BYREDO available at THE STORE
When it comes to beauty, Berlin has always been more about wellness than high-octane glamour. Post-club spas like the must-visit Liquidrom and chic saunas like Vabali are easy to come by, however tracking down a decent manicure has always proved more of a challenge. Thankfully in 2017, the city has upped its game and a slew of boujie grooming spots, and cult beautifying brands have launched out of the German capital. Read on for SLEEK’s guide to the best of the new and established must knows.
THE BERLIN BEAUTY GUIDE
THE STORE
THE STORE, Alex Eagle’s concept shop at the bottom of SOHO House Berlin, first opened its doors in 2016 and has fast become the city’s destination for cult designer fashion. Recently they have widened their buy to include beauty, with a selection of niche brands and perfume labels like Miller Harris, BYREDO (pictured above) and Berlin-based brands like the new organic deodorant label Fine. 
AESOP
Every beauty fan with a penchant for aesthetic packaging knows AESOP. The visionary Aussie brand set-up shop is usually an indicator of the next area to invest in property. Berlin has three locations, with the newly opened shop in Kreuzberg which is an architectural feast for the eyes in the city’s most up-and-coming neighborhood.
Charlotte Tilbury at KaDaWe
Charlotte Tilbury is a British makeup artist with her own line of cosmetics that have amassed a cult following due to the brand’s old-school glamour appeal and scientific credentials. 2017 has seen the opening of the first German shopping destination in the city’s historic department store in West Berlin: KaDaWe. SLEEK are firm fans and recommend GLOWMO the three-part tan ritual pictured above, and the brand’s signature dirty rose scent in a vintage-inspired flacon.
Wheadon
“A Berghain Facial” might have an entirely different meaning to some of the patrons of Berlin’s most notorious club, but in the beauty world, it is the name for the signature treatment from Wheadon, a go-to for the city’s party crowd when they need to rejuvenate. Although this salon is not new, you can’t talk about Berlin and beauty without mentioning it. The Berghain Facial is a Jet-O2 peeling treatment, reminiscent of a gardener’s jet spray used to blast out the cracks in the paving stones) only it’s cleaning your pores and glands. It makes for the perfect rehydration after a Sunday spent in a sweaty club. The treatment is so popular, the spa has set up an outpost in West Berlin’s Hotel ZOO, for weekend party tourists who need to sort themselves out before their Monday morning flight.
“A Berghain Facial” might have an entirely different meaning to some of the patrons of Berlin’s most notorious club”
Merme Berlin
Australians are really good at skincare. Helena Rubinstein, the 20th-century beauty guru learnt her trade down under, and brands like AESOP, Lucas’s Papaw Ointment and BECCA all hail from Oz. Maybe it’s the damaging sun? Or perhaps it’s the abundance of natural resources? Whatever the reason, you can trust an Aussie when it comes to beauty, and the Berlin-based Claire Ralston is no exception.
This year, Ralston launched a line of single-element oils called Merme when she felt frustrated that she couldn’t find the natural, vegan beauty products in Germany that she relied on back home. Her classic brown bottles and millennial pink labels are Instagram-approved and have quickly garnered a beauty-blogger following, but it’s the stuff inside that is the real attraction. Merme’s signature is the Facial Beauty Elixir, which is 100% cold-pressed Rose Hip Oil. Ralston’s theory is the body makes oil, so it makes sense for us to apply them over creams. If Rose Hip Oil is good for our skin, why plug the bottle full of other stuff? What’s more, it’s cold pressed – like a premium olive oil, so it keeps all the goodness in, and the deep mahogany tone and natural woody scent gives you an instant lift. Merme is soul food for the skin. 
LOVELY DAY
If there is such thing as “post-internet beauty”, then Lovely Day is it. The packaging is designed with social media in mind, and the products have cute names like “coco gloss” and “mellow mallow”, this fun skincare brand that launched in 2016 is definitely a lesson in “How to Market to Millennials”. The comprehensive range of all-vegan cleansers, mud masks, and toners are made, packaged and sold from Berlin’s Neukölln. The founder Josephine Förster is beauty junkie and has extensive experience in product and marketing in some of Berlin’s coolest startups. With price points around 15-20 euros, they make perfect gifts and you can buy everything in a 3ml sample to test.
Urban Scents
Urban Scents is an artisanal perfume brand from Marie Le Febvre. Le Febvre is a French perfumer who has a set up a laboratory in the back of an art gallery in Berlin’s Schöneberg where she worls as an independent ghost-writer/perfumer for brands. As a young girl, she was trained by Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud (the Karl Lagerfeld of the fragrance world) and later worked for Takasago, a major international producer of flavours and fragrances headquartered in Japan. This scent pictured above is Vetiver Reunion, her latest release and is a soft lemony, peppery version of the firey grass note. It is the most exquisite version of vetiver on the market, and the hand-carved blue glass bottles stand out as much as her perfect blends. Every single one of Le Febvre’s perfumes is a hit, she is a modern master. Find her entire line at BREATHE, Berlin’s best independent perfume boutique in Mitte.
The Treat Collection Beauty Loft
Another Berlin beauty debut in 2017 is Prenzlauer Berg’s Treat Collection Loft. This beauty haven is a grown-up affair from the lady behind Treat nail polishes Daniela Mellis. It is easy to see how the relaxed, home-like feel of Treat could enchant customers for life. It is so good that there is a rumour on the Berlin beauty circuit that many of Soho House’s Cowshed clients have switched alliances since the Treat Loft landed in the city. Go for the ultra pampering manicure, or Rejuvenating Full body (Scrub & Massage) Treatment then peruse the range of Berlin-based brands that the salon offers, including Atelier Oblique candles, Merme and Lovely Day. This a perfect destination for groups and hen-do parties too.
OLIVEDA
This apothecary-style store is on one of Berlin’s most charming shopping streets in Mitte, Neue Schönhauser Str. The formulas of all the Oliveda products are all based on the healing properties of Olive Oil. Our favourite? The grapefruit and rose shower gel which smells amazing.
MDC cosmetic
Owner Melanie dal Canton left her career in fashion (she was the Managing Director of Berlin’s cult Andreas Murkudis stores) with the aim to open a beauty-only shop that was curated like a fashion boutique. The cool space tucked away in the pretty neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg was designed by the architects AAS Gonzalez Haase to artfully cast rainbows across the walls throughout the day. Dal Canton’s edit is delightfully eclectic; think Cire Trudon candles next to vintage pharmacy brands like Apomanum and a hand mirror in the shape of a ping-pong bat designed by visual artist Sarah Illenberger.
MAGIC STRIPES
When an experienced makeup artist who has shot with everyone from Steven Klein to Ellen von Unwerth launches a cutting-edge beauty treatment, the industry sits up and takes note. Introducing Natalie Franz, the MUA behind Magic Stripes, (those brutal-looking chin, eye and face masks you have seen all over your Instagram). With magical lifting, tightening and replenishing properties, Franz’s line is a gentle alternative to collagen. We love the chin and cheek lifting masks.
HARRY LEHMANN
You have to see Harry Lehmann’s Kant Strasse store in West Berlin to believe it. It is a testament to the German capital, where the weird and wonderful can survive due to rent control and a lack of cut-throat gentrification. The “perfume by weight” shop is run by perfumer Lutz Lehmann, the now elderly grandson of Harry. Half the shop sells fake flowers (yep, really!) and the other half holds giant glass flacons of perfumes that are concocted on site, which Herr Lehmann pours out into bottles of cologne or eau-de-toilette. Prices range from 3 to 10 euros, and if you are lucky you will spy some old ladies who were served by the Harry himself bringing in their own bottles for a refill of their life-long signature scent. Marlene Dietrich was a customer when if first opened in the 1930s. Don’t expect to pay with card, this is cash only, no frills, but utterly charming.
APOTHEKE
Pictured above are bespoke scents from Apotheke Berlin, a make-your-own perfume scent experience and fragrance research project from SLEEK’s Fashion Director Jessica Hannan. Read more on her process her on the psychology of scent on AnOther Magazine.
Studio 358 Nails
Following in the footsteps of London’s cult nail salon WAHNAILS, Berlin finally has its very own destination for gentrified nail art in the shape of Studio 358 on Mitte’s August Strasse. This beautiful salon offers the hip-hop-inspired nails you can get from the Korean nail shops in the city’s Turkish suburbs, but with the comfort of designer furniture, cold-pressed coffee and the all-important marble tables for that Instagram-perfect nail selfie. The high-shine metallic finish in azure blue is a SLEEK favourite.
DEARSOAP
DearSoap is a Berlin-based brand aiming to cheer up bath time. You can choose from an anchor soap or these chunky peace signs above, or if you really want, a kooky bar in the shape of East Berlin’s famous Communist landmark, the TV Tower. Cute.
ESHK Hair
Having opened in a remote part of the gritty neighborhood Neukölln, less that a year ago it is a testament to the staff’s high level of skills that it is almost impossible to get an appointment at ESHK. But do try, it is seriously worth it. The interior is polished, with a record store on one side of the shop, and the colourists who have been drafted in from the popular sister store in London’s Shoreditch are amongst the best in the city.
USLU
In an age when the coolest fashion brand is dressing us as DHL delivery men, it only makes sense that a nail brand would base its concept on airports. Enter USLU airlines who have collaborated in with a whole host of artist, DJs and fashion people like Bernhard Willhelm and has an exclusive line for Colette in Paris. Alongside their varnishes, we love their poppy lip colours in austere white packaging shot above.