While for many women the bright and bustling makeup and perfume sections of department stores represent nothing but fun and fabulous retail therapy, they have always made me slightly anxious. The too-bright, too-loud and too-fragrant department store cosmetics floors overload my senses, and the seemingly endless range of brands and products boggle my brain.

Many a regrettable purchase of chalky face powder, oily foundation, and drag-queen shades of eye & lip colour have been made in the effort to get in and out as quickly and painlessly as possible.

As for the pushy salespeople… well there have been more than a couple of instances of having to leap out of a makeup chair and make a run for the door, while the salesperson who has talked me into letting them demonstrate just how diviiiiiiiine their new powder/eyeliner/lipstick/whatever has had their back turned.

Likewise with perfume, I am hopeless. Perfume is lovely, yes. However I am one of those poor souls with some kind of mutant skin composition, which can morph the most luxuriant and opulent parfum into Eau de Cheap Hooker in the space of 15 minutes.

So, for myself and many others, the growing trend towards bespoke cosmetics and scents has taken a lot of the hit & miss guesswork – and buyer’s remorse – out of the beauty equation.

Made-to-measure makeup is not just about putting your best face forward, but also offers a solution to those allergic to ingredients used in mass-produced cosmetics, offering oil-free, fragrance-free and acnegenic-free alternatives. Likewise for custom perfume blending, which not only provides a unique signature scent, but can also bypass the harsh chemical components of many fragrances by using natural ingredients and oils.

With an emphasis on exploring the beauty of the individual, New York-based Prescriptives was one of the first major cosmetics brands to offer custom-made makeup alongside their standard range. Despite their unsexy, pharmaceutical name and sober packaging, Prescriptives have positioned themselves as the ultimate go-to brand for any person that can’t find a ready-made makeup solution. Their Custom Blend foundations, concealers, lip colours, bronzers and powders, are custom-created for all individual skin colours and tones, and their Colorprint service offers a skin analysis that determines your base tone and suggests the best matching foundation and color palette.

http://www.prescriptives.com

Cosmetics a-la-carte’s range is stocked throughout the UK, and their flagship store in Knightsbridge, London, offers custom-blended foundations and lipstick, makeup lessons, facials and treatments, and they will even help you recreate the shade of your favourite lippy/foundation/blusher, if it can’t be found or has been discontinued. No more need to ration those last few crumbs!

http://cosmeticsalacarte.com/

Also in the UK, perfumery Miller Harris has set itself apart with its dedication to the artistry of scent-making, and with its Fragrant Tea Rooms within their London boutiques, which encourage their customers to relax, rest their feet and enjoy a cup of chai in a beautifully decorated environment.

Their Bespoke Fragrance service involves spending a day with founder Lyn Harris in her laboratory, exploring her extensive scent library and the raw materials she uses in the creation process. Based on the consultation, Harris then develops a small selection of fragrances over a 3-month period, with the client’s final choice officially registered with Harris’s fragrance house in France, and packaged in a personalised engraved bottle.

http://www.millerharris.com

If that process sounds a little too involved, a simpler alternative is offered by Jo Malone, the emporium of luxurious scents that also encourages a little experimentation. Their Fragrance Blending service allows you to combine any two of their existing 20 scents, for something a bit more bespoke. Available for both their male and female fragrances, they provide suggested menus, and have a handy online questionnaire that helps identify which blend may be to your taste.

http://www.jomalone.co.uk

There are also a number of custom cosmetics brands that seem to have somewhat misunderstood the concept of precise custom-blending, by offering their tailor-made services via the internet. The philosophy behind US cosmetic brand Giella, is that anyone can wear any color as long as the depth and intensity are at the right levels. They offer face-to-face consultations at their concession stands throughout America, and also offer the option of custom-blending foundations, powders, lipstick and nail varnish from a range of colours available on their website, and combining them with your preferred base oils, scents, level of coverage and natural treatments, like tea tree oil.

http://www.giella.com/

Similarly Scent Unique Spain offers an online service that lists and describes their available top, middle and base note fragrances for you to mix and match, in you online order, and they will post you a sample of your chosen blend for a small fee.

http://www.scentspain.com/

So whether you need a hands-on customising consultation, or just the opportunity to create something a little different from the norm, the world of custom cosmetics awaits you.