Inside Goop: A first look at Gwyneth Paltrow's new London pop-up store

Gwyneth Paltrow's wellness and lifestyle brand Goop launched its first international pop-up store in Notting Hill on Tuesday, selling an array of health, beauty and lifestyle products.

The company was founded online 10 years ago, with a permanent store opening in Los Angeles last year and a second store scheduled to open in New York in the near future.

While the headquarters for Goop are located in Paltrow's hometown of Los Angeles, the brand actually began as a weekly newsletter in 2008, which the actor began in her apartment in Notting Hill.

A decade later, Paltrow has come full-circle by opening a temporary store in the same district where she launched the company.

The Independent visited the store on the day of its opening at 188 Westbourne Grove, where it's already been picking up interest among west London shoppers.

A Goop representative revealed that Paltrow will be making an appearance at the store next week to mark its official launch, with the store then scheduled to remain open until January 27 next year.

All of the products being sold at the store have been signed off personally by the brand's founder, who ensures that they're both "clean" and "high performance".

The store is split into four sections: casual wear and jewellery; beauty, wellness and sexual health; homeware; and sportswear.

Every week, Goop will be hosting events that it describes as "activations" at the store where customers can learn about beauty and wellness, with guidance provided by the trained salespeople working at the store.

"One of our first activations is going to be facials and we're going to have loads during the pop-up's lifespan," a Goop representative says.

All of the products on the shelves in store are also available to purchase online, with the exception of a few pieces of jewellery and some items of homeware.

The clothes displayed on the rails as you walk into the store are from a number of different brands, including Goop’s own label and other companies such as Coast and Stella McCartney.

If someone who’s not very familiar with Goop decides to venture to the temporary store, they may find some of the products on display slightly unconventional for their taste.

In addition to a selection of eye serums, happiness-inducing body washes and face oils in the wellness section, one can also find an assortment of spiritual crystals and uniquely named vibrators.

One of the vibrators being sold at the store, the “Vesper Vibrator Necklace”, has been designed to be worn as a “discreet” piece of jewellery and retails at £145.

Goop places a lot of emphasis on its dedication to sourcing organic and cruelty-free products, the majority of which are also vegan, with the exception of some products sourced from third-party supplies that contain beeswax.

However, the brand has also been criticised on multiple occasions for promoting the supposed health benefits of various products without scientific proof to back the claims being made in the product descriptions.

Earlier this month, Goop agreed to pay a settlement of $145,000 (£110,000) after making unscientific claims about the health benefits of vaginal eggs.

On the Goop website, it stated that using jade vaginal eggs on a daily basis could help women achieve a "spiritual detox" by removing negative energy from the body.

There aren’t currently plans for a Goop store to open permanently in London following the launch of the pop-up store.

However, this could change in future depending on the popularity of Paltrow’s lifestyle brand in the capital.