Amazing Beauty (and everything else, too) at Westfield

Over in London for the weekend, it would have been a sin not to have visited the new Westfield mall in West London.  Less shopping centre and more shopping town, this is the largest urban mall in Europe, apparently. Its sheer size means it's home to a massive variety of shops, which are well organised into zones - so if you want luxe designer threads, you head to the Village area; if you want to buy maternity and baby gear, then that's in its own zone, as are sports- and street-wear brands. Airy walkways, comfy resting zones and large open areas means that even when it's heaving, it never feels claustrophic.

Dotted throughout are so many beauty bits I stopped counting - out within the walkways there's a Corioliss straightening bar - mobbed when I walked by - as well as a hopping Essie nail bar. And it doesn't stop there: over 18 stores are dedicated the art of beauty, including standards like the Body Shop, Lush, Boots and Superdrug, as well as a MAC store, Crabtree & Evelyn, L'Occitane and Neal's Yard. There's even a Hershesons Blow Bar, much loved by London-based gals. Other shops that aren't so familiar to me, like Rituals, Inglot (a MACesque Polish brand) and Malika are also present, as is a Beauty Base, a store selling fragrance and cosmetic brands.

So, did I buy anything? Shamefully, I gave beauty a miss entirely and splurged in Kurt Geiger, Zara and Uniqlo instead!