Penhaligon’s

I’m a simple woman.
When the lovely clerk asked me if I needed assistance, I looked around the tasteful parfumerie scanning a million mysterious bottles of fragrance and was completely honest with her: ‘Yes. I need help.
What do you like?’ she asked me.
‘I don’t know. I normally just smell like sweatsocks or the gym, so anything that you have that does not smell like that might be nice.‘
Not missing a beat: ‘Ah. I have just the thing.‘
Since I normally don’t wear perfume, she had to help me figure out what I liked. Generally, I migrate towards clean sporty scents but since Penhaligon’s is the parfumerie of the Royal Family, I asked her for something a little more sophisticated. The very first bottle she picked up (Empressa) was the one that I ended up buying.
Low-​pressure but ever-​present, I didn’t feel like I was being sold to; in fact, I felt like I was being served. A great environment to shop in whether you know what you like, or are buying for somebody else. One man was so thankful for the assistance, I swear he was about to buy the whole store.
The bottles juuust make the maximum liquids you can bring on a plane and were a little under $ 200 USD each – and I really felt like I could have paid more.
But…thanks for not charging me more. Next is to see if I can get through the bottle in the next decade.

Apparently, William Penhaligon was a bit of a devil in the 19^th Century and his first ever bottled aroma was based on the scent of the hot, steamy, decadence occurring in London’s Turkish baths. This man sounds like my kinda guy. Oh, the Queen also thinks he’s A-​OK too… Penhaligon’s has been appointed as the royal perfumery since Queen Victoria’s rein.
The shop in Covent Garden oozes with comfortable, classic charm. Bottles, candles, lotions and potions are displayed in tall oak cabinets, there’s a roaring log fire and a chaise lounge in the back room if all the sniffing gets a bit too much for you. The bottles are simple glass, old pharmaceutical style in either 100ml or 50ml and there are coffee granules in pots to help refresh your senses between testing (just as you would clean your palate in between strong flavours).
The history and exquisite nature of this perfumery could make it a potentially stuck up, no-​go area, but I can assure you that the staff are wonderful and very eager to please. I’ve been looking for a new scent for so long now that I’d almost given up trying, but then I visited here, requested a vanilla base note and fell for the first one that the assistant wafted under my nose. Love at first smell. I was given a tester and advised to wear it for the day to let it settle, nice advice in a world of pushy sales people.
Call me old fashioned, but I think perfume is extra special, a smell can ignite everything from carnal desires to long lost memories, so no I don’t want to smell like Beyonce, SJP or any other endorsed high street chemical, I want to smell like me, only better.
Penhaligon’s is a perfume house who truly understands this concept.

I was in London for work. Two weeks in the UK and I thought my wife deserved something special. Heck, I missed her and wanted a small gift to show her I was thinking of her.
This is a special store with special products. The products are not inexpensive, but this is a store where you get what you pay for; delicate and nice perfumes, quality lotions and other knick knacks. Let me start by saying that I was helped by Katy. Helped is the key word as Katy was so knowledgeable, helpful, patient, and everything you would want in a salesperson at a boutique.
The perfumes are beautiful and the lotions are great. I even bought some hand lotion for myself, and I hate lotions. What convinced me… I tried a lotion on my first trip to the store, and after wandering around all afternoon, I noticed how nice my palms and back of my hands felt. I stopped back, this time for myself.
Whether you like to indulge yourself, or more importantly, a loved one, stop by and smell and feel their products. You’ll like it.

Penhaligon’s is sexy.
It may not look like it from the outside — your basic Soho London shop, but ah, wait till you get inside. Because this place, my friends, is home to the best scents in London. And smelling unusually good — so good that it makes people stop and go, «Woah, what cologne are you wearing? It’s fantastic.»
That is sexy.
Now, the issue I had faced was… I didn’t know what cologne was right for me. In college I had gone with Axe (or Lynx as it is here) because I was in college and I was stupid. After college I manned up and went for things like Armani and Calvin Klein, not because I loved them, but because they were familiar. And while they smelled nice, I still smelled like everyone else.
And so, it was time to evolve again. Now that I was officially a gentleman living in London, it was time for a new scent, one all my own. But where to go?
I actually tried a few stops before this, but none felt right. All the colognes felt… old. Really old. Like for my father or his father. I wanted something classy but not classic.
And then we found Penhaligon’s.
The space inside is beautiful — dark with dark wood, softly lit by a beautiful window and a chandelier made from perfume bottles. The walls are lined with fragrances of all kinds, but in the middle of the room, around a giant circular table, were their mixes of colognes.
But where to begin? Lucky enough, their staff is truly helpful. A woman was right there to assist. I told her, point blank, I did not know what I wanted. Not a problem, she said. And we went through. We started with heavier, darker colognes and worked our way up. She would take a sample stick and spray it on for me to smell, and then do it for another. When I found one I like, she gave me a few others to try. When I had two, we sprayed them on my wrist, as it smells different on stick than on paper. One was actually awful on me, though it smelled great on the test. No go.
The other — perfect.
It’s expensive, the larger bottle was about £80 (and they had smaller ones for £50) but you get what you pay for. And if you want that level of quality, and that air of old world London, there is nowhere better to be.
Cologne shopping like a London gentleman, you have been checked off my to-​do list.

My friends from the States came to visit me and they wanted to buy unique souvenirs that are different from the usual high street fare. The one-​of-​a-​kind finds at Penhaligon’s fit the bill, yet the shop is conveniently located in Covent Garden. The sales associate revealed that the store is certified to sell items to the Royal Family, which makes for a fun fact to share with the recipients of your gifts. I mean, if it’s good enough for Will & Kate, it’s good enough for your Uncle Bobo!
I would describe the store as an «upscale Bath & Body Works or Body Shop», since it primarily stocks high-​end perfumes, colognes, soaps, lotions, shaving cream, etc. The décor features upcycled empty bottles that were transformed into beautiful vases and chandeliers. It looks like a rare pinterest win lol.
I would recommend a trip to Penhaligon’s if you’re looking for a unique gift or a luxurious beauty product for yourself!
Pro-​tip: if you’re not a UK citizen, don’t forget to ask for a VAT receipt so you can get that tax back!

their quercus handwash is amazing!

Penhaligon’s
A prononcer avec l’accent, please !
Penhaligon’s, c’est la classe à l’anglaise, version famille royale.
J’en veux pour preuve le fameux Royal Warrant qui orne les flacons si caractéristiques. Ces Warrants sont accordés à des marques, ainsi récompensées pour la grande qualité de leurs produits, et attestent que ces dernières fournissent la famille royale.
By appointment to Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II
(Voir photo ci-​dessous) (Voir photo ci-​dessous)
(Voir photo ci-​dessous)
Penhaligon’s est une maison de parfums créée en 1860 par William Penhaligon. Elle a rapidement acquis une réputation distinguée auprès de l’aristocratie anglaise, et a produit des flagrances de grande qualité, désormais historiques en Grande Bretagne.
Hammam Bouquet, sa première eau de toilette, inspirée des Bains Turcs, est toujours fabriquée selon la formule originelle de 1872, et demeure un best seller de la marque.
Les boutiques Penhaligon’s ont ce je né sais quoi du charme désuet des magasins qui ont une histoire. Elles font rayonner les valeurs exclusives de qualité, de prestige et de luxe à l’anglaise.
Quelques flagrances :
Blenheim Bouquet
Notes de tête: citron, citron vert et lavande
Notes de cœur: Blenheim Bouquet n’a pas de notes de cœur
Notes de fond: pin, musc et poivre noir
Un des tout premiers parfums hespéridés. Un grand classique toujours contemporain. Créé en 1902, Blenheim Bouquet rend hommage au palais de Blenheim, la résidence du Duc de Marlborough. Portée plus tard par Winston Churchill, lui même descendant des Marlborough, c’est la plus célèbre des eaux de toilette Penhaligon’s.
(Voir photo ci-​dessous)
Ellenisia
Notes de tête: zeste de mandarine et feuille de violette
Notes de cœur: gardénia, rose, tubéreuse et jasmin
Notes de fond: nectar de prune et vanille
Créé en 2004, un bouquet floral exubérant (gardénia, rose et jasmin) nappé de notes crémeuses et gourmandes (vanille, musc et nectar de prune). Ensorcelant.
Artemisia
Notes de tête: nectarine et feuillage
Notes de cœur: pomme verte, muguet, thé au jasmin, violette et vanille
Notes de fond: chêné, bois de santal, musc ambre et vanille
Joliment sensuel, délicatement caramélise, doux, subtilement entouré de notes de vanille au miel, d’épices,. Charmeur et addictif.
(Voir photo ci-​dessous)
J’ai eu la chance de me faire offrir, il y a plusieurs années, un flacon de Blenheim Bouquet, que j’ai utilisé avec parcimonie pour qu’il dure le plus longtemps possible. Né serait-​ce pas un cadeau parfait pour mon anniversaire ce weekend?

When a shop looks and smells as good as this it is hard to know where to start.
This is an original and authentic fragrance shop from a time before every supermodel and pop star had their own utterly indistinguishable perfume. Everything from the dark wooden interior and signature bottle design that has remained unchanged for the past 135 years gives Penhaligon’s a very British richness.
Each of the unique twenty-​two different bottles of perfume, the bath oils, candles and moisturisers is so beautifully presented and packaged, it is easy to forget about the actual fragrance.
Anything bought form here is guaranteed to make a really special gift. My personal favourite is a necklace with a perfume vial hanging on the end so you need never smell unfresh.
If you need further convincing, not only do the rich, powerful and famous shop here but the Queen herself is also a regular customer.

my English parents send me every Christmas the beautiful gifts from this great shop and I apreciate them a lot!
The boxes are already a nice gift!

Staff were persistent — I’d prefer to be left to browse the store by myself. Also, having just checked the website I have to say it is appalling! Very basic format, presentation dull and, having just telephoned a store to enquire after something I’ve seen on the site, I learn it is out of date as well (the item I am after was discontinued 4months ago, despite being shown as available online). Come on, just because you’re a long-​established company with historic roots doesn’t mean you can skimp on the modern details! Take a leaf from the Jo Malone or Space NK websites. But it does have wonderful products, worth a visit.

Penhaligon’s have got several stores in London, but this my favourite; it’s a bit like going back in time. I personally only buy perfume there, although there is now an extensive range of gifts but for me Penhaligon’s will only ever be about scents.
I love their single flowers (bought Camelia for my grandmother) and their simple distinctive packaging. Lovely store and helpful staff. Their men’s perfume range is lovely.