Slow Beauty. Top 5 natural skin care stores in Poland

In modern Poland, eating local, healthy, and natural food has become quite a norm. However, when the fascination with organic restaurants, vegan blogs and vegetables from a local market becomes a norm, the time comes for other aspects of body care. Educated and aware of the importance of healthy and simple eating, we slowly come to realize that skin care products–just like food–do not grow on supermarket shelves. Where they can grow, surprisingly, are forests and fields from which they’re taken to beautifully designed eco-stores with a friendly and cozy atmosphere. Just for you we’ve created a guide to natural stores with natural beauty products to be found in PURO cities: Kraków, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Wrocław.

SLOWGLOW - Smoleńsk 15, Kraków

Kraków’s Slowglow has three catchwords: natural, responsible, and local. You see this the moment you step inside, because we only use Polish brands. The same goes for the cosmetics’ ingredients. Just have a look at any label and you’ll see how important the ingredients are here. That’s why so many people have come to love this place—every choice is perfect, especially when one of the smiling staff come hustling over to help you. Kraków’s Slowglow is one part of a little shopping paradise, with Turnusy, one of the best vintage shops in town, right next door.

POLISH NATURE BEAUTY BAR – Elektrownia Powiśle, Dobra 42 Warszawa

The revitalized Powiśle Power Station houses the Polish Nature Beauty Bar. This is not a classic drugstore, its more a place where, at the central bar, you can get acquainted with Polish natural cosmetics and get consulted on how to find the products that suit your needs. The very design of the shop is something special—it takes its cue from Polish folk art, as in the “cut-out” illuminated on the wall.

Galilu

Mokotowska 26 & 63, Dobra 42 (Elektrownia Powiśle), Warszawa
Szeroka 15/17, Gdańsk
Sławkowska 16, Kraków

With Slow Glow being a perfect destination for those looking for girlish blissfulness and Polish Nature Beauty Bar being a perfect spot if you’re looking for trusted and solid body care products, Galilu is a neo perfumery for those who love luxury. Even though their flagship store is on Mokotowska street in Warsaw, you can smell its otherworldly fragrances in Gdańsk and Kraków as well. Galilu offers niche products not to be found in chain stores. Enveloped in a sensual scent of Asian incense or a feeling of being on desert camel trip in the night, we can listen to stories of each fragrance thanks to staff members who love sharing their aromatic knowledge. All this narrative makes perfumes into something more than just an attractive gadget. They turn into an important element of our identity that affects our appearance and comfort. In nobly and elegantly designed interiors of Galilu we will find unique fragrances as well as niche body care products. Fans of Aesop, a brand offering natural body products, will certainly find something that suits their needs.

Urban Vegan - Świętego Antoniego 35, Wrocław

Is an urban vegan a modern role model? Present-day tendencies show that residents of big cities are more and more likely to live a healthy and conscious lifestyle – without chemistry and processed products but, most importantly, without the need to hurt animals. What’s more, those who live this kind of lifestyle are no longer mocked and laughed at as they were a decade ago. Now, their beliefs and practices win admiration and gain followers. Vegans have turned from being a weirdo minority to being a well-represented group whose needs are catered to by food and beauty products manufacturers. A lot of them still suffer the sorrows of a young vegan while walking supermarket aisles in Poland. Despite the fact that this situation has been changing over the years, we’re still far behind when it comes to stores that offer a wide range of cruelty free products (see stores in Berlin). What happy plant eaters do, then, is visit Wrocław where they can find a real vegan market where life is approached holistically. On Urban Vegan shelves we will find food as well as body care and cleaning products. Thanks to this place, vegans living in Wrocław can enjoy a vegan bath and a vegan meal in a house cleaned with vegan products.

Perfumeria Quality - Paderewskiego 7, Poznań

A one-of-a-kind perfumery – Quality – is located in the vicinity of the Old Market Square – the heart of Poznań. Back in 1838, the majestic building of Bazar Poznański housed a perfumery. Nothing has changed. The Poznań perfumery (one of the seven in Poland) offers its clients an unusual collection of top-quality perfumes. Niche fragrances composed from natural ingredients and by the best noses in the world become even more valuable in the era of mass-produced perfumes. Fragrances proposed by the Missal family are not to be bought in a hurry. Like a good whiskey, cigar, or classical music, a fragrance has to be tasted slowly, befriended, understood. Intricately made bottles, unique fragrance compositions (with oud oils and notes brought from Oman among others) and professional advice will make you feel special in every way. Also, you’ll meet Gucio the charming dog!

Text: Zuza Mielczarek, Adi Kaniewski (Perfumeria Quality)
Photos: courtesy of the stores