Recommendation #9
03/04/2025 MS Beauté Parisienne, 242 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, 75010
I’m very particular about my eyebrows. I suspect it all stems from my first attempt at trying to tame them age 12. I sought the advice of my friend Line who had been blessed with the early 2000’s pinnacle of beauty: thin eyebrows. She had a good two inches between her upper eyelid and her brow- the perfect canvas for a thick layer of baby-blue-frosted-shimmer. I on the other hand had a thick line of bushy hair exploding in every direction over the rim of my glasses.
As we stood in Line’s bathroom staring back at our reflection, we carefully analysed the best way forward. In 2025 when faced with the question “how do I diminish the wilderness of my brows” you’d just stick it in google and trawl through the thousands of tutorials with endless options/methods /techniques/tools… But this was 2001, pre-Youtube, pre-TikTok, when all we had to go on was our 12 year old common sense and Line’s mum’s toiletries. After much deliberation we agreed on the only logical solution and with no further ado I picked up a razor and carefully shaved off the top of my right eyebrow.
What followed was a painfully slow regrowth and a lifelong fear of letting anyone, including myself, near my eyebrows. Not that you need to have shaved off your eyebrow age 12 to have a fear of getting them plucked. I don’t know any woman who hasn’t experienced some form of brow horror story- walking into a salon and saying “can you just tidy these up?” and walking out looking like a Poundland Marlene Dietrich is about as universal an experience as it gets for women.
For a long time I just left my brows au natural but my sister begged me to let her “clean them up” and I eventually relented ( I knew I could shout at her if she wasn’t doing it right and micromanage her every move which you really shouldn’t do with a beautician ).
Since arriving in Paris I have been on the look out for someone to take my sister’s place in curating my brows whilst managing my rising panic. Which is how I found MS Beauté Parisienne, up on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin it’s not the most glamorous part of town but if you live local or can be bothered to travel I think it’s worth a visit. They patiently listened to my high pitched “JUST A TINY BIT” and I didn’t leave threaded within an inch of my life. And it’s 5euros.
Bon admittedly you might have to wait especially if you go there on a weekend. They have an admiral ambition when it comes to managing walk-ins and at any given time there might be 5 women waiting to be seen by 2 beauticians. “Oui oui asseyez vous madame” I look around the room and quietly do the mental math as I head towards my chair- take a book with you- that’s a tip . It’s no frills I’ll say that too, there are no Vogue’s knocking about or Prosecco being served. But they are very kind and attentive and I’ll take that over a free matcha latte any day. They are open everyday from 10am to 8pm and my vernis simple has the staying power of gel varnish (they put on 4 layers and stick my hands under a finger oven for 30 minutes but my god it does the trick). Also did I mention about the 5 euros?
Showing off my 10 euro manicure at Series Mania