Scented Garden Retreat wins national award

The Scented Garden Retreat, situated in the row level of Northgate Street, Chester, is the proud recipient of a prestigious award from skin care giant, Dermalogica.

The wellness spa and beauty salon was awarded the Derm Circle ‘Gold Award’ for astounding growth during the pandemic and afterwards. The independently owned haven hand-delivered tailormade treatments throughout various lockdowns to regular customers so that they could feel all the psychological and physical benefits of a treatment at home and saw a growth in sales because of it. 

Laura Heywood, founder and owner of the 27-year established Chester business said: ‘We are delighted to receive this award from Dermalogica, a brand we love to work with.  

‘We have doubled our growth on certain lines post-pandemic, and it is safe to say that wellness is even more important to people now that we realise how easily our mental and physical health can be affected by events out of our control. 

‘We had to pivot, like many businesses, to delivery, and online sales which was tricky for a service-led business. But we are lucky in that so many of our clients are personally known to us. We know their skincare routines and we could make sure they could continue treatments at home to some extent.’ 

Dermalogica has also titled The Scented Beauty Retreat as the ‘Top Commercial Excellence Gold Account in Cheshire & Chester'. This led to beauty industry guru, Mark Hermann visiting the clinic to see how the Chester businesses success could be replicated across the industry. 

• The Scented Garden Retreat is one of Chester’s oldest established independent businesses. Owner Laura Heywood opened the business in 1995 after receiving a loan from The Prince’s Trust. Laura receives correspondence from HRH Prince Charles, a known advocate for natural therapies. 
• The Scented Garden Retreat and Laura have been the proud winner of many awards including: New Business Start Up, New Business Export Award, Businesswoman of the Year and Entrepreneur of the year. 
• The Scented Garden partner with Dermalogica, Aromatherapy Associate, Spongelle, OPI. 

Pictured - Laura Heywood, founder and owner of the 27-year established Chester business.