September 2003 saw a lavish new store open that was a move away from the traditionally brightly lit cosmetic halls of the past. B NEVER TOO BUSY TO BE BEAUTIFUL stores are an Aladdin’s cave of eclectic gorgeousness and wonderment specialising in colour cosmetics and fragrance. With gilt walls, kitsch fabric flowers and exquisite packaging, B seductively draws you in.

“The inspiration had come from playing at my aunty penny’s dressing table as a child and I wanted to recreate that playfulness and fun” says Rowena Bird, B’s co-founder “we wanted to create a brand which would become desirably collectable in years to come and that customers would have a passion for collecting, so I spent a long time investigating different forms of packaging from all over the world and it was in India and Morocco that I found the biggest inspirations. However the magic of B really begins when you lift the lids off the perfumes or bejewelled pots, finding inside beautiful fragrances or powerful colours that will satisfy anyone in search of ethical beauty that doesn’t scrimp on glamour.”

The stores in Covent Garden, Carnaby Street and Poole are deliciously decadent with a clear nod to French perfumeries and with a diverse mix of vintage and boho chic influences in an accessible shopping environment. Each counter tells a different story and is positioned so that customers can wander around unhindered and experiment with everything to find exactly what is right for the them – or that certain someone. Whether it’s TWO HEARTS BEATING AS ONE’s passionately sensual tribute to cabaret à la Moulin Rouge, the ‘50s dressing table and flirty, floral fairy lights of LOVE, the outlandish LADYBOY tribute to all things unconventionally kitsch or the tongue-in-cheek ‘work bench’ appeal of DIRTY, there’s a look – and a fragrance – sure to appeal even to the most alpha males.