Fab Find of the Week: Wildsmith Skin lands at Liberty
Photos: © Jo Fairley
It’s frankly a match made in heaven: Wildsmith Skin and Liberty department store. (Far and away our favourite in all of London town, for quite some time now, for the curation of brands and also the joy of the shopping space itself, with its Tudor-style atrium.)
The good news is that this multi-Beauty Bible Award-winning skincare and bodycare line has now landed in the West End. First bit of news: there’s a truly fabulous Wildsmith Skin counter at the back of the ground floor beauty hall. You can’t miss it: it’s adorned by a large hunk of birch tree (below) – which definitely makes it different to any other brand’s beauty display, ever!
On this staffed-by-experts counter, you’ll find all the Wildsmith Skin products lined up to test, sniff, smell, play with, including Beauty Bible winners like the Pillow Mist, Cleansing Balm, Exfoliating Treatment – everything really. (Never mind all our previous Wildsmith Skin ‘Fab Finds’ – because it’s no secret We Are Big Fans.)
On the first floor, Wildsmith Skin are offering treatments, too, which we got to road-test last week. (Click here to book – alas, treatments were sold out when we checked, but you may be lucky and find a cancellation.)
This experience was a real treat, actually, not least because our lovely therapist – Cheryl Huggins – is a longstanding Beauty Bible fan, who was introduced to us via our very first book, while studying for her beauty qualifications way back when.
But still… ‘This just isn’t going to work,’ was our first thought, though, lying back for the treatment as the decidedly unrelaxing in-store music thump-thump-thumped away in the background. Then something wonderful happened. Cheryl handed us some earbuds – and suddenly, we were transported to a soundscape from Heckfield Place, Wildsmith Skin’s stunning Hampshire home: buzzing bees, cooing wood pigeons, swaying grasses and rustling leaves, which is unimaginably relaxing.
Meanwhile, Cheryl worked her facial magic, cleansing, exfoliating, toning, doing some de-puffing lymph drainage massage and then moisturising our skin, ready for the Big Wide World again. (Which we were very reluctant to re-enter!) She didn’t remove every single scrap of eye make-up, so that we still looked ‘human’ afterwards – with a definite, un-metropolitan glow to skin. (If you did feel ‘naked’, you could always pop down to a counter like Lisa Eldridge or Trinny London, downstairs, for a makeover, before hitting the streets again.)
The treatments are carried out in a fabulous teal, cabin-style treatment room on the first floor, with a skylight cut into the roof through which you can see the store’s wooden balconied shopping floors. (Before you close your eyes, lie back and relax, that is.) Outside the cabin – see below – there are potted trees that have made the journey from Heckfield.
Wildsmith Skin is there to stay, at Liberty London. The treatment cabin? Honestly, they need to think of making it a permanent fixture. And even if you can’t get an appointment, do check out the setting for the cabin, on the first floor. An amazing, unexpected taste of Hampshire’s countryside and woodland, transported to the city…
Welcome to the West End, Wildsmith Skin!
