BODY & SPIRIT & MIND | At Home Spa Day Ideas Inspired By Retreats Around The World

Light some candles, ready slippers and fluffy robe. Here’s everything you need to DIY a spa day at home, with advice from luxury retreats around the world.

It’s hard to imagine a human alive who wouldn’t want to be supine on a massage table in a 5-star spa right now, but alas, such tantalizing pleasures are still out of reach. Indulging in a spa day in the comfort of your own home, however, is easier than you might think – especially with guidance from experts at some of the world’s top retreats. Trust, someday we will nestle into the crisp white sheets of our favorite far – flung spa, soak in salubrious springs, and avail ourselves to a soothing post-African-safari rubdown. Until then, here’s how to recreate the experience of 5-star pampering without leaving your quarantine HQ.

Create Your Own Hammam

If you’re going for a luxe take a traditional hammam, you can do no better than visiting the ethereal  white marble-and-filigree spa the Royal Mansour Marraketch. There, you will experience such indulgent steaming and scrubbing that you will emerge softer than you’ve ever been before. You can also DIY the experience at home with the Royal Mansour spa’s step-by-step program. Begin by running hot water in the bathtub or shower until the bathroom is steamy. Soak in the bathwater or shower until the bathroom is steamy. Soak in the bathwater or stand under the hot shower for several minutes to prepare your skin for the scrub. Apply black soap to the body and let sit for two or three minutes before rinsing off. (if you don’t have black soap, you can use a regular soap but it must be oil free or fragrance free. If you have oily skin, add a few drops of lemon juice). Then take a kessa, or rough bath mitt, and begin the body scrub with the soap, moving the mitt up and down your body to remove dead skin cells. For a final touch, apply argan oil to the entire body for extra hydration.

Bring The Outdoors In, Napa Valley Style

First, set the mood. ‘Many of the soothing elements of a resort spa environment are drawn from design that reconnects us with nature, which has been demonstrated to reduce stress, as well as enhance mental clarity and creativity’, says Helen Brown, Area Spa Director of Napa Valley’s Auberge du Soleil and Solage. ‘Immersion in the natural environment results in an overall improved sense of well-being and health’. In Order to bring the lush bounty of the outdoors inside, she suggests selecting a playlist of nature such as rainfall, and surrounding yourself with as many plants as possible – even if just means bringing them into the room with you while you have a bath. ‘Prepare a batch of fruit – infused wellness water to keep on hand so you stay refreshed and hydrated. We love strawberry, basil and lemon, all of which are just in season here’, she says, then ‘draw your own Calistoga-inspired mineral bath, using a combination of dried rose petals, powdered milk, oatmeal and Epsom salts’, And afterwards? ‘Toast your strength and resilience with a glass of your favorite Napa beverage, whether Annie Facia-Erickson’s hand – picked ERDA herbal tea, or any other of the delicious wines that our areas has to offer.

Indulge In A holistic Bath Ritual

‘We believe water is teacher, healer, inspiration and muse’, says Jodie Webber, Creative Director of Japan-inspired Water Mill escape Shou Sugi Ban House. ‘By harnessing the healing power of water, aromatherapy, sound and breathwork, you can shift into a state of deep relaxation while calming the nervous system’. An at-home bathing ritual, she says, ‘can have great effects on your physical well-being, with benefits such as removing toxins from the skin, helping to relieve muscular aches and pains, increasing circulation, and balancing hormones and emotions’. To recreate the Shou Sugi Ban House seasonal soak, which is done nightly when staying at the retreat, she suggests drawing a warm bath and adding 2 cups of magnesium flakes (or Epsom salt), 1 cup of coarse Himalayan salt (or sea salt) I cup of baking soda, and 1 cup of seasonal herbs, preferably combined into a muslin bag. ‘You can choose the herbs you prefer and have available to you’, she says. ‘Try chamomile or green tea; or fresh rosemary or lavender from your garden or store. You can also use dried rose’. Settle in for a soak for at least 20 minutes, and treat yourself to a sheet facial masks or deep – conditioning hair mask while you relax.

Another important element of Shou Sugi Ban House’s spa ritual that you can recreate at home is scent. ‘Combine a few drops each of your favorite essential oils for use a room spray or to apply on your pulse points’, Webber says. ‘Scents that please you can initiate relaxation, relieve anxiety and uplift emotions, and some essential oils also have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory benefits. One of our signature blends includes ylang ylang, patchouli and geranium with a touch of bergamot. For a four ounce glass bottle, add approximately 30 drops of your choice of essential oils and then fill the bottle half way with distilled water and add which hazel to fill remaining half of the bottle’.

Give Yourself A Bemuda-Worthy Mani/Pedi

Celebrity manicurist Deborah Lippmann opened a nail salon within Rosewood Bermuda’s Sense, a Rosewood Spa that has its very own signature nail polish color – a lovely shade of light pink inspired by the rosy –hued sands of the island’s beaches. The spa offers a signature Deborah Lippmann treatment that incorporates her techniques for promoting nail health and proper nail care – which, with her guidance, you can also try at home. ‘There are three important steps that some people want to ski’, Lippmann says, ‘but are essential for a good mani/pedi: using a base coat, waiting for each coat of polish to dry, and using a top coat’. After soaking hands in warm water to soften them, push the cuticles back to clear the nail plate. ‘Cuticle care is similar to exfoliation’, she says. ‘You have to get the dead cuticle off the nail plate and you want push cuticle back towards the knuckle.’ Leave the cutting to the professionals, she says, but if you do have a little piece of rouge cuticle, ‘carefully use your cuticle nippers to target the base of the hanging skin. Close and open the jaw in the same spot but do not pull’. Once your canvas is ready, it’s time to paint, bearing in mind that ‘you only need a few strokes of nail polish to completely cover the nail’, Lippmann says. ‘Start near the base of the nail and swipe to polish down the center, then place the brush slightly to the left of center, then to the right. When you press on the brush to pull it toward the tip of the nail, the bristles on the brush will spread to the vary side walls of the nail and not over onto the skin’. And finally, to make sure that the color lasts: ‘Always cap the top!’

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