Creed

Creed opened its third London boutique on King Street, the row of galleries and shops running west from Covent Garden Piazza. The house describes the boutique as a place to explore its complete collection, from the men's and women's lines to the unisex scents, with a team on hand to guide visitors through the range and its hand-wrapped gifts.

The heritage perfume house is best known for Aventus and its related scents, alongside Green Irish Tweed, Silver Mountain Water and the Royales Exclusives, and the boutique carries bath and body and home fragrance collections as well. Fragrances are grouped by family, fresh, floral, amber and woody, which makes it easier to narrow a long catalogue down to a handful worth trying on skin.

A Creed boutique in Covent Garden

The house offers a bespoke 45-minute fragrance consultation in store, built around finding a signature scent, and it also arranges scenting for weddings and celebrations, from fragrances for the hosts to parting gifts for guests. The Creed boutique keeps its own telephone and email line for bookings and questions, and staff are used to unhurried sampling rather than a quick counter sale.

What to expect on a visit

The boutique opens from 10am until 7.30pm Monday to Thursday, until 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 11.30am until 6pm on Sundays. King Street keeps it close to the covered market while avoiding the thickest crowds, and Penhaligon's on Wellington Street is a short walk across the piazza for a very different take on luxury fragrance. Browse all Covent Garden cosmetics and beauty shops for the rest of the beauty quarter.