Our latest news on skincare, hair, clean beauty & sustainable style.
DIY Spa treatments light therapy, dermaplaning, chemical peels, hair masque, hair removal, massagers, acupressure, spa gadgets, and products. We tried a collection of hair, skin, and body pampering products and gadgets at home and report our experience.
As we mentioned before, the no!no! hair removal device is on sale at Sephora for $175, and now they’ve sweetened the deal – if you buy a Pink no!no!
and use code NONO at checkout, they will throw in 2 additional buffers and five blades (2 long and 3 short) – that’s an additional $28 worth of products for free! If you have any interest in the no!no!, this is a great deal.
Thanks to Freebieville for the heads up!
Love the warm, blissful feeling of the paraffin wax dip before your mani-pedi? Get it at home with an at home Paraffin Spa
Just plug it in and let it warm up until the wax is melted, and then dip your hands (or feet) in 5-10 times to get a nice thick coat of wax, and then sit back and relax – it feels amazing and makes your hands soooo smooth.
Try this one from Artemis
I’d generally prefer that a trained spa person tend to my cuticles, but it’s definitely something I can do myself. Try these at-home tips (no pun intended) to get great looking cuticle beds without the manicure cost.
Heat up some water (warm, but not hot) and pour it into a nail soak. You might want to try Gena Manicure Cups
Once you have your warm water, add some oil to moisturize and soften your cuticles. Regular olive oil works great, or you can get creative. Jojoba oil is great, apricot oil is a classic, and Sweet Almond Oil
Of course we’ve all heard we should moisturize our hands every time we wash them (I’m a delinquent on that front). But after your nail soak is especially important to moisturize. It’s kind of like when you get out of the bath or shower – you may have used a moisturizing body wash, but your hands still need a slather of moisture after, or else your cuticles may end up drier than before.
So after your delightfully relaxing nail soak, keep your cuticles soft and pliable with a moisturizer. A good cream moisturizer is best – everybody has their favorite.
If you want the best looking cuticles ever, dab on and rub into your cuticles and nail beds some Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare Superskin Moisturizer. I first tried this when I was on vacation a few weeks ago and forgot my hand moisturizer – my nails went from pretty gross looking to radiantly healthy in no time flat.
You shouldn’t hack at your cuticle bed, but nipping off a hangnail is OK. But make sure you have the right tool for the job – using the nail clipper that you use to trim your nails isn’t the most sanitary. Invest in a good Cuticle Nipper – the one from Sephora
is excellent – even a butterfingers like me can use it easily.
For everyday cuticle and hand maintenance, use Bliss Glamour Gloves overnight or while watching TV. The gloves have a gel lining that contains olive oil, grapeseed oil (also a good oil for your nail soak – forgot about that one!), and Vitamin E. Just slip them on and let them do the work. 20 minutes will give you a nice moisturizing treatment, overnight will give you an almost miracle. And a winter bonus – they keep you nice and warm, so you can turn down the thermostat down a couple of degrees overnight and still be nice and warm. See? Two money saving tips with one product!
Stay tuned next week for more at-home manicure how-tos!
Cutting out spa treatments may seem like a silly thing to feel deprived over in bad economic times, but there are things that are simply easier to have someone else do (for me, manicures), but that I can do myself. Other things may mess with your head a bit if you can’t fit a treatment into your budget. For instance, do you include a treatment in your facial that makes your skin glow and keeps you looking perpetually peppy? If you have to cut out that kind of service, you may find yourself catching a glimpse of yourself in the mirror at some point and wonder why you suddenly look tired and, well, blah. That’s the kind of treatment that is worth it to keep up at home if you find it hard to fit a spa visit into the budget – if you feel like you have lost your “pep” every time you look in the mirror, you may end up feeling that way the rest of the time too.
Check out our favorite at-home brightening treatments that are spa-worthy (and in some cases, better in our opinion):
Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare Brightening Treatment Mask: I waxed on about how much I love this stuff in my product review recently. It works fast (two minutes or less), and does an amazing job. It made my skin look like I had the luxury of a perfect night’s sleep and endless energy. It naturally imparts what you try to make your skin look like with blush – pretty amazing. Find Liz Earle’s Brightening Treatment Mask at LizEarle.com for $24.
Bliss World Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Mask: If you are a bit of a mad scientist at heart, you’ll love the way Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Mask goes from a peach-colored gel to a massive, bubbling foam, crackling and popping for five minutes as it adds oxygen to your skin. If you aren’t a mad scientist, you’ll just love the results: your skin gets less oxygen from your blood as you get older, and this mask gives your skin a little oxygen kick. Which translates to rosy, radiant skin. Find bliss triple oxygen instant energizing facial mask at blissworld.com
for $52. And for the record, I’m in the Mad Scientist catagory when it comes to skin care.
La Mer Radiant Infusion: This quick and effective brightening treatment goes to work on dull skin and leaves you with tight pores, bright skin, and a fresh feeling. Swipe some over your face on a cotton pad and your skin will have an instant boost of brightness. It contains antioxidants and lime to counteract sun damage and prevent further discoloration as well. And it feels great on! Find it at Saks.com.
Stay Hydrated: Yeah, we all know we should be drinking more water. Does your favorite spa have a special water/tea/”infusion”? Ask if they sell it so you can enjoy it at home while you are enjoying your home spa routine, and try to guzzle more water the rest of the time as well. A few cucumber slices go a long way to make tap water seem more crisp – if you are making yourself a salad, set a couple aside, put them in a container filled with water in your fridge for a few hours, and you will have tasty, crisp water, which will hopefully get you to drink more. I’m fortunate in that the tap water where I live is tasty all on it’s own, but I still need a little motivation every once in awhile – keep a water flavoring powder in the house or add a splash of juice if you need to. If you keep up with it, you can go from dull skin to radiant skin with an inner glow.
Mac Strobe Cream: Hey, sometimes you need to fake bright and luminous skin – and the makeup artist at the spa would tell you that same as she slathered a great cream like MAC Strobe Cream. Not only does it give you an instant luminous glow (you will look perpetually happy), it gets to work on your skin to make it naturally bright via green tea and anti-oxidants aimed at adding brightness and clarity to your skin. Find it at Nordstrom.com
for $29.50.
Don’t you marvel at how soft your face is after your skin is professionally exfoliated? If you would like to still marvel at your soft skin without the wonder of seeing how much your spent at the spa when you billing statement comes in, read on.
Find it at Saks.com.
Remember, you skin doesn’t need heavy exfoliation every day – that’s a recipe for raw skin. And don’t forget that washing your face with a plush, soft wash cloth gently exfoliates some dead cells and you can use it everyday – just don’t scrub too hard! While you may miss the plinky-plunkey music and cucumber water at the spa, these products really compete with a professional exfoliation, at a fraction of the cost.
Is your skin missing the glowing look it gets after a facial? Stay tuned for our next Spa Economy feature on Brightening Treatments.