Beauty Tour_ Violet Grey _ Los Angeles, USA

One destination in West Hollywood has been the inspiration behind this entire beauty tour series. The type of boutique you've heard of but have always wondered what it looked like inside and wished you could have a browse. Violet Grey has long been that store for me, a name famously linked with luxury beauty and the hero products of Hollywood. Their flagship atelier on leafy Melrose Place in Los Angeles feels like stepping into a chic apartment with touches of old Hollywood glamour, famous vintage decor and those overflowing shelves arranged like a real beauty addict's bathroom cabinet. The store has an unrivalled edit of some of the best names in beauty, covering all categories and mixing high-end houses and cult favourites with niche newcomers. You'll find luxury brands usually only seen in department stores such as Chanel, Tom Ford and YSL mixed with French pharmacy favourites like Bioderma and Caudalie. Plus clean beauty stars RMS, Kosas, Gillian Dempsey, red carpet favourites Kevin Aucoin and Charlotte Tilbury and emerging names Necessaire, Rouge, Playa and Augusta Nesbader. This celebrity hotspot could feel like an intimidating space to shop in but instead it's homely and so inviting, so much so that people often sink into one of the lush couches in the salon and stay a while to take it all in. Moving towards the makeup studio at the front of the store you will pass through a cluttered corridor housing countless hair and body products. Violet Grey is a compulsory stop on any beauty lover's LA itinerary but luckily you can shop the shelves online and read their website the Violet Files while you dream up your visit.