Christophe Robin—French colorist to the stars, creator of one of most popular luxury hair brands on the market, and your new favorite Youtube vlogger—is on top of the world. Or at least on top of his game. The man, who will charm the pants off of you if you ever have the pleasure of meeting him, just opened up his own stand-alone salon and boutique (after years of operating out of a two-bedroom suite in Le Meurice hotel–also not shabby in the slightest), and I'm thisclose to recommending that all my North America-residing compatriots book a quick transatlantic flight to see it for themselves. It certainly may not be practical to fly seven hours every time you need your roots touched up, but the exchange rate's been really good lately, guys. As good a time as ever for a vacation...

But back to Christophe. His new space opened last month on the quiet Rue Bachaumont in Paris’s Quartier Montorgueil, an arrondissement that's getting chicer by the minute thanks to Christophe and his neighbors: perfume shop Nose Paris, restaurant La Cevicheria, and Hotel Bachaumont are all lined up door-to-door. Inside, guests wear technicolor silk robes and gaze into vintage mirrors while smelling Maison Francis Kurkdjian candles throughout. And then there are his products. The products mentioned in almost every Top Shelf I’ve edited in the past year. The products that have gone from "endearingly difficult to obtain" to one of Sephora’s most addicting brands in the past five years. These are the products that’ll make you love washing your hair again. (Cough cough the Cleansing Purifying Sea Salt Scrub cough.)

Apparently willing to test how far the limits of haircare addiction will go, Christophe offers any shopper a 20-minute appointment to come in, get your scalp massaged and your hair masked in a basin that looks like it came straight out of the Little Mermaid. Then, to really get the feel for the line, guests are invited to finish off their own styling with unfettered access to the rest of the range. Oh, and it’s all free. Smells like marketing genius to me.

I’ve been using the Hydratant Santal and Purifying Hair Finish Lotion with Sage Vinegar since they both launched in the States last year. What I was less familiar with were the color masks—I’ve been going steadily blonder for the last 18 months without really committing to any particular endgame. But when Christophe pulls your hair out of a ponytail and declares your highlights “stripey” (he’s not wrong), you start looking for solutions. After a light balayage touch-up to get rid of the cheetah effect, he coated my hair in his Warm Chestnut version of the Shade Variation Care Nutritive Mask for 30 minutes (maybe more, I was jetlagged), taking my cool blond bits into a warm caramel dimension. It’s closer to the color that actually grows out of my head, but with nuance. Which, I think, says a lot about the current state of hair color. Peroxide, pastels, and whatever other drastic changes you can think of don’t feel exciting anymore. It’s back to normal, business as usual, natural color above all. Or at least, if that's what Christophe Robin is currently selling, I'm buying it in droves.

—Emily Ferber

Photographed by the author.

Christophe also does Catherine Deneuve's hair. Read her Top Shelf here.