Shop Small Saturday: Blomma Beauty

Welcome to Shop Small Saturday, a weekly feature where we celebrate our community of independent boutiques, from Bath to Berlin.

Sustainable skincare and wellbeing champions Blomma Beauty opened up shop in 2020, with the aim of showcasing small batch skincare makers from the UK. They have two sites, one at Coal Drops Yard, the bustling shopping destination for independents in London’s Kings Cross, and the other at the city’s riverside Southbank.

After finding it hard to unearth impartial advice and natural, sustainable skincare that delivered on its claims, owner Karen knew that there was a gap in the market to create a welcoming and zen environment in which customers could try out products and gather insights they could trust.

Curating a comprehensive edit of brands with brilliant credentials, Blomma Beauty cuts through the noise of the skincare industry. “All of our brands need to use only natural ingredients and be cruelty free as an absolute minimum. Then we also look into if they use any organic ingredients, are vegan friendly and consciously packaged. These are the general standards but we have a set of more detailed guidelines that needs to be followed. A lot of time and energy goes into our brand before the products even hit the shelves.”

Aside from their product offering, Blomma Beauty offers facials, consultations and events, too. “We want to help bring the products to life so having a bricks and mortar space was important to us for that reason."

Read on to find out more about a day in the life of Blomma Beauty as we caught up with Karen to chat about morning rituals, facials, and the brands to know.

“I love my sleep so I'm up and out in the mornings without time for much else, but I love to fit in a swim to set me up for the day before I cycle over to one of the stores. We open at 10am in Coal Drops Yard and 11am at Gabriel's Wharf. I normally get to the shop about half an hour before we open so I can check emails and go over what the team needs to achieve that day.

“Everyone is loving BAO's zesty hand cream - I challenge anyone to try and not buy one, it smells so delicious!”

Both our stores are in busy areas with other indie stores. Our particular favourites are fellow Trouva boutique Twiin at Coal Drops Yard for everyday sustainable fashion with a twist, and Nordic Nicnac at Gabriel’s Wharf is always great for gifts!

Our team are a lovely bunch of ladies who are skincare obsessed, so whether you want to just have a chat or you need more specific advice they'll be happy to help - our staff room pin board is proof of this - it's stacked full of cards and letters from happy customers who have found the right products for their skin.

We do facials in-store, and host events every couple of weeks.  There's a monthly goddess hour which is yoga and facials to start your Sunday off right. We teach classes on face massage, gua sha and there's also sometimes discovery days where we offer mini facials for just £5 so people can discover new products.

To set the tone for all of this, we play chilled spa music to create a relaxing atmosphere as you’re browsing or enjoying a facial (plenty of our customers fall asleep in the facial chair!). We have a seating area too so people can come take five, have a natter or read a skincare book and there's always a gorgeous scent in the air depending on which diffuser we've got on the go.

“Our team are a lovely bunch of ladies who are skincare obsessed, so whether you want to just have a chat or you need more specific advice they'll be happy to help”

The most popular brand with our customers at the moment is Husk and Seed Skincare which is honestly the best kept skincare secret, their products are so high performance. Everyone is loving BAO's zesty hand cream too - I challenge anyone to try and not buy one, it smells so delicious!”