I was recently contacted by Michelle Pino, a Spa Manager at Skana, a spa in upstate New York at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY. She has kindly written a guest post below that I thought you might all enjoy! She enjoys DIY projects, healthy recipes, exercise, and all things related to skin care.
Your Spa Oasis at Home
If you live in the USA, winter is over and the sun’s heating up outside – if you live in the UK you’ll no doubt be wanting to escape to the sun if the current weather is anything to go by! Either way, as you start making beach plans for the summer ahead you may well be thinking about your skin. You want to get rid of that winter dryness before you shimmy into a bathing suit, but let’s face it, time and money don’t always allow you to get out to the spa for an entire day.
Fortunately though, you already have one. It’s right at your house! And those fancy spa treatments that cost you an arm and a leg? You have all of the ingredients to replicate them in your kitchen. Make sure your house is quiet (so after the kids are in bed if you have them with your husband on standby in case of any wake ups!) and transform the bathroom into a spa oasis. Scented candles, low lights, and soothing music from your MP3 player come into play here.
Next, head into the kitchen to prepare your skin softening treatments. Spas usually offer a scrub to exfoliate the skin of rough, dead cells, leaving it supple. This homemade version using brown sugar and coffee, both natural, chemical-free exfoliants, provides the same results for a fraction of the cost.
What you need
1/2 cup ground coffee beans
1/4 cup brown sugar
Lemon juice
In a medium bowl, combine coffee and brown sugar. Add a couple squirts of lemon juice and sift with a fork until slightly crumbly, but not wet.
Set that aside and get started on preparing your facemask. (You didn’t think we’d forget about your skin from the neck up, did you?) Remove that carton of plain yogurt from the fridge, along with honey and old-fashioned oats. Why these ingredients?
Yogurt contains lactic acid and healthy bacteria that promotes skin regeneration at the cellular level.
Honey contains a natural antibacterial agent to cleanse skin.
Oatmeal has long been used on the skin for its soothing, calming properties.
Oatmeal Yogurt Mask Recipe
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
In a small bowl, combine three ingredients and mix well. Resist the urge to add berries and nuts. This is a facemask, not a parfait!
Take both your homemade mask and scrub into the bathroom-turned spa. While your Enya playlist is going, apply yogurt-oatmeal facemask to clean skin. Avoid the sensitive area around your eyes. Sit still and enjoy the cool, soothing mask for 15-30 minutes before rinsing off. Then take your coffee-scrub into the shower (no water yet) and apply to your legs and arms, concentrating on those stubborn rough spots along the knees, elbows, and soles of your feet. Rinse well.
There you have it. A full spa day in the comfort and (relative) quiet of your own home, all for a few bucks. So what are you waiting for? Pamper yourself today, YOU DESERVE IT!
If you have any comments or questions feel free to contact Michelle via email at michellepino@turningstone.com
Oatmeal image sourced from http://beauty.about.com/od/soap1/r/oatmeal_face.htm
