Covent Garden announces return of beauty festival for 2026

Covent Garden, home to over 80 leading beauty and wellness brands, has announced the return of its annual beauty festival. Reimagined as BEYOND BEAUTY the 10-day event will bring together the very best in skincare, fragrance, make-up and wellness, all set against the iconic backdrop of Covent Garden.

Running from 4^th – 13^th September 2026, BEYOND BEAUTY will transform the entire neighbourhood, from the iconic Piazza and the surrounding streets to Seven Dials, global flagships and independent boutiques, into an immersive beauty playground. Following the launch of Big Beauty in 2025, this year’s festival will go further, exploring beyond the product and celebrating the people, ideas, experiences and innovations shaping the industry today.

The campaign will include exclusive pop-ups, launches, brand offers and expert masterclasses from leading brands including Chanel, Charlotte Tilbury, Dolce&Gabbana, ELEMIS, Glossier, GUERLAIN, Jo Malone London, Miller Harris, NARS, Penhaligon’s, Space NK, Tom Ford and many more.

The festival’s programme, soon to be announced, will be shaped around some of beauty’s biggest voices, exploring themes such as seasonal beauty essentials, new future favourites, workout your wellbeing, and fragrance fundamentals.

For the first time, Covent Garden-founded brand Space NK will partner with Covent Garden as an experiential partner for Beyond Beauty, delivering a takeover of the iconic Piazza, that will transform the setting into an immersive beauty playground for visitors to explore. Having opened its first store in Covent Garden in 1991 and with its UK flagship now located on Neal Street, this partnership celebrates the growth of both Space NK as a brand and Covent Garden as a world-leading beauty destination.

Catherine Riccomini, Director of Marketing and Communications, Shaftesbury Capital, said: “Beauty is one of the defining categories at Covent Garden, and BEYOND BEAUTY reflects the strength of that offer. Bringing together over 80 brands across the neighbourhood allows us to showcase the depth of our retail mix while driving footfall, dwell time and cross-category spend across the whole estate during a key trading period.”

The launch announcement of the BEYOND BEAUTY campaign follows a strong period of relevant leasing news across the destination, including Kiehl’s opening its upsized store on Monmouth Street, Parfums de Marly opening its upsized boutique on James Street, MATIERE PREMIERE opening its first UK store on King Street and, most recently, INITIO Parfums Privés opening its first standalone store in the Market Building. Covent Garden continues to prove its one-of-a-kind status as a leading destination for dining, a global hub for beauty, and the benchmark for quality experiential retail.