Glam Touch launches UK’s largest K-Beauty store

Following the success of its online store and Soho branch, Glam Touch has opened its latest K-beauty (and more) space in Brunswick London, here’s everything you need to know.

Glam Touch Brunswick is the K-beauty brand’s second branch in London. Photo: Molly Raycraft for Cherry Chu Magazine.

London is not short of K-beauty stores. They’ve been popping up across the city since the start of the Hallyu wave which saw interests pique in South Korean skincare. Among the front-runners is Glam Touch, founded by Sen Vu way back in 2017, after she discovered the benefits of K-beauty in treating her own breakouts.

Fast forward to this year and Glam Touch has just opened the doors to its biggest store yet. The first of Glam Touch’s stores is situated in London’s Soho area — the brand also briefly had a space at Westfield shopping center before deciding to pivot to a new location. The latest store opened in another part of London, (Brunswick), earlier in May — sat in a bustling courtyard of restaurants, shops, and entertainment.

K-beauty stores are not necessarily a novelty to Londoners, but there was definitely excitement for a brand to lay its roots outside the well-trodden vicinity of ChinaTown, where many Korean stores tend to settle. In fact, when I met Glam Touch founder Sen Vu in the early evening of the shop’s first day, she showed me a video of the hundreds of skincare enthusiasts that had queued around the block in anticipation for the shop to open that morning.

It doesn’t come as a surprise. The brand’s founder has cultivated her latest venture around providing an experience that goes beyond shifting skin care products. Her perfectly pink store taps into many of the trends that crop up on Tik Tok’s Korean algorithm, including Korean nail care, iced teas, and Asian desserts.

While the first section of the Brunswick shop serves as a Korean beauty and skincare store, the back end hosts an Asian tea and dessert bar, as well as a Korean nail bar (expected to be installed in the next four weeks). And of course, it goes without saying, there’s K-pop playing throughout.

Both walls were decked out with both familiar and hard-to-come-by skincare brands. Photo: Molly Raycraft for Cherry Chu Magazine.

Exclusive skincare brands, and of course… the mandatory face mask wall

Glam Touch is encased by two long walls on either side of the shop, stacked high with a big variety of both familiar and lesser known skin care brands. (I did notice a slight depletion in under eye gel masks so these are clearly a favourite among tired Londoners, including myself, battling eye bags).

I ask Sen what makes this store’s skincare range stand out from all the skincare providers out there right now. She tells me that some of the items in stock are pretty hard to come by in the UK. And it’s true, there are certainly brands beyond the familiar Mary & May, Beauty of Joseon, and Tony Moly.

She says her favourites are Banobagi’s milk thistle range which helps with anti-aging and d’Alba’s First Spray Serum which is particularly useful now we’re coming into the summer, as it helps to hydrate the skin with a light mist enriched with white truffle. Sen also points out Round Lab’s 1025 Dokdo Toner, which is currently going viral online.

It’s rare to come across a K-beauty store without a wall dedicated to South Korea’s beloved sheet masks, and Glam Touch is no exception. Take your pick of packs from innisfree’s Squeeze Energy Masks and BeauuGreen’s Hydro Masks, to House of Dohwa’s pouches of white rice, mung bean, and pumpkin wash off mask (technically not a sheet, but my favourite).

Glam Touch had the classic K-beauty staple: the sheet mask wall. Photo: Molly Raycraft for Cherry Chu Magazine.

Try before you buy with the K-beauty bar

The centrepiece of Glam Touch’s new branch is a marble island with neatly displayed rows of cosmetics and bouquets of dried flowers. Here you’ll find an impressive collection of lip tints from brands such as Etude and Velvet Fit, as well as Black Rouge’s Drip Hot Water Tint. As expected, there’s also a range of light fairy glitter eyeshadow palettes from the likes of rom&no and Clio. Plus, BB cream powders La Muse, among others.

It’s well-known that Korean cosmetics aren’t as inclusive as their skincare cousins, as brands often do not carry a very diverse colour palette. Glam Touch has somewhat mitigated for the difficulties of colour matching, with plans to open a beauty bar, which will enable customers to try products on before forking out for a colour that doesn’t work. In addition, the team will be on hand to give all the advice you need to achieve that look you’ve spotted on Korean Tik Tok.

A marble island in the centre of the store is stocked up with Korean cosmetics, including lips tints and BB creams. Photo: Molly Raycraft for Cherry Chu Magazine.

Natural teas and Asian desserts

A dessert and tea bar sits towards the back of the Glam Touch Brunswick store, complete with velvet plush furnishings. The teas, Sen tells me, are focused on using natural ingredients in order to promote good skin, which is probably what inspired the neon wall sign which reads ‘넌 예쁘니까, 예쁜것만 마셔’. This translates to ‘Since you’re pretty, just drink beautiful things’.

Highlights from the tea menu include the Korean Wild Rose, Jeju Matcha Latte, and Seoul Breakfast tea. I perched on a bar stall sipping the Citrus Love — a subtly flavoured lemon iced tea with a sprig of rosemary floating for an herby kick. Alongside I chomped on Yakgwa, a type of Korean honey cookie, which is dense in texture but sweet in flavour.

Most of the other options on the dessert menu are Japanese, no surprise given the two country’s shared history and joint influence. So be prepared to tuck into Japanese Mille Crepes, Jiggly Cheesecake, and Assam milk tea mochi roll cake.

The Citrus Love iced tea and yakgwa are both on the menu at Glam Touch’s Asian tea and dessert bar. Photo: Molly Raycraft for Cherry Chu Magazine.

Korean nails… coming soon

Korean nails are the next item on the agenda for Glam Touch. The cutesy designs from Korean TikTok have once again gained traction with a Western audience and Sen is tapping into this unmet demand.

An archway at the back of the tea and dessert bar will shortly lead to a nail bar dedicated to making the Korean designs customers see online a reality on their own hands. A lot of work has gone into getting the store to where it is for opening day, and while the nail bar is still a slight work in progress, it’s preparing to join the rest of the store in opening in a few weeks time, so watch this space.

You can find Glam Touch Brunswick at:

Unit 10, Brunswick Centre, London WC1N 1AE

Open: 9am-9pm

Alternatively, you can shop online here.

Edited by Chelsea Cheetham.

Thank you to our partners Glam Touch for inviting us to the opening of your new store and for the gifted goodies!