Ruby’s Balm

This is a niche perfume/​high end makeup lovers dream come true. There are not many places locally to purchase the items you drool over on makeupalley, lucky scent, and beauty habit. I love supporting local business and this place is the bomb!!! It is right on par with my other beloved gem, Lori karbal, in downtown Birmingham. Not many places carry Creed and Bond. no. 9 fragrances, prob. due to the over 200 hundred dollar a bottle price tag. I love the Fresh brand of products-​perfumes, scrubs, lip gloss are my favs. Cute Nancy drew makeup bags. Frilly lingerie. Nars, Laura Mercier, Kiehl’s, Bliss, Antica Farmastica, Voluspa, Bumble and Bumble are some of the featured lines. Girlie-​girl heaven up in here! FYI– this is in the Stage Deli/​Smashburger strip mall.

This is girly girl heaven! I am a Fresh lip balm addict, and I enjoy buying it here — SUPPORT LOCAL! Ruby’s Balm is one of my favorite places to stock up on candles, body scrubs, Cosabella undies (Im an addict), and Kiehl’s products (do indulge in the Crème de Corps). I love how this tiny shop is laid out, packed with products but perfectly unchaotic. They carry Yu-​bi products, and again, I buy mine here as opposed to a chain store. The shop has a wonderful selection of Fresh products, Laura Mercier, and they stock Tassi hair wraps. If you are looking for an amazing gift for any female, this is THE spot. I have yet to experience poor service here, but when I walk in I start loading up on products, so this could be why they are oh-​so-​sweet to me. I think you will enjoy your visit, please give them a try!

Ruby’s Balm is a cute little boutique full of pretty and colorful bottles containing lovely potions and serums to make us girls look pretty. They also carry loads of candles, perfumes, undies, jewelery and make-​up. Their stock covers a gamut of brands, anything from Bliss, Nars, Dauphin, Keihl’s, and Fresh. Located in the Boardwalk plaza in West Bloomfield, it also sadly boasts that West Bloomfield vibe that makes sometimes hard to get good or immediate service.
I quickly popped in here today to grab my eye cream as I didn’t feel like fighting traffic near either mall. Upon entering the store, I quickly found the area where my eye cream is kept. It took a long minute to be acknowledged but after I did get to talk to one of the saleswomen, she helped me to the best of her ability. The other saleswoman, who rung me up, was a little bit more informative and was kind enough to give me a generous sample of a product I was asking about. Overall, this store is super cute and a great stop for a gift, beauty products or just general browsing. If possible, I would give this store more of a 3.5 star rating because I haven’t always encountered the nicest of salespeople here, but the products and selection seem to make up for it for the most part.

This store is neat. It is full of nice smelling things, jewlery, skin care products, makeup, hair products and other non-​tchotchke-​type things, i.e., useful things that don’t fit in a particular category? Awkwardly worded, I know. Sue me!
This store is next to Sundance Shoes (which is also an awesome store… review forthcoming). How I discovered Ruby’s Balm: one day, after hitting up Sundance, I was feeling particularly adventurous and walked into Ruby’s Balm, and to my delight and surprise, I discovered that they sell Kiehl’s products! This is nice, because very few places carry these products. In addition to Kiehl’s, they also sell Shu Uemura, Bumble & Bumble, and some other «high end» cosmetic/​salon brands that I can’t think of off the top of my head.
They also have a wonderful assortment of jewelry, watches, accessories, etc. What I like about small, independently owned boutiques (like this place), is that there is generally some thought put into the goods that are offered for sale. It’s not a place like the Gap, where the merchandise is determined by «the powers that be» at some remote and centralized location. Rather, it is apparent from perusing the selection and chatting with the salesperson that most, if not all of the merchandise is mindfully selected by the people that work/​are present AT the store.
My recommendation: this place is good for picking up girly stuff, and/​or picking up a gift for a girly-​girl. However, bear in mind that a lot of the stuff here is pricey (for what you’re getting; e.g., $ 25 lotion), so it’s not for you frugal ladies.