Look Fantastic is one of the UK's biggest online beauty retailers, stocking everything from £13.75 face washes to £137 luxury serums across skincare, haircare, makeup, and fragrance. If you've searched for a mid-range or high-end beauty product and found it cheaper here than on the brand's own site, you're not imagining things — Look Fantastic regularly undercuts RRP and runs discount codes that stack on top. The question is whether the shopping experience lives up to the product range. This review covers both.
The short answer: Look Fantastic is a genuinely useful retailer for beauty enthusiasts who know what they want. The product curation is strong, the rewards programme adds real value over time, and free delivery is available. But if you're expecting the kind of hand-holding you get from a department store beauty counter, or if you need something urgently, there are trade-offs worth knowing about before you spend.
About Look Fantastic
Look Fantastic was founded in 1996 and is now part of The Hut Group (THG), one of the UK's largest e-commerce businesses. That corporate parentage matters because it means significant buying power — Look Fantastic can negotiate stock and pricing with major beauty brands that a smaller independent retailer couldn't touch. The site stocks over 22,000 products across hundreds of brands, from high-street names like Garnier and Nioxin to prestige labels like La Mer, Charlotte Tilbury, and Olaplex.
Its market position sits between a department store beauty hall and a discount aggregator. You won't find supermarket-own brands here, but you also won't pay full Selfridges prices. The retailer has built a solid reputation in the UK beauty community, particularly for haircare, where its range is genuinely hard to beat online. It also runs a subscription beauty box service, though this review focuses on the main retail site. Trustpilot ratings fluctuate — as they do for most high-volume retailers — but the consistent positives are product authenticity and range depth.
What Look Fantastic Offers
The product range at Look Fantastic covers five main areas: skincare, haircare, makeup, fragrance, and grooming. Within each, the depth is impressive. Skincare alone spans cleansers, serums, SPFs, eye creams, and treatments from brands including The Ordinary, Elemis, Drunk Elephant, and REN. Haircare covers shampoos, conditioners, masks, styling products, and electrical tools — GHD straighteners, Dyson Airwrap accessories, and professional salon brands sit alongside more accessible options.
Prices run from £13.75 at the entry level up to £137 for premium skincare. That's a wide band, and it reflects a deliberate strategy: there's something for a student picking up their first vitamin C serum and something for someone who already owns the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream and wants to try the eye version. Fragrance is a growing category, with both full bottles and discovery sets available — useful around Christmas and Valentine's Day when gift buying spikes.
The Beauty+ rewards programme lets you earn points on every purchase, redeemable against future orders. Free delivery kicks in above a spend threshold (currently £25 for standard), and there are regular promotional periods — Black Friday, Boxing Day sales, and seasonal events — where discounts can be substantial. Browse the full range at Look Fantastic to see current offers.
Featured Product: Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector
If there's one product that defines Look Fantastic's sweet spot, it's the Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector. It's not the most expensive thing on the site, not the cheapest, and it's the kind of product that has a clear, provable job to do — which makes it a useful test case for whether a retailer's pricing and service actually deliver.
Olaplex No.3 is an at-home bond-building treatment, not a conditioner. You apply it to damp hair before washing, leave it for at least ten minutes (most people leave it longer), then shampoo and condition as normal. The active ingredient — bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate — works by reconnecting broken disulphide bonds in the hair shaft. In plain terms: if your hair is damaged from bleaching, heat styling, or chemical treatments, this addresses the structural problem rather than just coating it in silicone to feel temporarily smooth.
The 100ml bottle retails around £28–£30 on Look Fantastic depending on current promotions, which is competitive against the brand's own website and significantly cheaper than buying it in some salons. A 100ml bottle lasts a reasonably careful user around six to eight weeks of weekly treatments — so you're looking at roughly £4 a week for genuinely restorative haircare, which compares well to a professional treatment.
Who is it for? Anyone with colour-treated, bleached, or heat-damaged hair who wants a measurable improvement in texture and breakage over four to six weeks of consistent use. It is not a miracle product for one application, and it won't do much for hair that's in good condition already. If your hair is healthy, save the money.
Look Fantastic stocks the full Olaplex range — from the No.0 Intensive Bond Building Treatment to the No.9 Bond Protector Nourishing Serum — so you can build a routine rather than buying individual products from different sites. Check the current price on Look Fantastic before buying elsewhere; the site frequently runs percentage-off deals that bring the Olaplex range down further.
Pros and Cons of Look Fantastic
Pros
- Range depth in haircare is exceptional. Professional and salon-exclusive brands sit alongside accessible ones, and the electrical tools category (GHD, Dyson, BaByliss) is well stocked with competitive pricing.
- Beauty+ rewards add genuine value over time. Points accumulate across purchases and can be used to offset the cost of future orders — useful if you're a repeat buyer of the same products.
- Prices regularly undercut brand websites and department stores. Particularly during Black Friday, Boxing Day, and mid-season sales, the discounts on prestige skincare and haircare are real, not inflated from a fake high.
- Free standard delivery on orders over £25. Given that most single beauty purchases hit that threshold, you're rarely paying for shipping — a meaningful difference versus buying direct from smaller brands.
- Product authenticity is not in question. As a major authorised retailer with direct brand relationships, you're not getting grey market or counterfeit stock — a real concern when buying luxury beauty from third-party marketplaces.
Cons
- Customer service can be slow during busy periods. Around peak sale events — Black Friday in particular — response times stretch, and resolving a return or a missing item takes longer than it should for a retailer of this size.
- The website experience is cluttered. Promotional banners, pop-ups, and loyalty messaging compete for attention and make it harder to browse cleanly, especially on mobile. Finding a specific product is easier if you search directly than if you try to navigate by category.
- Subscription beauty box is a separate commitment. The Look Fantastic Beauty Box is marketed heavily on-site, which can create confusion if you're just trying to buy individual products. The box itself is a different value proposition — and not always a good one if you end up with products that don't suit your skin or hair type.
Who Is Look Fantastic For?
Look Fantastic works best for shoppers who already know what they want. If you've done your research — you've seen a serum recommended, you know your hair type, you've decided which foundation shade you need — this is a reliable place to buy it at a fair price, earn points, and get free delivery without fuss.
It's particularly good value for people who buy the same products repeatedly. The Beauty+ rewards scheme compounds over time, and the regular sale events mean a patient buyer can plan their restocks around promotional windows rather than paying full price on impulse.
It is not the right choice for someone who needs expert guidance. There's no beauty counter, no virtual consultation worth speaking of, and the sheer volume of products means the site won't steer you towards what you actually need. For that, you're better served by a specialist retailer, a department store with trained staff, or a brand's own website with a proper diagnostic tool. And if you need something tomorrow, factor in that standard delivery is not next-day — pay attention to the delivery options at checkout.
FAQ
Is Look Fantastic legit?
Yes, Look Fantastic is a legitimate, authorised retailer. It's part of The Hut Group, one of the UK's largest e-commerce companies, and has direct supply relationships with the brands it stocks. Products are genuine, not grey market. The company has been trading since 1996 and is registered in the UK.
Does Look Fantastic offer free delivery in the UK?
Free standard UK delivery is available on orders over £25. Below that threshold, a delivery charge applies. Standard delivery typically takes three to five working days, so it's not the right option if you need something urgently. Express and next-day options are available at extra cost.
How does the Look Fantastic Beauty+ rewards programme work?
Beauty+ lets you earn points on every purchase, which you can redeem against future orders. You also get access to member-only discounts and early sale access at higher tiers. It's free to join and worth doing if you buy from the site more than once or twice a year — the points add up to a meaningful discount over time.
What is Look Fantastic's returns policy?
Look Fantastic offers a 28-day returns window for unused, unopened products in their original packaging. Under UK consumer law you also have the right to cancel an order within 14 days of receiving it. Opened beauty products are generally non-returnable for hygiene reasons unless they're faulty — which is standard across the industry, so check before you open.
Is Look Fantastic cheaper than buying direct from the brand?
Often, yes — particularly during sale events. Look Fantastic regularly discounts products that brands sell at fixed RRP on their own sites, and promotional codes can reduce prices further. It's worth checking both before buying, but for well-known haircare and skincare lines, Look Fantastic is frequently the better price. Compare prices directly on Look Fantastic before committing elsewhere.
Our Verdict
Look Fantastic does one thing very well: it gives you access to a huge range of genuine premium beauty products at prices that are regularly better than buying direct. The Beauty+ rewards scheme is a real benefit for repeat buyers, and the haircare range in particular is the best you'll find from a UK online retailer. The Olaplex No.3 is a fair example of the value on offer — solid pricing, reliable stock, and a product that genuinely does what it claims.
The drawbacks are real but manageable. Customer service slows under pressure, the website is noisier than it needs to be, and if you need advice rather than a specific product, look elsewhere. But for a shopper who knows what they want and wants to pay a fair price for it, Look Fantastic earns its place in your bookmarks.
Ready to shop? Browse the full range at Look Fantastic and check what's currently on promotion before you buy.
We rate Look Fantastic 4.0 out of 5.