P. Louise: I travelled 70 miles to pay to shop at an industrial estate dubbed a ‘pink empire,’ complete with a Pink Island Cafe, which you have to book a year in advance

P. Louise is a teen-focused makeup brand and beauty academy founded by makeup artist and self-made millionaire Paige Louise.

Our reporter, Sophie Mei Lan, took her mother, two excited tweens, and a toddler to P. Louise's empire in Stockport.

We traveled 70 miles from our Yorkshire home to an industrial estate, which is the P. Louise HQ, shop, and Pink Island Cafe.

One thing is for sure, however, that P. Louise has their branding on point to capture their audience’s imagination. It has Disney Princess vibes with a touch of gold bling, and it’s all baby pink. Every item of their beauty and skincare range is like a plastic fantastic ornament in its own right because ‘it’s all about the gram, right?’ Or nowadays, Snapchat and TikTok hauls.

Tucked away on a very usual industrial estate is Orion Business Park. There were the usual-looking factories, and then all I could see was a throng of young women dragging their parents in one direction. Cars were queuing to pay to park; this was our destination.

We were dressed in pink, like many others, as we parked up for £5 and rushed in the direction of the crowds.

Huge pink and gold signs made of MDF welcomed us in. We went through an equally pink, embellished tunnel. It was a pink lover's dream. Slightly tacky, but that is what is fabulous about the ridiculous decor, it is like my dream princess-style room as a child would have been. We had booked in advance, as required, and had been given a band for our 90-minute time slot. We were given one hour and ten minutes shopping and ‘exploring’ time, and then twenty minutes spare for the ‘experience.’

The staff were all flamboyant and glamorous. I later found out that most of them had been hand-selected from a local model agency.

Walking into the main area, there is the Pink Island Cafe area in the middle, which you have to book months in advance to eat or drink here, then there are shopping ‘caves’ and party rooms around the edge. It reminded me of a Willy Wonka meets Barbie film set. It was compact but looked fabulous in photos.

The place was packed out with people taking selfies, some had paid extra to get a makeover or their hair done. Staff whizzed around with iPads, taking orders from their excited, albeit stressed, customers. My toddler wanted to raid the shelves as everything looked like pink toys whereas the tweens I agreed to meet back in the central area as it was too hectic trying to all work around people together. Staff did well to keep an upbeat vibe, sometimes inviting people to play party games on the dancefloor, but the music was loud, and there were a lot of people without any real seating for those who hadn’t booked a party or table at the cafe. It felt frantic, but I was focused on seeing my giddy tweens trying out all the products.

Everything is reasonably priced, but it quickly adds up when you have what turned out to be 90 minutes of shopping and selfie time. I rarely sit down, but I was flagging. It was a sensory overload for me with the bright lights, noise, and volume of human bodies and activities going on in such a small space.

What kind of pink hell is this? It kept crossing my mind. If Primark glowed up on a Saturday, still with its awful lighting and crowds of people, this would be it. Except that at least in Primark, I can purchase and go outside. Here I had to wait for the experience we had paid £15 each for, but more importantly, all the kids were looking forward to it. I hadn’t come this far just to come this far.

We spent time queuing to enter, queuing to purchase, and then queuing for our booked experience. They were running late but assured us we would still get our ‘experience’ of making keyring charms and decorating brownies, we would just have to do it quickly as they had a backlog.

Eventually, we crammed around a table and were able to make charms using beads to attach to a free lip gloss, which was a nice bonus. We then decorated giant brownies. The staff were brilliant considering the manic environment. Some staff could be seen breaking out into TikTok dances and doing social media videos.

I do love the ‘brand story’ behind P Louise. It is the brainchild of makeup artist Paige Louise, who grew up on a council estate before starting a makeup academy. Then, thanks to going viral on TikTok, she was able to develop her ‘personal care’ business into the multi-million-pound empire it is today. It is your fairytale rags-to-riches story, which is relatable to many tweens and their aspirations.

For £15, I couldn't complain about the activities as you end up with a lip gloss, brownie, and keychain. I appreciate that this beauty brand is much more affordable than the products I’ll be forced to peruse when Sephora opens in Sheffield’s Meadowhall.

What wasn't enjoyable was feeling trapped in this overcrowded pink empire until we did the activity at the end. It wasn't very accessible either. Would we go again? I would never choose to return, but as the kids want to, it looks like I'll be bracing myself for Pinkmas - the P. Louise Christmas event. I'm on the waiting list for tickets, according to my emails.