You may wonder what a skincare company has to do with dining out, but a partnership between Kiehl’s and the Grand Café could be just what you need to get ready for the spring. The Artful Diner finds out more…

Going out for drinks and looking after your skin are normally mutually exclusive. But, if you’re booking a space in the Royal Exchange it might be worth asking about Kiehl’s.

Originally established in New York as an apothecary in 1851, the company opened a store in the Royal Exchange in 2010. It offers a range of skin and haircare products, but one thing Kiehl’s never does is advertise; instead relying on sampling and consultations with customers.

Recently, the store has been linking up with parties in the Royal Exchange to offer on-hand consultations, gifts and samples. This may sound like women-only territory, but Kiehl’s store manager Lucie tells me that it was one of the first companies to make skincare products specifically for men.

Let’s face it, at this time of year looking after your skin can be difficult no matter who you are. With that in mind, I took a deep breath and went for my own skin consultation. Here’s what happened:

Step One: The healthy skin test

Any consultation begins with a healthy skin test. This takes about two minutes and diagnoses your skin type. Laura from Kiehl’s produces two ‘tabs’, and places one on my forehead and one on my cheek. After holding them down for ten seconds she checks to see how many spots appear on each of the tabs. No spots appear. This sounds good, but it means my skin is bone dry. Oh.

Stage two of the test involves what I’m going to call the ‘wrinkle test’. Don’t panic, ladies. This is actually very useful. Laura holds her index finger on my skin just under the cheekbone and pushes up. Fine lines or waves appear right across the skin. This shows that my skin is dehydrated. If there were no lines my skin would be naturally dry but still healthy. In my case action needs to be taken.

Step Two: The consultation

Laura reassures me by saying that during the colder months most skin dries out. A combination of office air-con, biting winds and central heating has the combined effect of creating dull skin. No one wants very oily skin, but you need some oils. For a glowing complexion you need well-nourished skin. As a rule I don’t believe everything I’m told at the beauty counter, but this seems sensible.

I respond to questions on what bothers me about my skin while Laura selects the products that would best suit me. Most are within the Ultra Facial range, which is free from dyes and fragrance, but very nourishing and good for dry skin like mine.

There are two products that really stand out for me. One is the Midnight Recovery Concentrate, which is jam-packed with essential oils and perfect for dehydrated skin. The other is Midnight Recovery Eye, which Laura suggested when I started moaning about dark circles and puffy eyes. Wonderfully, both were handed to me at the end as part of a goodie bag containing samples of the products recommended specifically for me.

I have to say, trying before you buy is always really useful, but here’s one piece of advice that I found particularly interesting. Some wrinkles and fine lines are simply caused by dehydration, not ageing, therefore eminently treatable and worth finding out about, no?

Further information

Find out more about private events at the Royal Exchange.

Kiehl’s at the Royal Exchange can be contacted on 020 7283 6661. Two extra services offered are: ‘Desk Express’ for businesses within the Square Mile. Phone the store, order and pay over the phone and they deliver to your desk the same day. And there’s a recycling programme whereby you receive rewards for bringing back empty Kiehl’s containers.