The Balm

I feel bad I don’t remember the lady’s name but she did an amazing job on my two sisters brows and my brows. She knew exactly what do for each of our face shapes and our brows turned out amazing. $ 18 is expensive for an eyebrow wax but I am happy and will be coming back for my next wax.

I went in while on vacation a few days ago. Surge helped me, he was seriously the sweetest and so very smart! He helped me pick out a palette and then told me where to go in San Fransisco to maximize my short visit. I spent way more than I intended, but all of the products I chose will be very special to me. I have been shopping online for years and it was so satisfying to finally visit a real life store!

What really makes this place: the staff. Dita and Mo both do an excellent job taking time to find out how you want your eyebrows to look, giving you ideas and tips, delivering beautiful eyebrows all the while keeping you entertained with their friendly chat.
On a recent visit I decided to book a makeup appointment before attending a fundraising dinner. I could not have been happier with the results. Mo worked wonders on my «tired mum of two small children» eyes; they have never looked so open, bright and beautiful. She made my skin look fresh and flawless and chose gorgeous colors to complement my dress. As if that wasn’t enough, she insisted on tidying up my scraggy curls. I couldn’t believe my luck, how generous she was being with her time or how great I felt afterwards. She genuinely wanted to help me look my best self. AMAZING CUSTOMER SERVICE.

I booked an appointment for my daugther to get her make-​up done for grad pics. Serg was very welcoming and friendly as soon as we walked in. He listened to what my daughter wanted and also put in his recommendations. The outcome was stunning! Mind you this was our very first time to set foot in here.
Booked a 2^nd appt this time for Prom and yes Serg to the rescue! This time, even more gorgeous! Thank you Serg, you really know your craft!
We’ll be booking another appt for another time around for graduation which is next! Definitely with SERG!

Love The Balm! Once you walk in here, you’ll immediately feel super welcomed and pampered as everyone who works here is extremely happy and upbeat.
Although The Balm is known for their makeup, I come here exclusively to get my eyebrows waxed. It’s a bit pricier than I’m used to at $ 18 each time, but it’s completely worth it for the cleanliness, amazing service, and good results. No more fearing how my eyebrows are going to look each time. :)
I’ve had my eyebrows waxed with both Dita and Evan — both are such a pleasure & eyebrow experts!

My eyebrows are fraternal twins who hate each other and the only person who understands them is Dita. She tells them what’s up and magically whips them into shape. I have experienced the good, bad, and ugly in eyebrow waxing and I now refuse to go to anyone else.
All the balm folks are helpful, cheerful, and a joy to be around. Thanks for making every visit fun and a great experience.

I’d like to say I don’t ever leave reviews this will be my first review.
I made an appointment yesterday for eyelashes application and dint know had to bring my own so left and came back with eyelashes which wasn’t to bad just walked two blocks down. Evan at Balm apologized and said I’m sorry should of told before. Evan was so sweet she did a lot more than just apply my eyelashes.
Evan you made my day :) she hooked me up with applying makeup real quick. Thanks girl I’ll definitely come back to you
Also would like to say I bought a lipstick from balm love it !! Meet Matt it’s really long lasting and stays on I’ll definitely be back to shop.
Everyone at balm seems really chill and fun

I love this place so much. I get my eyebrows done here and the staff is very professional, fun, and oh it’s really warm. :-) They also do incredible make up and have really great products.

Go to Mo or Dita. They do the brows well and you won’t end up with them uneven. Also bring cash for tip or make sure you have a venmo account because they can’t put it in your cc.

The worst service I’ve ever received in any cosmetics store coming from Los Angeles being excited to learn more about the balm cosmetics … I was looking forward to come in and try on some of the products and instead no one greeted my boy friend and I had no clue where to even start looking… since they had a huge selection the testers were a bit icy to even try on … All the staff was kinda just hanging around … My visit wasn’t pleasant at all and even though I did buy one product no even the cashier asked if I found what I was looking for … So disappointed … I wanted to built my own pallet and one for a friend as well but with this kinda of service no thanks …

What a wonderful little neighborhood gem! I stopped in on a whim one day and was helped by Evan, who waxed my eyebrows. She was really careful and thorough and she showed me exactly what she wanted to take off and the way she was going to shape my brows. I’ve had more than a few experiences with those sketchy looking thread shops where you sit down in the chair and the lady with headphones in just goes at your brows without a single word or question as to what you want… so I really appreciated this!
Evan also helped me pick out a great blueberry face mask and an AMAZING liquid eyeliner — seriously this stuff is better than Stila — I’ll definitely be back for more and totally recommend The Balm to anyone.

I ADORE THIS STORE. After a bad shopping experience at shoe biz (I’m preggers so nothing fits), I knew going to The Balm would not only cheer me up, but boost my confidence. Serge gave me an amazing lip and eye demo, showed me some awesome tricks, and was just the sweetest.
Although my shopping goal was sandals, I came home with the Nude Dude eyeshadow pallet (great addition to my Nude Tude and Meet Matte pallets), the Schwing black liquid eyeliner, the Meet Matte Huges in «Committed», and the Read My Lips gloss in «Bam».
The balm fo lyfe!

Love The Balm! Drove from San Mateo just to try this place and its small but gorgeous set up. Love the eye shadows palettes. Dita is amazing! She saved my brows! Can’t wait for our next appointment.
Vivian

Beautiful, gorgeous soul, Evan! She did an amazing job on my ‘brows.
I recently made the permanent move to SF and have been searching for my go-​to brow place. After some recovery from a terrible threading experience I decided to try theBalm because their products and store are adorable. I was a little nervous because the set-​up for waxing isn’t very luxe, some cute director’s chairs and mirrors are the stations, but the experience was better than any salon I’ve been to in a long while! Evan was super sweet and genuine which is refreshing (especially on Valencia street). The set-​up is casual, but the service is great. I’ve found my new go-​to!
!!Bring cash to tip! –They accept card for payment, but it’s cash or Venmo only for tips. I wasn’t able to leave a tip which killed me because Evan did such an amazing job.

Love Mo! When I lived in Chicago, I used to get my brows done at Benefit and it always felt rushed. When I moved to SF, I decided to try The Balm since it’s in my neighborhood and I’m so glad I did! Mo always makes sure to ask what shape you want and pays attention to detail. I always just let her do her thing and she makes my brows look amazing.
Everyone at the store is also really friendly in general and makes you feel welcome as soon as you come in.

Evan did an amazing job on my eyebrow yesterday. I felt awful because I did not leave a tip because I did not have cash on me. Once I go back to her, I will for sure leave her double tip. She is amazing, sweet, and friendly. Most importantly an eyebrow expert.
Ohhhh mahhhh goshhhh, their liquid matte lippies are to die for as well.
LOVE everything about this shop!!!
Amazing customer service.
Xoxo
–Fatima

Evan is an eyebrow genius! After getting my eyebrows messed up at other salons, my experience with Evan was a god send. She was very patient and understood exactly what I wanted! Natural, thick, but still some shape. She did a great job, and everyone on the staff was friendly. I have found my go-​to eye brow place!
Bring cash for tips because the credit card machine does not have it as an option. I felt bad because Evan did such a great job, but I did not have any cash on me. Will definitely remember for my next appointment.

Monique is a brow shaping goddess. She is ultra professional, gives a wonderful consultation (hands you a mirror and asks you what shape you like & don’t like) and really clarifies statements like «jacked up» (my term for pre Monique brow shapings).
She has years of experience in skincare & waxing and it shows. I let her do her thing and am very happy with the results. She is also super friendly to chat with and looks amazing, a great representative for this little shop & brand. The price for a shaping and tint is VERY reasonable.
The shop is super cute, super clean and the immediate area has lots of places for a snack/​coffee/​drink before or after.

We walked in and were able to book two eyebrow waxing appointments, which turned into eyebrow tinting and purchasing lots of fun makeup.
Dita is amazing, wonderful, nice and talented. She makes eyebrows make your face look more polished and professional! I just moved here from Europe so have to find all of these places — this is the first one I felt welcome and will go back every time now.
Also — the make up and pack against is awesome. I’m a sucker for cool packaging and thought I wouldn’t really use the products, but I do and I love them.
Clean eyebrow lovers — you will definitely get great service for great pricing here!

My friend and I were wandering around the Mission a few weekends ago and came upon theBalm’s flagship store. Being makeup junkies ourselves, we had to take a peek!
The store is very well organized and all of the products are easy to access and sample! Many, many test swipes of eyeshadows were emblazoned on our forearms and hands by the end of it. The people who work here are exceptionally nice and want you to have fun and a good experience.
I settled on a Smoke Balm mini palette of three eyeshadows I loved. My friend did the build-​your-​own palette station — which is a freaking genius idea! You can create a 9 or 16 pan palette of whatever eyeshadows you want. Most of the shadows are featured in their other palettes, but you get the best of both worlds by choosing what colors you like in one palette, instead of liking 3 – 4 shadows from a mediocre palette.
You also can buy the individual pan shadows and put them in your own Z-​palette, or buy the empty 9 or 16 pan palette and fill it on different visits if you don’t want to spend your money in one fell swoop. I will note that it is cheaper overall to fill your palette on your first visit by buying all of the 9 or 16 shadows that are needed to fill it. I think each eye shadow pan on its own costs $ 6.50.
The quality of the eyeshadows are on-​par with many other high-​end companies. Beautiful, buttery shades with high color payoff (even the neutrals) with minimal fallout and last all day on my lids.