Mad About Brows

I called to happily schedule an appointment and was quickly turned down with a short & uncomfortable, «I’m not taking any new clients.»
I wouldn’t have called if I saw they were closed.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mad About Brows. I can not say enough good things about the shape of my brows. I live in Cambridge, MA and whenever I am in SF Madeleine saves me from weeks of unkempt brows or whatever solo tweezing disaster has occurred. Hands down the best.

I have been seeing Madeline for 7 years now… that’s right, 7 years! Who stays committed to anything for that long these days? But when you’ve found the best there’s no reason to go anywhere else. Despite countless pleas from my (amazing) facial aesthetician to just let her do my brows as well I am 100% dedicated to Madeline.
Even when I walk into Mad About Brows thinking my brows aren’t that bad, by the time I am walking out I am amazed at how much better she is able to make my brows (and honestly whole face because of it!) look in just an hour. Beyond giving me amazing brows, Madeline is also super fun and chatty which makes my brow appointments have more of a girl’s night out feeling and leaves me looking forward to my next one every time I leave.
I’m big on efficiency so the fact that I am willing to go out of my way to go to a specialized brow place vs. just get that taken care of with one of my many other appointments is a testament in itself. And honestly, she does such a good job that I am able to upkeep my brows myself for much longer than normal meaning it saves me time and money while still keeping my brows beautiful. I can’t recommend Madeline highly enough… if you want beautiful brows head straight to Mad About Brows and be ready for a good time and good results!

I’m a 58 year-​old woman and I had only had my brows done a couple of times and it didn’t seem to be an improvement on what I could do myself and the service was handled so quickly that it wasn’t at all relaxing. About two years ago, a Groupon-​type offer showed up in my email box for a great discount on a consultation and brow-​shaping at Mad About Brows. I really didn’t know what to expect when I showed up for my first appointment and I was pleasantly surprised by the time and focused attention that Madeleine gave me. Since then, I’ve been visiting her once a month for brow maintenance and, recently, we’ve added a high frequency facial service. Yes, Madeleine can be a strong personalty, but she’s also talented, caring, generous, funny, attentive — really delightful! I always look forward to seeing her.
Please note: she’s now located in the Hobart Building on Market Street.

I saw Madeleine several months ago for a lash tint. She did a good job and was pleasant throughout the process. The part I didn’t like, and the reason why I won’t go back agai, n is that she has no running water in her atelier. You have to go upstairs to the main floor of the salon to use their teeny-​tiny bathroom to wash the dye off your lashes.
Umm, kind of embarrassing. I kind of wondered why she wouldn’t simply use a bowl of clean water to do the washing off.

I can’t believe how rude she can be without even knowing her personally yet. She denies you even if you never made an official appointment with her.
I wrote her to make an appointment and asked for availability and she gave me days I couldn’t make and asked if the following week she had something that fit in both our schedules and she denied me for not being able to schedule the day she wanted… Like hello that’s business. Isn’t that why we’re suppose tocall in and establish an appointment together. Wow ridiculous. I read her Facebook status because of the other poor ratings she got on Unilocal and she defiantly has behavior issues and is downright unprofessional talking about a client she had just seen and mention it on Facebook. Then she mentions shes not Gunna accept her back. She never worked with Anastasia or maybe this is why she does not anymore.

I had a great experience with Madeleine and am eager to go back for regular appointments. She made my brows look beautiful, gave me advice on how to maintain and we had fun chatting. Overall, it was a lovely experience and I’m really pleased with her service.

JUST DON’T DO IT!
I’m not an avid Unilocaler nor am I the type to post bad reviews but I do think it’s necessary to post here as I’ve been meaning to do so for a while. I visited Madeleine at her location on Pacific about 1+ years ago and after about 6 or 7 visits (yes, I really gave it a fair shot), I decided it was time to take my business elsewhere. The first one or two was good, and then it all went downhill from there. Don’t get sucked in. Once she gets comfortable, the quality goes down.
Here are some things that really bothered me about my experiences at her shop:
1) I truly believe that her fees are WAAAAYYYY overpriced and for some reason, my intuition tells me that she may be trying to justify her fees by spending a higher than usual and unnecessary amount of time on my brows. Someone who’s supposedly highly talented, skilled, and experienced in brow shaping really doesn’t need to «draw» or trace my brow prior to plucking/​waxing. I mean, if you have an eye for this stuff — it should come naturally. She plucks the hairs sooooo slooooowww and I don’t think this is really necessary to achieve the end result. The time she spends, I believe, is mostly to justify the fee. Not because she’s doing more than someone else can do for half the price (I mean — you can only pluck so many hairs, right? — jeez!)
2) She is NOTORIOUS for not returning calls or responding to emails. And if she does, it can take weeks to get a response — even after several messages. Then she somehow finds an excuse involving her cat to justify her lack of poor communication. I’m sorry, but if she’s going to charge what she does — she needs to be on her game.
3) Just as other reviews have said, she’s also notorious for stopping what she’s doing and checking her phone (which happens to go off about 4 – 5 times minimum during my approx 30 min appointment). I find this completely rude. If I’m going to pay about $ 45 for an eyebrow shaping, there really shouldn’t be any interruptions. Ultimately, I am paying for her to send and check her text messages.
4) She’s ummmm, how can I be polite here? Let’s just say she’s very socially awkward. and she offers (without me even asking) too much information about her personal life and dating experiences. Not only is this distracting, but it’s completely unprofessional.
Yes, I really did give this place a fair shot. To be honest, I really don’t think her skills are that great. No, I would not recommend this place to anyone. Yes, I do know of a better place that I’m so happy I found on Unilocal as well. Check out ERIKA at DERMAL ESSENTIALS. you won’t regret it. She does the job 10 times better for half the price.

I’ve written a review for Madeleine back in February 2010 and still no reply in paying me back for my design services or even a call back to somehow swap for brow services. She definitely reads her emails and even replies to some Unilocal reviews. I was tipped by other Unilocalers to take some initiative and do something about it.
I read a few more one star reviews since then and it’s amazing how consistent they are in explaining her poor business manners and customer service. I hope one day she realizes that her reviews will go waay down and her business will shut down.
Even if she’s good at what she does, no one likes to support someone with a bad attitude.
BTW — I was baffled by the «Natalia N.» review and Madeleine even replied to her! No apology, no sincerity, no manners, and I can just feel the attitude in that message… Ugh get a clue Madeleine!

I had the misfortune of receiving a townhog certificate as gift when I graduated with a Master in Business Administration. I went to her site and scheduled an appointment because I noticed that it was expiring in 10 days. Well, that’s where the nightmare began. After I scheduled an appointment, the next day I received an email from her telling me that she wasn’t available at the time. Now what I don’t understand is why she has such a lousy system that allows you to schedule any appointment you want whether or not it’s available if you still have to go through her? If you are too cheap to invest in a system that can actually tell you what is available and what is not, then don’t allow people to book online. Well, after she told me that nothing was available, I explained my situation about the coupon and she said that she would honor it. What she didn’t tell me was that she never had the intentions of ever giving me an appointment.
After going back and forth with her for 3 weeks, having to email her repeatedly because she would take forever to answer some emails and completely ignore others, I just decided to get them done somewhere else and give that certificate back to my friend. She contacted Townhog, complained and got her money back.
Out of curiosity, I decided to check her out on Unilocal about a week ago and was shocked at the amount of bad reviews that she had but it put my whole situation into perspective. I cannot believe how rude, condescending and disrespectful this woman is. It would be one thing if there was just one bad review but they are all pretty consistent and basically say the same thing. She also seems to discriminate against and mistreat people who do not seem high maintenance (look at the plain Jane comment in the review by Natalia N.) which I found to be especially hilarious after looking at the 2 photos of her that she posted. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
All I know is that I am soooo grateful that she chose to ignore me because the last thing I want is to spend an hour with someone that mental, angry and disrespectful. I have a little advice for you Madeline: You seriously lack customer service skills and have no clue on how to run a business.

I feel obliged to write an updated review about my experiences with Madeleine and her business «Mad about Brows.»
Let me start out by saying that I have been seeing Madeleine for the past four years, and I cannot imagine ever going anywhere else. I lived three minutes away from the Anastasia studio in Beverly Hills for the past four years, but always opted to have my brows done in SF by Madeleine when I would fly home to visit my family.
I’m just gonna come out and say it… My eyebrows are BEAUTIFUL!!! people have taken photos of them because they are true perfection… I’ve even been told this by other eyebrow professionals as well. So when others state that «$ 40 isn’t worth it», «other salons do a better job», «$ 10 waxings look better» etc… THEN CLEARLY THEY HAVE NEVER SEEN BEAUTIFUL EYEBROWS!
Madeleine is not a magician… she is an artist! it takes time for eyebrows to truly achieve their beauty potential… so if you have janky looking eyebrows don’t expect Madeleine to just magically make it happen in an hour… it took years for you to mess them up… so be patient and give them a few appointments to start looking amazing, and trust me, they will.
Another point I would like to make is that Madeleine is a human being. Just like you and me, she has good days and bad days but that has never gotten in the way of her doing her job and doing it well. I have never had an «unprofessional» experience with Madeleine. She has always maintained her politeness with a smile, no matter what. She knows what she’s doing and I would never trust anyone else with my brows…
Madeleine keeps it real! Don’t you want someone to be honest about something that is on your face??? if you can’t handle it then you should go to those places where people don’t speak english, will just wax your face off, and talk major smack about you!!!
I don’t appreciate angry women going around talking trash about local business that are a true asset to the city. Madeleine’s work is amazing… I’m just sayin’…

I tried Mad About Brows after reading a lot of positive reviews online. After going there for two months in a row, I have to say that I stopped going there because it was overpriced (my brows looked fine, but they were nothing to write home about) and Madeline did not make me feel like a valued customer. She doesn’t have the friendliest personality and I completely agree with other reviews below. I felt like I was being judged! If she wants her business to thrive and grow, maybe she should learn some people skills.

Let me first say that my brows do look great, and the process was quite painless… that is really the only nice thing I can say about the process.
I was happy that I purchased a great deal on TownHog so that I could pamper my brows. However, Madeline is really odd and totally over-​shared about her sex life with her new BF while I was in her chair. She does not project a warm or friendly personality and overall made me feel REALLY uncomfortable.
I will not be returning and I cannot recommend Mad about Brows to anyone I know…

First appointment she did a good job. I did feel uncomfortable as I am a low maintenance chick when it comes to eyebrows and face care. I felt I was doing everything wrong. Nonethless she did a good job in polishing them brows and would set up another visit in the future.
However…if life comes at you unexpectedly and you have to cancel all your plans the next day to go out of town. Think again. The night before I emailed her noting the cancellation and wishing to reschedule. She can’t reschedule me at this time due to not being able to find another client to fill my spot. (OK, lost profit of $ 20). Sent a response back to her implying if I am blacklisted. No response.
All in all she does good work as a brow specialist. She can definately improve on the business (handling customers, phone/​email support). Keep in mind she runs the shop literally all by herself.
Oh well, there are other brow places in the city.

Okay, okay.
I know I don’t really need ANOTHER update
about how fabulous Madeleine is.
But she is really awesome and the only lady
I entrust with these babies from here on out.
After a few months of dedication my brows are looking
a lot healthier and the shape is much better.
I’m not just saying this because she places sharp
pointy instruments close to my eyes. I enjoy gong to
get plucked and prodded. She always has the best
stories and we giggle like ridiculous school girls.
Oh, and FYI as I arrived there was a very nice guy finishing
services. That’s right guys, don’t be shy. Make an appointment
and get some manscaping
your girl or guy will appreciate it.. .

I went to Madeleine for the first time a couple months ago and came out with fabulous brows. I’m pretty stingy about paying for personal care services, but for the thoroughness she puts in her work, the $ 40 pricetag was worth it. She definitely backs up the hype and outstanding reviews with her results, and I had never been more satisfied with my brows.
Additionally she provides some useful maintenance and makeup tips – for example, I complained that brow powder makes my eyebrows too dark and overpowers my face, so she dusted on some ash blonde powder instead and they looked infinitely better. Seems obvious now, but I would’ve never thought to use blonde powder for my black hair.
I did feel a little put off by Madeleine. She’s friendly, but I was uncomfortable and intimidated by the way she kept commenting on how unruly my brows initially looked and how my self-​maintenance routine is completely wrong.
Another thing – I hate making personal calls during my workday, so it was so convenient to be able to confirm my appointment by text. While I loved that, throughout my appointment, as soon her text msg notification sounded, she would immediately stop what she was doing on my brows and go check her iPhone. Being a compulsive phone checker myself I personally didn’t mind it, but I know people who would be very annoyed by that.
All that being said, I still gave her 4 stars because she did such a good job. The negatives weren’t a total dealbreaker but for now I’ll be shopping around for a brow place closer to home. I would still highly recommend Madeleine if you want amazing eyebrows.

I was really excited to try Mad About Brows after reading all the positive reviews about Madeline’s work. After growing out my eyebrows for nearly 2 months, I came here in hopes of getting an ideal brow job. She spent 1 hr and 15 mins and when she was done, I wasn’t impressed at all. For that much time and $ 40, I thought that they would turn out amazing, but l didn’t even like it! My left eyebrow was a tad thinner than the other one, but she said it was fine and didn’t fix it. I was so irritated with it. The next day, I had to get it fixed by someone else.
As for the experience: It was very awkward at first because when I walked in the room, I was hesitant to just hop on the chair and lay down without her asking so I stood there. She said, «Uhh sit down» and chuckled. That pretty much her demeanor the whole time I was there. She was annoyed that I didn’t bring in a picture for inspiration or model. She asked me all sorts of questions about my skincare and make up choice and when I told her I didn’t really use any, she spoke to me in a condescending tone about what I should be using. I really didn’t appreciate her snootiness.

Madeleine is amazing at brows; everything everyone says here about her work is absolutely true.
However, she talks. A lot. About herself and shares too much information which makes the the time in her chair somewhat unbearable. I was a wuss and couldn’t ask her to stop talking because then that would be a whole new level of discomfort. I opted to not return to her after four sessions of the same conversation about herself.
She’s a lovely person and is so fab at what she does. I just hope she develops some boundaries so she can grow her business more.

Very unprofessional. I called a few times and left messages but no call back. What’s up with that? Are the reviews here for realz.

Let me first say that I’ve never, EVER spent this much to have my brows done. In fact, in order to save money, my BF has been plucking my brows for me for the past year. I started to get a little paranoid that they were growing too far apart and decided to let them grow out and have them done by a pro. Let me also say that one of the main reasons I decided to go to Madeleine was to see what all the hype was about and to see if she was really worth the $ 40 price tag.
Now let me say that she is, in fact, worth the hype and the hefty price tag, because you get so much more than a 10 minute wax. I got a lesson on how to tell how far apart my brows should actually be, a few makeup tips and a little bit of therapy not to mention perfectly sculpted brows. The difference was amazing. I would recommend her to anyone. Don’t be afraid of the price! She’s so much more than a brow waxer.