"I needed to consider every detail, as I had considered every detail of the customer brow journey. I sat with a designer and gave him the headline 'treatments in the comfort of your living room'", Vanita, the Founder, explains the reason why interiors are so important at Blink.
A brand’s interiors say so much about who they are, especially in beauty. I don’t believe that you can feel beautiful if you are not in beautiful surroundings. Ambiance is a key part of a seamless customer experience. In my vision for Blink, the interiors would be pivotal as they would reflect a service that could be trusted; where you would feel that your eyebrows were in safe hands.
Fenwick was the first department store to say yes to my newfound idea of threading on the shop floor. Our original location, one chair, placed incongruously in the middle of bras and knickers, was a far cry from my original proposal. However, this was prime real estate in Bond Street, and I was grateful to get the break – so I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
It was hard to stamp our identity on this floating postage stamp size of our space. As demand grew, our chairs grew, and we spilled out of lingerie to earn a space in the main beauty department, I worked with shop designers to explain that I wanted customers to feel as if they were in a corner of a world that felt calming, but being squeezed in amongst the MAC counter with DJ beats, and the delivery door where steel trolleys were being wheeled in and out every few seconds, didn’t offer that dreamy oasis. Customers were wonderfully forgiving, they just wanted fantastic brows, so we just rolled with it. As the queues built up and the brand expanded to department stores up and down the UK, I decided that I would take the plunge and open our first stand-alone shop, where I could bring my intended vision to life in a quiet corner of Notting Hill.
I didn’t want the boutiques to look like a typical beauty salon. Nothing about Blink was expected when we launched. We were doing brows out in the open and showing women how to celebrate these prized assets. As this became more of a hygiene factor, I wanted to move a step further and to cocoon women in a space where the treatment could be seen as luxurious rather than functional. I needed to consider every detail, as I had considered every detail of the customer brow journey. I sat with a designer and gave him the headline ‘treatments in the comfort of your living room’ The challenges being that the living room was tiny and the inspo for the location was India.
It was a tall order, and I knew that I would have to go to India and rummage through the dusty shops, Aladdin caves tucked away in alleyways to bring authenticity to the boutique. Furniture was shipped back and whilst wholly impractical, bookshelves that had once lived in a ‘coti’ (villa) in India, a traditional washbasin that may have sat in a courtyard and an old carved stone window frame from Rajasthan, found their way to the shop. They were unique and captured the essence of who we were.
The pick of the pieces was the dome rose bowl, often seen in temples in India, brimming with Rose Petals, hung quietly beside our new Ayurvedic Kansa Head & Face Massage, treatment offer. Next to it were traditional indian beauty tools such as the kansa wands to gently massage the face. And the tools didn’t sit on any old table but a vintage drinks trolley from the 1920’s. Mirrors too were important in making a statement, mid-century oversized circular mirrors, in varying sizes were hung haphazardly. The large French Victorian armchairs were re-upholstered in soft greens, on rugs, to give a living room feel for those wanting to do nails, unexpected in an Indian beauty offering but authentic when saying we are ‘old with new with comfort’.
It was important that everything looked as if it was meant to be there.
As Jean-Louis Deniot rightly stated.
“Luxury is when it seems flawless, when you reach the right balance between all elements. Understated theatricality – that is what my luxury is all about.”
When the doors swung open, I was delighted as customers chatted, sipped coffee and dwelled, often with children or dogs in our small but welcoming space. They could now have an Ayurvedic brow pinch to the gentle beat of Indian infused sounds. As a final touch, I worked with a fragrance house to create our Mysore Sandalwood Candle; a signature scent to effuse its woody aroma across the space. When a customer claimed that she felt she was at home, almost in her living room in Mumbai, I knew that I had finally achieved my mission.
As Fenwick, where our brand was born, set to close its doors, we evolved a more holistic experience in a nearby store tucked away on Avery Row. Thinking carefully of our interiors, we continue to repurpose furniture - our latest being a 1950’s bar that has been reversed to create the perfect reception desk. The varnished concertinaed front hides a bar that would have once housed whiskeys and martinis, but now houses Nourishing Brow Oils and Brow Gels . We have old Ads from Indian magazines, sharing the history of beauty that form the backbone of Ayurvedic Medicine. Not forgetting the Blink mandala, which adorns its own space in each store, expressing the circle of life and the circle of Blink attributes.
Our latest opening in Belgravia, Motcomb Street where the old meets new, holds on to the idiosyncrasies of a brand without appearing contrived or shoehorned across mass roll outs. Vintage sofas in sage green and draped velvet curtains in blush pink softly suggest privacy and comfort in your home. It should also give customers the confidence that the same thought has gone into the design of our treatments. Therapists are trained to give consultations and brow map, to create the perfect brow shape , to then follow by a truly relaxing brow pinch.
Please join us in our new boutiques at Avery Row and Motcomb Street where a Rose Chai will be brewing, sandalwood infusing and the rhythm of Indian sounds playing. You will leave feeling beautiful, uplifted and as if you had just taken a trip to India. We look forward to seeing you.
