Where to buy Mary Quant make up? Mary Quant London Store Visit, Haul and Product Chit Chat

I have been lusting over Mary Quant make up for a long long time having read VOCE, MAQUIA and other Japanese beauty magazines that regularly feature the range.  Mary Quant used to be a British brand but the cosmetics range is now Japanese produced and is thriving in Japan.

I have lots of memories when it comes to the range! I remember my mum owning a lipstick and triangular shaped blusher which was a hot, hot pink. Maybe I get my wacky taste in make up from her…

So a lovely friend/reader was going to pick up some colours for me from Japan, then I realised they do mail order from the London store to all over the world.  AND – it’s actually cheaper in the UK than buying from Japan, with a single eyeshadow retailing for £7 whereas they are about £9 if you convert the yen to stirling. Score!

At first I ordered 2 shades and then decided to wait until I was visiting London to buy more. Big mistake:

I hauled.  Mind you this is my last big big haul of the year (cough cough). £200 lighter, I thought I’d share with you a general overview of the products I saw in store and of course individual product reviews will be coming up shortly and also some product shots.

The store is only a few minutes walk from the Sloane Square tube station.  It’s small but clean and functional. Mary Quant’s eyeshadow and lip mix products are made for palettes. You can also put powder, blush and powder foundation into their palettes (or your own).

They are the traditional triangle shape.  You can pick and mix them on the counter.

I had a chance to play around with most of the make up and saw that the nail polishes looked fun, the lipsticks looked a all quite wearable – nothing wacky.

They eyeshadows are nice and come in various textures (I will go into this further in my eyeshadow review) – but roughly they are metallic, twinkle, matte and pearl.  Lip Mix is also spilt into various textures.  There’s a nice selection of lip and eye pencils, a eye gloss product which I bought and concealers.

The black palettes which you can buy to mix and match are gorgeous – well made, thick, pretty.

Prices vary. I found the prices quite fair for some things (£7 for small polish and eyeshadow), some items are dearer £16.50 for the mascara and the lipstick.  It’s a mixed bag really.  The large palette was about £10.50 and the wide palette (the largest size which stores 12 eyeshadows or 6 blushers or a combo) is £12.50.

They don’t allow photos in store. It’s a pretty snotty thing and British Beauty Blogger wrote about it, and how they don’t do PR either which is a totally missed opportunity.

Mr C took some shots whilst I was browsing and only managed a few before a SA scuttled over to say no photos.  Lady – I just spent £200 in your store, and I can’t take a few crappy photos to promote YOUR brand?  So here are some shots:

The eyeshadow:

The lip stuff:

The lip and nail bar – very cute, the lips and nail match.  Also the pencils and mascara (some shades) match BUT the London store does not have all the mascara colours in:

Mail Order prices are a bit of a rip off – I paid £3 for 1st class shipping for 1 eyeshadows and the post label said £1.32. Even with a padded envelope the price is inflated as the make up is so light – what’s the extra for, a coffee on the way back from the Post Office?

So wait til you want to order more than 1 thing if you mail order!

Visiting the store is ideal of course although the Mary Quant site is brilliant – of course it is, it’s Japanese – and the colours are so accurately displayed.

The first SA I had with short blonde hair was a diamond, the second blonde was dizzy and the Asian lady watched me like a hawk.