LONDON — Omorovicza is about to bring a dose of old-world skincare wisdom, and ritual, to London’s Mayfair with the opening in the autumn of its first institute outside Budapest.

The small, independent brand, which has a cult-like following amongst luxury customers and makeup artists alike, plans to open on South Audley Street in a former antiques store.

The institute will offer individually targeted treatments for face and body that take into consideration an individual’s age, hormonal state, stress aspects and skin health. Specialists will even draw up bespoke skincare prescriptions, and send customers home with samples and products.

True to the brand’s ethos, the institute will even be about education and experimentation with Omorovicza products, the formulations of that are inspired by the centuries-old, mineral-infused thermal baths of Budapest.

Margaret de Heinrich de Omorovicza, who founded the brand in 2006 together with her husband, Stephen, said that along with the 2 treatment rooms, there will probably be a lineup of sinks on the bottom floor where customers can test the products.

“In case you’re interested by methods to treat a condition, or methods to reveal your best skin, are available in and play,” Margaret said in an interview alongside Stephen at The Wolseley in London.

“We’ll even be asking people ‘Show us the way you wash your face,’” which is the primary query the team on the Budapest institute poses to clients. It’s an easy query, but one which helps the specialists put together a fitting skincare routine.

There’s no hard sell, and Margaret has one hundred pc confidence within the products. “In case you go home with those samples, then we all know you’re going to return back,” she said.

That was her personal experience a few years ago. An American diplomat posted to the U.S. Embassy in Hungary, Margaret met her future husband in Budapest. He would later take her to go to the town’s mineral-rich baths.

She also had the face and skincare treatments which might be routine for ladies and men in Hungary once they reach their early teens. Between mineral waters and the massages helped her to cure her acne-prone skin.

Omorovicza sells internationally, and the U.S. is its largest market. The brand offers facials and spa treatments at select hotels and resorts including the 4 Seasons and the Grand Hyatt, and at retailers corresponding to Liberty and Harrods.

A pop-up Omorovicza Institute is about to open in at SKP in Beijing in May.

Stockists include Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks, Isetan, Galeries Lafayette, Joyce, Mecca, Net-a-porter and Kadewe.

The institute in London was designed by Stephen, together with interiors specialists Tina Vaia and Ed Milton. Vaia also contributed to the Budapest Institute interior, which was designed by London-based architect Philip Joseph.

The London opening has been an extended time coming. The couple had desired to open in London for years, and decided to make the move as soon as soon because the pandemic subsided.

“We checked out what that little institute in Budapest had done for us over time — it’s been very successful. Quite a lot of tourists have come from everywhere in the world, and experienced the treatments. That’s by far one of the simplest ways of bringing people into the brand,” he said.

Its focus is to catch up with to the shopper in order that it could give them a customized experience, he said. “We wish to supply our customers the fitting therapists, environment and products. The needs of a 28-year-old with dry skin is one million miles from what Margaret needs, or what I would like, which is why these prescriptions are so necessary.”

Stephen’s family has an extended history with the Budapest baths. Considered one of his ancestors built a washing complex on the historic Rácz Thermal Bath, and opened the primary therapeutic institute there within the late nineteenth century.

He worked with one in all Hungary’s most famous architects on the time, Miklós Ybl, and later donated the complex to the country.

For hundreds of years, the Budapest waters have been famous for his or her curative powers. The Earth’s crust is thinner there than in other parts of the world, which implies the waters are in a position to absorb the useful minerals more effectively.

The husband-and-wife team eventually decided to bottle the liquid and take it to the world. First, nevertheless, they needed to work out a solution to get the minerals to penetrate the skin, quite than simply sticking to the surface.  

Along with the Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian laboratory of Dermatology and Allergology they developed Omorovicza’s proprietary Healing Concentrate, which helps the skin absorb the minerals — and the brand was born.

Omorovicza wasn’t a simple sell at first, admitted Stephen.

“The primary few times we pitched the concept, people were like ‘What is that this weird name?’” he recalled.

Not too long after Omorovicza launched, nevertheless, Budapest became a preferred tourist destination. People visited the town’s thermal baths and the high-performance Hungarian skincare brand took on a sheen of romance and glamour.

“Being from Hungary helped to distinguish the brand, and supply a fabulously unique context” for the treatments, Stephen said.

Bestselling products include the Cushioning Day Cream, a buttery formula meant to spice up the skin’s natural shield, priced at 130 kilos, and Queen of Hungary Mist, priced at 62 kilos. The latter is a toner inspired by Queen of Hungary Water, the world’s first recorded perfume, which was developed within the 14th century.

One other top product is the Thermal Cleansing Balm, which costs 62 kilos and incorporates Hungarian moor mud that’s wealthy in calcium, magnesium, humic and fulvic acids.

Queen Cream, which costs 135 kilos, is a hybrid day cream and primer that has turn out to be a makeup artist favorite. The product incorporates no silicone, but quite a natural silicone substitute.

The couple continues to work with scientists to develop formulations meant to nourish and protect the skin. Over time, they’ve integrated micro-algae into products, and looked for tactics to spice up skin immunity and even out pigmentation without using acids.

Remaining an independent, entrepreneurial business has allowed the couple to proceed innovating, and developing a loyal, engaged customer base at their very own pace.

“We’re so proud to have customers who’ve been with us for years,” Margaret said. “They could walk away with one product sooner or later, after which six months later, they may come away with 4 products. But we all know that we’ve them for a lifetime.”