What is the London Look?

What is the London Look, Anyway?

For years it was a slogan Kate Moss blared at us from our TV screen during ad break after ad break - ‘Get the London Look’. But what exactly is ‘the London Look’? Does it mean dressing and doing our make-up like Kate Moss? And what exactly is her style, anyway?

We decided it was about time this mystery was solved, so we decided to take a closer look at four beauty brands that proudly wear their London origins on their, er, brand name. Let’s see if this sheds any more light on it all.

Rimmel London

There’s nowhere else to start than the brand that started all this talk about ‘the London Look’ (well, actually they borrowed the phrase from a record by 1960s pop band Herman’s Hermits, but that’s another story…) and beneath it all you get the impression that might all just a ploy to get us to buy Rimmel products…

Rimmel has been in the fashion and beauty game for a long time, tracing its roots back to the 1830s and a perfume maker called Eugene Rimmel who was the first person to make mascara that didn’t contain brain-damaging mercury - and very grateful we are to him! As well as mascara, the modern company that carries Mr Rimmel’s name makes a full range of lip, face, eye and nail products. In terms of what it sees as ‘the London Look’, it rather unhelpfully describes it as ‘not something you can put your finger on easily’, claiming that ‘it is more a vibe than anything else.’ We’ll move on then, shall we!

London Girl Cosmetics

If London Girl was to sum up the London Look, we’re sure it would be all about youthful fun and exuberance. Specialising in matte lip gloss and liquid lipsticks in bright, bold colours, London Girl also offers eyeshadow palettes in equally vibrant shades, along with tattoo effect gel eyeliners, mascara and stick foundations. It’s brash, it’s straightforward, it’s what make-up is all about when you don’t want to be seen dead in the department store cosmetics floor where your mum shops.

London Pride

According to this very capital-positive brand, the London Look might not be about what you slap on your face at all - it’s what you do it with that counts. London Pride promises to put professional-quality make-up effects within your grasp, not with outrageously priced foundation or lip gloss that costs more than your entire outfit, but with something much simpler - make-up brushes.

That’s right, foundation brushes, blush brushes, eye shadow brushes and special kabuki powder brushes, London Pride makes and sells them all, claiming that it is the brushes behind the strokes that are the secret to truly outstanding make-up. Oh, and it also makes false eyelashes, too. So presumably in its conception, the London Look is as much about the flutter as it is the brush? Maybe…

Mirage Cosmetics is a quality wholesale cosmetics supplier based in Ipswich, Suffolk shipping products from high street brands across the UK and Europe.