Best places to pamper yourself in Hong Kong

Thanks to the likes of Cara Delevingne and Lily Collins, brows are a hot commodity in 2016. The bigger and bushier, the better. But that doesn’t mean you can leave them entirely au naturel. To strike the right balance, we head to MAC to get our brows tweezed and tamed with their all-new shaping service. Most people aren’t lucky enough to have perfectly symmetrical brows, so we’re pleased when our stylist discusses the best way to match ours up, asking us which of our two eyebrows we like best. Deciding on the left one, our brow technician outlines the desired shape on both brows in white pencil.
Once the outline is done, the tweezing begins. While we end up with the usual red marks where the hairs have been plucked, we’re pleasantly surprised by the lack of pain, even at the most sensitive points. Shaping done, it’s on to cutting, to keep those unruly longer hairs at bay – important for giving a stronger, sharper look when the brows are brushed. Et voila! The taming is done. Finished with a bit of pencil and powder here and there, we’ve a whole new streamlined look. $150. Shop 1088A, 1/F, IFC mall, 8 Finance St, Central, 2967 6981; maccosmetics.com.hk. 

While the idea of getting blasted by nitrogen gas chilled to minus 140 Celsius sounds somewhat dangerous – though simultaneously appealing as both the mercury and humidity edge up – cryotherapy is a technique that’s becoming steadily more widespread. Providers of the therapy tout a number of health benefits – everything from weight loss to improved blood circulation and inflammation reduction. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most high profile users are sports stars, who value such benefits. Floyd Mayweather reportedly took to preparing for last year’s Fight of the Century against Manny Pacquiao by indulging in a spot treatment.

Causeway Bay is home to Polaris and Hong Kong’s first cryosauna. The premises are swish and modern – curvy white walls and colourful streaks of lighting. After losing everything but our underwear and changing into special socks and gloves, we put on a robe and head to the sauna, which resembles a hot tub for one. Once in, we hand over our robe and cold nitrogen begins to the fill the container. Things don’t really get chilly until we hit near minus 90 Celsius and the clouds of nitrogen wafting up around our neck make us feel like Han Solo about to frozen in carbonite. The treatment lasts all of three minutes and by the end we’re properly shivering, though we warm up quickly once out and enjoy a pleasant tingling sensation that indicates our improved circulation. It’s too early to tell if we’re experiencing the other promised health benefits yet, but if it’s good enough for Money, it’s good enough for us. $900. Polaris, Shop B, 10/F, Lee Theatre Plaza, 99 Percival St, Causeway Bay, 2446 6163; polaris-wellness.com.