Selfridges and the newly revamped beauty hall

by Edwina Inge-Chambers

As beauty legends go the inanimate (although also highly animated) Selfridges beauty hall is surely among the greatest. I’ve certainly spent an inordinate amount of time (and money) inside its walls. Back in the day it was here and Harvey Nichols –before Space NK was on the scene – that I came for my beauty finds. Selfridges was always where I bought my Roc eyeshadow quads (I was obsessed with them – pale shades in creamy textures) and my bottles of Ungaro Diva fragrance. It’s also where I came for Estee Lauder – but only when there was a great gift with purchase offer on (but Selfridges always seemed to have the best of those). I remember it clearly: always buzzing with the perimeter walls lined with shelves and crowded with brand names. Harvey Nichols was more for M.A.C., Shu Uemura and Princess Marcella Borghese (was anyone else obsessed with those bath salts?).

The Selfridges Beauty Hall looks different very these days – especially since it has just officially re-launched after a 12-month renovation process. But even back in my shopping heyday things had changed since the beginning. The department store, with its Beaux Art exterior and named after its flamboyant founder Harry Gordon Selfridge, first opened on London’s Oxford Street in 1909. And it was Gordon who created the much-copied store template of putting beauty on the ground floor and the products out on display for customers to see and trial – standard practice now, but revolutionary back then. It looks so elegant in the archive photos. Oh, to time travel back to see it in person!

I went along to the official reveal of the space this morning at a pre-store opening hours industry event. The new look feels spacious and modern – gone is the sense of overwhelm that used to always greet me as I went in to find my spoils. Brand names all appear to be displayed at the same level, making it easier to see where you want to head to rather than getting lost in a maze of counter tops (that’s happened to me on many an occasion) and most have a decent amount of space so they can offer at counter makeovers and short treatments.

A bespoke lighting system has been installed to ensure optimal shade matching and colour consultations and certainly everyone looked very good under it (not that it’s intended to be flattering, it isn’t fakery, it’s just like doing your makeup in front of a window and flooded with daylight). There’s also a special ‘Beauty Spot” that will host creative and experimental beauty retail concepts – currently occupying the space is Refy. Another change they’ve implemented is a new Wednesday morning ‘quiet shopping’ hour (this will be across all four Selfridges stores: London, Manchester Trafford Centre and Exchange, and Birmingham) for those who prefer a calmer environment. And if you check out the Selfridges website there are some beauty events this month across the different stores that are worth checking out.

If you want some other stats, and I always love a fun fact, the Selfridges beauty hall 10 million litres of fragrance – enough to fill 4 Olympic-sized swimming pools. It now sells 300 beauty brands (50 of which are exclusive), offers 200 beauty services and has a beauty concierge where you can book in for everything from a makeup bag makeover to a beauty tour of the store. There are 1000 beauty experts, and over 150 pop-ups planned per year. And by the way, all the staff I chatted to this morning were not only approachable but supremely knowledgeable and helpful (and they weren’t just laid on for the press event).

So where once I might have wanted to head here, or even needed to because it was the only retailer where I could find what I needed, I’d have felt I had to psyche myself up a bit in order to face running its beauty gamut, now it different. It really does feel welcoming and positive, eager-to-help and easy. So, full marks from me.  Save me an Aesop Resurrection hand wash and I’ll meet you there.

Selfridges.com