The Cult of Biologique Recherche Is Coming to Los Angeles
Notoriously culty skincare brand Biologique Recherche, loved and feared for its powerful P50 exfoliating lotion, opened its first flagship store in the U.S.
Located in Los Angeles, the two-story space features six treatment rooms, a VIP suite, a hair salon offering scalp treatments and blowouts, and a retail space stocking the brand's full range of products. At 8461 Melrose Place, the location is ideally situated to serve Hollywood A-listers in search of pre-event pick-me-ups, as well as the city's healthy population of skincare and wellness devotees.
Prior to the store's opening, Biologique Recherche products were available to American customers at select spas — most notably Rescue Spa, based in New York City and Philadelphia — and through Biologique Recherche's official website, where users must create an account to shop. The brand also operates a flagship in Paris on the Champs-Élysées.
The company's LA presence will offer several high-tech skin analysis tools including Skin Instant Lab, which evaluates the condition of one's skin; VisioLab, a machine that takes high-resolution photos for further analysis; and My Beauty DNA, a test that "assesses skin on a genetic level and provides an overview of your genetic predispositions," per a press release.
The brand has a fairly large presence on the East Coast, leaving New Yorkers like myself to wonder why the company didn't open a brick-and-mortar location in the Big Apple.
"We do not invest in any kind of promotions... our expansion was based on word of mouth," President Rupert Schmid told WWD. "That is the reason why we have expanded out of New York... But when you compare our presence on the West Coast and on the East Coast — even though the market is different, the culture is different — at the end of the day, we are not really present on the West Coast. That is one of the reasons why we have decided to create our flagship in L.A. and on Melrose Place, which is an iconic place."
Angelinos, buckle up. As a devotee of Biologique Recherche's P50 Lotion, I can confirm: this flagship is about to change your life, not to mention your skin.
