As a Brit who has spent years living in Singapore, I have made peace with the products I can’t get here. Then I recently went back to London, walked into a Space NK, Selfridges, Harrods, and even Boots, and spent what I will generously call a research afternoon recalibrating what I’d been missing. British beauty has genuinely shifted in recent years. New brands, tighter editorial curation from the major retailers, and a wave of independent launches that sadly have no intention of making it to Southeast Asia any time soon, have made a London beauty run worth planning around.
Whether you have a UK trip coming up or are routing through Europe this summer, the list below is everything I recommend seeking out before you come home. Some of it you can only get in the UK full stop. Some of it exists elsewhere but not in Singapore. All of it is worth the luggage allowance.
Skin Rocks
Skin Rocks is the skincare brand that feels like having Caroline Hirons personally audit your bathroom shelf, which is essentially what it is. Hirons is a British aesthetician and bestselling author of two skincare guides who spent more than a decade building a devoted community before launching the range in 2022, with distribution deliberately limited to four retailers by design. Retinoid 1 and Retinoid 2 are the logical starting point, a progressive pairing designed to introduce the ingredient at a pace that minimises the irritation that puts most people off it. The Cream Cleanser, used with a flannel, is a non-foaming formula that works more thoroughly than foam and rinse ever does. The range is targeted, curated, and built around results rather than trends. Definitely worth trying for skincare fans.
Made By Mitchell
Made By Mitchell is the makeup brand generating the kind of social media noise most brands only dream about, built around products that are as enjoyable to use as they look. Mitchell Halliday is the Manchester-based makeup artist and content creator behind the brand, known for a vibrant and inclusive approach to colour that runs through every product decision. The Curve Case is the one most people come for, a compact palette containing four cream contour shades and four cream blush shades inspired by the original Blursh formula, buildable and long-wearing without powder. The Bronzed bronzer comes in warm shades calibrated to work across skin tones, and the Drip Drip gloss is a high-shine lip finish worth the bag pocket it permanently occupies. Made by Mitchell was created for self-expression, inclusivity, and bringing the fun back to makeup. Great for everyday to festival looks, an obvious choice for the makeup lover on their travels.
Refy Beauty
Refy built its reputation on doing one or two things exceptionally well before expanding outward, and that founding philosophy still runs through the range. Co-founded by entrepreneur Jenna Meek and influencer Jess Hunt with a stated aim of simplifying beauty, the brand has grown from brow products into complexion, body, and skincare without losing its original focus. The Brow Sculpt Shape and Hold Gel is where most people start, a double-ended formula that sculpts, shapes, and sets in a single step. The Contour collection and Lip Sculpt Liner are worth picking up alongside it. If you’re looking for vegan and cruelty-free essentials that you can trust and keep in your bag, this is where to start.
Trinny London
Trinny London is for anyone who has ever wanted their makeup routine to take less time and deliver more results. Trinny Woodall founded the brand from her kitchen table in London in 2017, drawing on more than two decades in fashion and beauty, and has since built one of Europe’s fastest-growing beauty companies. The BFF range of skin-tint hybrids, the stackable cream products, and the Match2Me personalisation tool form the core of the range. The BFF De-Stress Tinted Serum combines skincare with light coverage in a formula that blurs and hydrates simultaneously, and helps out stressed skin from the inside. In a climate where heat and humidity are constantly testing higher-coverage products and skin simultaneously, Trinny’s tinted timesavers are a must-try.
Face Theory
Face Theory is British skincare making the most compelling argument that clinically serious formulations do not require a luxury price point. Founded by Jamie Shuker in London in 2015 and acquired by Esselle Retail in 2025, the brand holds B-Corp certification and uses vegan formulations throughout. The Retinol Resurfacing Serum R10 is the hero, a progressive retinol formula designed to build skin tolerance while delivering real surface improvement. The Vitamin C Brighten Serum and the BHA Clarifying Cleanser address the rest of what a considered routine requires at a price that does not punish you for building a full shelf. My personal favourite from the brand, which is perfect for Singapore, is the Supergel Oil-Free Moisturiser with niacinamide and salicylic acid, to hydrate without clogging and target pore problems we face daily in the tropics.
4160 Tuesdays
4160 Tuesdays is an artisan fragrance house operating from a studio in Hammersmith, West London, named for the number of Tuesdays in an 80-year life. Sarah McCartney spent 14 years writing for Lush before turning to perfumery, which partly explains why everything about this brand is more interesting than you might first think. Each fragrance is handmade in batches of between 50 and 200 bottles using techniques spanning the 1880s to the 1970s, and every scent is built around a specific story or moment. Discovery sets of eight 2ml mini-spray bottles are the best starting point, and the Hammersmith studio is open to visitors on weekdays for anyone who wants to smell through the full range in person. I rarely get homesick these days, but their Tea & Biscuits perfume is a personal way to revisit childhood afternoons at my Grandma’s house all the way from Singapore, and you can guarantee that whatever perfume you choose, no one else here will be wearing it.
S’ABLE Labs
S’ABLE Labs is a London-based genderless skincare brand built specifically for melanin-rich skin, developed around African botanicals sourced from smallholder farmers. Founded by Idris and Sabrina Elba during the pandemic after Sabrina noticed the persistent absence of her skin tone, heritage, and values in the mainstream wellness space, it is the rare celebrity brand that earns its shelf space on formulation rather than name recognition. The Black Seed Toner addresses hyperpigmentation and barrier health through a formula led by black seed oil and niacinamide. The Moringa Tinted Lip Salve is a newer addition, hydrating and delivering light colour through moringa oil and natural pigments. If you’re struggling to find products that address melanated skin concerns with natural botanicals, your struggle may just be over.
Shop S’ABLE
Soho Skin
Soho Skin is British skincare born from the specific demands of the film and television industry, where skin has to withstand HD lighting and long days of heavy makeup application and removal without being compromised. Founded in London, the brand has moved into retail without losing the clinical rigour its industry origins demanded. The cleansers and treatment serums are where that background is most legible, with formulas built around barrier recovery and congestion management for skin that is regularly put through more than a standard routine. A succinct range without extra fuss, it’s great to pick up as part of your travel routine, both for long-haul and weekend trips from Changi.
Saltee
Saltee is a novel concept—British suncare—that approaches SPF with the same conviction most brands reserve only for serums and treatments. The brand was founded around the belief that the reason most people skip daily sun protection is not laziness but formula, and the range is the answer to that argument. Products sit cleanly under makeup, absorb without residue, and leave no white cast, removing every practical objection to wearing SPF every single day. Southeast Asia sun is no joke, so trying out a brand that’s built on consistent and enjoyable suncare is a no-brainer—even if it comes from cooler climes.
Honourable Mentions
As much as London is a centre for international culture, it’s also a centre for international beauty. Some non-UK brands are available there that you can’t shop in Singapore, and they most certainly shouldn’t be overlooked. Naturium, the California-based skincare brand founded by content creator Susan Yara, answers the question of whether genuinely effective active-ingredient formulas can exist at a price that actually feels fair. The Niacinamide Serum 12% Plus Zinc 2% and Vitamin C Complex Serum are the most persuasive products in the range. About-Face is Halsey’s play on makeup, built around the belief that high pigmentation and an independent aesthetic should coexist in the same tube, with lip products and highlighters in shades calibrated to reward anyone willing to experiment. Sundae Body is the Australian invention of Lizzy Waley, a body care brand built around whipped aerosol foam formulas that make a shower feel like something worth looking forward to. The Green Tea AHA Body Foam, a personal favourite, combines glycolic acid and green tea leaf extract to exfoliate and clear pores while it cleanses. Mind Games is a US luxury fragrance house founded by Alex and Mariana Shalbaf that built its entire identity around chess as a creative framework, now exclusively in the UK at Selfridges, with Kingside and Queenside the two compositions most worth trying at the counter. Memo Paris is a French niche house whose Cassiopeia Rose, another Selfridges exclusive, draws on the mythology of the Ethiopian queen in a composition of rose, frankincense, benzoin, and ambroxan that earns the weight of that reference. And at Harrods, Amouage Reception is a worldwide exclusive co-created with the store, an Essence de Parfum celebrating Omani hospitality through amber, citrus, fine woods, and vanilla that opens with warmth and stays that way.
Best of British Beauty
London does not always register as a beauty destination in the way that Paris or Seoul might, but it absolutely should. The skincare, makeup, and fragrance landscape across the city has shifted significantly in recent years, and there is genuinely compelling work happening across all three categories that has not made it to Singapore yet. Stock up while you are there. Until these brands decide Southeast Asia is next on the list, your next trip is the only reliable way to get them.
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