Wouldn’t you like to pack up the spa, pop it in your handbag, and take it home with you after that incredibly relaxing experience? Well, I can’t exactly let you pack up a spa; however, creating a spa environment at home is a large part of what we do at Beautiful Moments. So, I want to share with you a few tips on creating an indulgent Spa Facial right from the comfort of home.
An essential factor is ambience. A question I always ask my clients is: where in your home do you feel the most comfortable? This is where you want your experience to take place. You want to make sure the room is nice and warm, with not too much light – draw the curtains, maybe dim the lights. Another part of ambience is smell. Use scented candles or a diffuser. I like to use a room spritzer for my clients with my own aromatherapy blends.
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You are going to need a large bowl of warm water, a headband, a facial sponge or face cloth, cotton pads, and don’t forget two slices of fresh cucumber. For the products, you could use your own, or to make it truly homemade, try the recipes below. With any new product, you should always perform a patch test first.
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- Cleanser: Gently melt 10g cocoa butter with 5ml grapeseed oil, add 5ml water then whisk to cool.
- Exfoliant: Combine 1tsp ground oats with 1Tbsp aqueous cream.
- Mask: Warm 2Tbsp olive oil and combine with enough ground almond to make a smooth paste.
- Toner: Brew one cup of Red Bush tea.
- Moisturiser: Slowly melt 1tsp emulsifying wax, gradually add 5ml cold-pressed olive oil. Combine with 1tsp warm water.
Have everything lined up ready to go, along with the above supplies. Once you have put on the headband, start with a double cleanse. Apply the cleansers over your face, neck and décolleté, working it into the skin by making circular movements with your fingertips. Remove with the warm water and sponge or cloth. Repeat the cleansing process. This ensures a thorough cleanse to breakdown and remove dirt and excess oil on the skin’s surface.
Following the cleanse is the exfoliant, think of this as a deeper cleanse removing dead skin cells from the upper layers of your skin. Again, applying to face (ensure to avoid the eyes), neck and décolleté, working in circular movements before removing with the cloth.
Now apply the mask, ensuring a full coverage over face, neck and décolleté. You want to leave the mask on for 15-20 minutes, so pop the cucumber slices on your eyes, lay back and relax. As cucumber has a high-water content, it is ideal for hydrating delicate skin, and the coolness decreases blood flow around your eyes, this, in turn, soothes and decreases puffiness.
This is a good time to swap out your water to remove the mask. To finish, soak two cotton pads in the cooled tea and wipe over face, neck and décolleté, followed by the moisturiser.
And there you have it, your very own homemade spa facial. Not only is this a relaxing treatment you can do for yourself at any time, but you are also creating healthy habits for the skin.
Words: Dannielle Kyle, Beauty, Body and Spa Therapist and Director of Beautiful Moments Limited    Images: Pinterest