‘You’ve got a Brooke Shields look going on with your brows,” a blunt friend told me recently. Uh-oh! Brooke brows are not a good thing. I needed to book an appointment to get my brows taken care of, stat.
Bored with my local salon, I decided to head to . . . Duane Reade.
Yes, the drugstore chain synonymous with late-night Doritos runs has opened a brow bar at two of its flagship stores. Celebrity plucker Ramy from Midtown’s Ramy Spa — which offers eyebrow trims for a whopping $75 — has partnered with the drugstore to give great brows to the masses for a still hefty price tag of $24.
The Look Boutique at Duane Reade’s Rockefeller Center store (51st Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues) was inspired by Sephora — but it’s still a drugstore.
The bubbly Julievet brought me to a tiny white alcove space in the back of the store. She grabbed her bag full of tricks: a pair of $25 Tweezerman tweezers, $18 scissors and a $15 eyebrow wand — all items you can buy at the store.
She offered some stellar advice: “Never get your eyebrows waxed,” she says with conviction. “It causes your eyes to droop as you age.”
According to Julievet, the last eyebrow waxing I had left my brows uneven. She handed me the mirror and had me dictate exactly the curve and width that I wanted my eyebrows to be. She says that the price ($24) reflects the amount of time she spends with customers, depending on how out of shape their eyebrows are. Plucking typically takes 15 to 20 minutes, and on slow days she’ll even offer mini-facials to favorite clients. (The beauty boutique is open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.)After about 25 minutes of work, she handed me the mirror.
I was amazed. In my 10 years of getting eyebrow waxes, this was the most precise and flattering look I’ve ever gotten. When I paid and handed her a $5 bill, she declined, citing “store policy against tips.” Now, Duane Reade is truly a one-stop shop.