Illustration by McKibillo

• 1. LIP

• Completely Bare Spa

  764 Madison Ave., 212-717-9300

  Owner Cindy Barshop uses a gentle wax mixed with lavender and citrus, and trains her staff to pull at a particularly sharp angle to minimize stretching the lip. There’s minimal redness, even with the most sensitive skin, and no post-treatment breakouts. ($19).

• 2. EYEBROW MAINTENANCE

• Susan Ciminelli, Bergdorf Goodman

  754 Fifth Ave., ninth fl., 212-872-2650

  The answer for those who over-tweeze: Lali Mikhelashvili corrects your shape, and then tints brows with semi-permanent dye to give them a fuller look as they recuperate ($65 for shaping, $35 for tinting).

• 3. ARMPIT

• Kimara Ahnert

  1113 Madison Ave., 212-452-4252

  Lidia Tivichi takes a concerned, focused approach to this tricky area; she pays close attention to temperature, and the wax goes on and comes off with lightning speed. The sting is fleeting, and you’re out in fifteen minutes or less ($36).

• 4. FIRST-TIME BRAZILIAN BIKINI

• Bliss49 at the W Hotel

  541 Lexington Ave., 212-219-8970

  With many Brazilians, you’re naked from the waist down and put into embarrassing positions. The Bliss staff eases those anxieties by giving you relatively demure disposable panties to wear and not requiring circuslike poses ($70).

From the 2007 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine