and Fabulous Facial oil, £39, a smoothing, non-greasy everyday skin saver. Covent Garden seems the ideal setting for the 26 year-old Melbourne brand’s sixth London store (there are now also branches in Soho and Marylebone) as the area has become a high-end beauty hub with a new MAC store and Chanel beauty boutique nearby. With its smart new shop, impeccable staff and those lovely utilitarian brown bottles, Aesop is the new go-to brand for stylish Londoners. This is what we call beauty with substance.