Harrods plans to change the way you shop makeup and skincare with all-new beauty hall

Annalise Fard, Harrods Director of Beauty, gives Chloe Street a tour of the new space the day before it opens
The all new Harrods Beauty Hall
Harrods
Chloe Street13 June 2019

Anyone who’s ever attempted to test a foundation under strip lighting, or swerved an overzealous staff member spritzing an eye wateringly heavy oud fragrance, will know that the department store beauty hall shopping experience is not always a relaxing one.

This morning though, Harrods opened a vast and shiny new-look beauty emporium, which is set to put the joy back into finding the perfect bronzer.

“I think as retailers we have a job to keep it exciting, and be innovative. We can’t continue to do the same thing and expect the same results,” says Harrods Director of Beauty Annalise Fard, the driving force behind the renovation.

“There’s been so much change in the world of beauty in the last five years. More than there has been in the last 50. And yet honestly, I don’t think retail has changed that much. So I wanted to celebrate all the amazing brands, and all the amazing products, but do it in a way that was very immersive. I wanted to give you a reason to come into the store.”

Harrods Director of Beauty Annalise Fard

Designed by G.A Group, the the 90,000 sq ft space is loosely themed around that of a stately home (there’s a grand staircase and an entrance hall complete with fireplace) and, in keeping with the Harrods aesthetic, is an art deco love song to gold and marble.

In fact, there are 18 different marbles used throughout the space which Fard personally sourced from all over the world – from Vietnam to Greece and Italy – “I am now a stone expert!” she says. “Who’d have thought it? From lipsticks to marble!”

One of the most fabulous of these comes in baby pink and lines the floor of the ‘Powder Room,’ an area devoted to boutique brands which, in a few weeks time, will have a central makeup table lined with Magic Mirrors. Using AI technology, these mirrors digitally map facial features to generate a live rendering, matching skin tone and hair colour. So you can can apply product (lipstick, foundation, blush, mascara) without needing to physically test it.

Harrods has also managed to bag the exclusive launch of Gucci Makeup, and is set to be the exclusive partner for Hermes makeup when it drops early next year. “I’m lucky enough to have seen a tiny little sneak peek of it, and it’s exquisite,” enthuses Fard.

Alongside all the usual fashion and couture beauty brands, the hall also stocks a good variety of more interesting boutique cosmetic brands like Surratt, Kevyn Aucoin, Becca, La Bouche Rouge, and Kilian. The new space will also offer an array of niche perfume brands including Le Labo, Atelier Cologne, Penhaligon’s and Fueguia 1833.

Harrods

The beauty hall renovation comes as the middle chunk of a four-year store-wide renovation project on which Harrods is spending in the region of £200 million. In September, a Skincare Hall will open in the white room on the ground floor, and a massive auditorium and space for treatment rooms will open on the lower ground floor. Overall, the regeneration of the beauty section will see the area devoted to make-up, fragrance, skincare and special beauty services in the store increase by 53%.

The auditorium on the lower ground floor will be a venue for founder talks, masterclasses, and fragrance experiences. The space will also feature a massive production facility, “so we can create content live, cut edit and stream it out to all our channels,” explains Fard. “The vision was that if you’re not lucky enough to have a ticket to be there and hear it live, we’ll be able to live stream it so you can stand and watch it on one of the other screens throughout the store or on our social platforms and online. It’s about that immersive experience but then making accessible to everybody as well.”

There'll also be 13 treatment rooms where skincare brands like La Mer and La Prairie will showcase their products and for anyone unsure whether they need an appointment here, the hair and beauty salon on the fifth floor or indeed the impressive Wellness Clinic on the fourth floor, there'll be a beauty concierge on hand to hold your hand and get you booked in for the right treatments.

“I wanted to wow. I wanted everyone to feel excited about beauty. I wanted it to be a feast of must-see, must-try destinations. And, importantly, I wanted it to feel unmistakably Harrods. I didn’t want it to feel like any department store anywhere in the world,” says Fard.

Will physical retail always have a place when it comes to beauty I ask?

“If I’ve got anything to do with it, it absolutely will!”

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