We’ve tried and tested best facials in London for every budget and skin concern. From the city’s top facialists to totally pampering facials to techy treatments that reduce fine lines – we’ve tried to find the best treatments for you ahead of your big day.
Tried, Tested and Reviewed by TWE
Best for: an instant glowing complexion
By Isabella Foulger
Dr. Barbara Sturm’s second European state-of-the-art clinic opened in 2021 on Mount Street, in London’s Mayfair. The boutique & spa has fast become a go-to destination for getting the bridal glow thanks to Dr. Sturm’s medically-advanced skincare collection, her scientific approach and anti-inflammatory philosophy. Once you step inside the light-flooded boutique you will instantly feel calm and confident, slick all-white treatment rooms are located downstairs. The Signature SturmGlow Facial is guaranteed to brighten skin after just one treatment. Deep cleansing, exfoliation, extractions and anti-aging massage techniques help to increase blood and oxygen flow plus tone and define the facial muscles for an instant, glowing complexion. For best results, book a monthly facial, six months prior to the big day. www.en.drsturm.com/london-boutique-and-spa
Best for: pre-wedding pampering & relaxation
By Isabella Foulger
The Dorchester Spa is a tranquil space and best-kept secret for unwinding and total relaxation. It’s as luxurious as you would imagine and is designed for pampering with indulgent body and beauty treatments, manicures and pedicures all on offer. There isn’t a pool, but lovely Relaxation Room where you can put your feet up and have a moment of zen. To calm any pre-wedding jitters book the Aromatherapy Associates Essential Rose Facial, great for all skin types you and are guaranteed to feel renewed. The skin is left feeling fresh, dewy and radiant. Prices from £150-£170 for 60 minute treatment www.dorchestercollection.com
Best for: a pre-dinner gentle reboot
By Rosalyn Wikeley
It’s not often that Piccadilly Circus and serenity share the same sentence. But just behind its headache-inducing screens and swarms of tourists lies a heavy, unassuming door with Narnia-like quality. Welcome to Akasha Spa, the high-gloss, marvellously marbled Hotel Café Royal’s very own oasis, and perhaps central London’s best kept secret. As well as a subterranean 60 ft pool that would make a country hotel spa blush and the delightful sauna-steam-room-hot tub sequence, the spa is renowned for its holistic approach to treatments, making for a forward-thinking menu rather than your classic pummelling list. It follows then that facials are not the classic scrub, squeeze and plump sort, but channel informed approaches to stress, pollution and the toxic nature of modern life. Hens and brides-to-be should opt for the Valmont Vitality of the Glaciers facial where a nimble-fingered therapist massages super-charged nutrients deep into the skin’s layers, improving circulation and triggering cellular renewal. The best part? A cool collagen mask finale leaves skin looking plump and luminous, so you’re set to head out for supper (without needing to wait for marks or redness to go down in the changing rooms)! Prices from £220 for 60 minutes/£262 for 90 minutes hotelcaferoyal.com
Best for: finding inner calm
By Kendra Leaver-Rylah
With a holistic approach to wellbeing there’s nowhere better for pre-wedding detoxing than ESPA at The Corinthia London. Opt for one of the spa’s stand-out facials – their ‘Glow From Within’ to bring out your natural radiance with some seriously deep-cleansing and radiance-returning plumping. Round it off with a visit to the spa’s thermal floor: a slumber-inducing space made even more luxurious with fires flickering in every corner and heated marble loungers. Prices from £195 for an 80-minute treatment www.espalifeatcorinthia.com
Best for: a totally tailored facial
By Kendra Leaver-Rylah
One of London’s best kept secrets – Tarryn Warren Bespoke Facial at Bodyism is the best pre-wedding post-honeymoon treatment in town. It’s the tailored facial of all facials with a bespoke skin treatment that has scientific techniques to treat the skin from a dermal to epidermal level. Expect lots of exciting machines too – from Nanocurrent rejuvenation, radio-frequency tightening, micro-needling or Oxygeneo. As you can imagine the results are instant as well as long term. As you leave you’ll fall lower, you’re less hunched up, your mind is calm, your breath slower, your jaw less clenched and your face glowing. Prices from: For the signature facial prices from £245 bodyism.com/facials/
Best for: holistic experience
By Bandi Manzini
In the hectic months leading up to a wedding, self- care can drop down the list of priorities for most brides-to-be. Cue Sarah Bradden, the globally renowned acupuncture facialist who’s made- to -measure holistic methods and healing hands have garnered her a cult following.
Entirely bespoke to your personal physiological makeup, the method is best described in Sarah’s own words as ‘a spiritual reset and a facelift’. Drawing on Ancient Eastern wisdom and modern western technology, it all begins with a consultation around lifestyle, diet and health which gives Sarah all the information she needs about your overall well being and enables her to tailor your facial.
The treatment that ensues is a delicious and heady concoction of acupuncture, activated oxygen, LED light therapy, and acupressure ear seeds to stimulate acupressure points during the treatment and also for days following treatment.
The ritual is rounded off with an invigorating, sculpting facial massage and delivers all the the things you’d expect from a traditional facial: it defines, sculpts, renews and re-energises. But it also goes the extra mile; balancing hormones, aiding digestion, de-stressing and so much more. Even the most tightly wound bride will drift into a state of relaxation and emerge with a supercharged pre wedding glow.
Considering this 45 min boost is a truncated version of the signature treatment, it packs a glowy punch and one can only imagine the levels of relaxation and luminosity that the full treatment would deliver. Prices start at £120 for the Bradden Method Boost at Hershesons Belgravia, SW1X 8JE
Best for: splendid isolation
By Kendra Leaver-Rylah
The Connaught has treatments that are as luxurious as the hotel itself. Drawn from Asian and Native American traditions, the grounding face ritual facial is tailored to your own personal needs with rose quartz crystals to promote healing, frankincense to aid rejuvenation, and hyaluronic acid to boost hydration. Expect a cleansing face ritual using Lymphatic and muscular massage techniques stimulate circulation and raise vibrational energy, while acupressure using heated Himalayan salt poultices leaves skin radiant. The treatment ends with a Peruvian black mud and amethyst crystal mask and a calming Tibetan head massage all to the beats of Asian chants. Don’t forget to bring your swimming costume, as all 90 minute-plus packages include access to the pool and steam rooms. Prices from: GROUNDING FACE RITUAL – 1 hour 30 min with prices from £280 www.the-connaught.co.uk/aman-spa/
Best for: gleaming grandeur
By Kendra Leaver-Rylah
The Bvlgari Hotel is a maze of dark-wood treatment rooms and pretty onyx-marble steam rooms filled with ice fountains and a vitality pool that shines. For the best big-day prep opt for the 111SKIN Illuminating Rose Gold Facial as its guaranteed to leave your skin rested, radiant and glowing. 111SKIN’s signature use of Rose Gold includes nourishing reparative cleanse with a diamond-infused multi-acid rose quartz peel to encourage a smooth, supple, and soft nature to the skin to help reduce the appearance of pores, pigmentation, and fine lines. There’s also a delicious Lymphatic drainage facial massage which works on lifting and firming your facial structure. You’ll leave The Bvlgari Spa like a new woman. No wonder the A-list adore it! Prices from: The 90-minute 111SKIN Rose Gold Illuminating Facial is priced at £350 and includes the seven-day Radiance Concentrate ampoule treatment programme. www.bulgarihotels.com/
Best for: a non surgical ‘face-lift’
By Serena Knight
Located just a stone’s throw from Harrods, the Lisa Franklin Clinic Privé in Knightsbridge offers a bespoke CACI (Computer Aided Cosmetology Instrument) facial. The treatment uses a host of small electrical impulses at an ultra-low frequency in order to stimulate the muscles in your face – totally painless and surprisingly relaxing! The light, combined with the microcurrent facial toning, helps to repair collagen, regenerate skin tissue, cleanse, tone and reduce lines and wrinkles. As a bride to be, make sure you opt for the CACI’s rejuvenating hand mask and gloves add-on. The treatment involves a skin conditioning glove that is applied to your hands with the CACI system on top (delivering tiny pain free electrical impulses). The treatment helps reduce the signs of ageing by plumping up the skin and boosting circulation – crucial for keeping your hands “ring-ready”! Prices: CACI facial + hand rejuvenation at Lisa Franklin clinic, £163 www.lisafranklin.london/caci
Best for: all-round wellness
By Kendra Leaver-Rylah
Lanserhof at the Arts Club is the first medi-gym in the world, with six floors dedicated to health and fitness in the glamorous, light-flooded building on Mayfair’s Dover Street where guests can book in to see an osteopath, physiotherapist or nutritionist. The facials here are a uber-slick service. We suggest the Lanserhof Bespoke Facial – tailored to address any specific issue – be it congestion, dark spots or dullness – it is the treatment to get instant results (plus there’s a seriously enjoyable cheekbone-chiselling massages). You’ll leave with your skin as lifted and glowing as your mood. Prices: Lanserhof Bespoke Facial and is £190 https://www.theartsclub.co.uk/lanserhof
Best For: Deep Cleaning
By Alexandra Dudley
It can be hard work keeping one’s skin clean in the city. Stress, pollution and late nights are the enemy of a clear complexion. But just beyond the hubbub of Oxford Circus, set within the prestigious radius of Harley street, is Waterhouse Young Clinic. Focusing on research-based, non-surgical aesthetic treatments with a focus on natural-looking results, their HydraFacial is guaranteed to bring the sparkle back to your skin. Using a series of special tools, or ‘HydroPeel tips’, the facial removes dead skin cells and impurities in the skin, while infusing it with hydrating and moisturising serums. Each facial begins with a deep cleanse and gentle exfoliation to remove dead skin cells using painless vacuum extraction to remove impurities from the pores. Ahead of the treatment, a one-to-one consultation with your therapist will determine whether you’d like to include a mild glycolic and salicylic acid skin peel, depending on your skin type. After a relaxing infusion of antioxidants and hyaluronic acid to hydrate the skin, an infrared LED light is used to aid circulation and reduce redness and irritation. Although rosy for an hour or so, your skin is left feeling fresh and looking radiant, ready for whatever awaits. Prices for the HydraPresso Facial starting at £350 www.waterhouseyoung.com
Best for: Pre-night-out-prep for Grooms
By Kendra Leaver-Rylah
Designed to brighten and tighten your complexion – Harvey Nichols’ 111CRYO cryotherapy facial delivers visible skin benefits. After experiencing sub-zero temperatures you’ll emerge from the chamber with childlike euphoria and instant benefits feel plumped and refreshed – all within a matter of minutes. Prices from: CRYOTHERAPY FACIAL at 111CRYO/HEAT, Fourth Floor at Harvey Nichols, Prices from £60 – 30 mins to £170 – 60 mins www.harveynichols.com
Best for: Rejuvenating tired complexions
By Amelia Seddon
Buried beneath the hustle and bustle of the city of London is the The Heavenly Spa, at the Westin, a hidden oasis of total relaxation. It is here that you will discover a little celestial city of wellbeing facilities including a relaxation room, two vitality pools, a divine thermal suite including sauna and steam rooms, not to mention the sensory shower. The Heavenly Spa offers a scrumptious menu of facial treatments incorporating Germaine de Capuccini and Aromatherapy Associates formulas. We recommend the Time Expert Collagen Vitamin C Facial to promote collagen renewal while reducing the appearance of dark spots and uneven pigmentation. This formulation increases the benefits of Vitamin C by 6 times, using a massage ball to sculp the face, release tension and promote increased blood flow, you’ll even receive the most heavenly scalp massage while your skin absorbs the Vitamin C to reveal a visibly firmer, nourished and glowing complexion. Prices: Time Expert Collagen Vitamin C Facial from £125 – 60 minutes www.heavenlyspalondon.com
Best for: deep massage and extraction
By Isabella Foulger
Renée Lapino is a medical facialist, with a clinic tucked above the hustle and bustle of the renowned Neville’s salon in Chelsea. Her small team of skin experts are carefully selected to ensure each treatment is tailored to meet the clients needs. Book the Holistic Facial, Deep Clean & Sculpt, for the ultimate sculpting massage and extraction. This treatment includes a double cleanse, steam, enzyme exfoliation, ultrasonic skin scrubber (this creates lots of little vibrations on the skin to loosen old skin cells and congestion) and manual extractions. Your facialist will also perform an intra-oral Buccal massage which is amazing for releasing tension in the face and jaw, removing stagnant toxins from the skin and brightening. A Gua Sha stone is also used to aid in lymphatic drainage resulting in de-puffing and further sculpting. You will leave with a glowing, clear completion and we’d suggest booking a course of monthly facials, starting six months before your wedding day for best results. Prices from £145 for 60 minute treatment reneelapino.com/
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