Spa Essentials: How I Pamper Myself At Home

Like so many mamas out there, I’m a stay at home mom. I do a lot with and for my kiddo every single day of the year. So, a couple days out of the year, I have no shame in pampering myself and taking an entire day for me. On those days, I refuse to be stressed. I don’t cook or clean. I don’t have to deal with tantrums. Honestly, I basically set up a home-spa in our bathroom with my favorite spa-essentials and an implied do-not-disturb sign on the door, haha! This is exactly what I did this AND last Mother’s Day and a couple other times throughout the year. In this post, I’ll talk about my favorite home spa essentials and the products that I use to practice self-care.

**Disclaimer** I am in NO way a beauty expert or a cosmetologist or anything of the sort. These are just the products that I like for myself and how I use them! Many of these products I’ve received through beauty subscriptions, such as FabFitFun, although there are also many that were purchased on Amazon as well.

Side Note: I’m not sponsored by FabFitFun in any way, but I do really like the products I receive every month. They’re always high quality. If you want to try their subscription out at a discounted rate, feel free to head over to their website using my referral link where you can get $10 off of your own subscription and I’ll earn a discount too! Okay, now on with the rest of the post!

What Do I Do For Self-Care?

Before I can talk about which products I deem to be spa essentials, I need to talk about what types of things I do for self-care. Usually when I have a spa day to myself, I do the following:

• Mini facial – Typically, I’ll use some sort of cleanser, a product to exfoliate my skin, a face mask, a serum, and a moisturizer.
• Hair and body treatment – I typically use hair oil or a hair mask. Either way, I’ll typically do a treatment of some sort that leaves my hair feeling silky smooth. I also lotion up and make sure my skin feels soft.
• Bath soak – I typically take a nice long soak while I’ve got my face mask and hair mask in. I’ll usually use epsom salts or a bath bomb of some sort. I also like to use a sugar scrub. I will typically take this time to shave and make my skin feel nice and soft.
• Pedicure – After the bath, I’ll do a home pedicure. I typically will use one of the peeling foot masks, lotion, cuticle oils, and then shape and file my toenails and paint them.
• Read a book or watch a movie – While the paint on my toes is drying, I’ll read a book or watch something I usually am unable to watch, like a chick flick or something.

I’ll also typically do my makeup which I never have time to do, but that’s a separate post all on its own. Now, onto the products!

My Favorite Products:

Spa Essentials for Facials:

• Whish Lip Scrub – Pink Champagne
  • This helps to exfoliate the lips. I usually apply a small amount and then scrub it with a toothbrush to clear my lips of dry or dead skin.
• Caudalie Vinoclean Foaming Cleanser
  • This is the cleanser I use with my Clarisonic Mia 2, which is about to be replaced by my brand new PMD Clean in my next FabFitFun box!
• Lucas’ Papaw Ointment
  • This ointment actually came recommended to me by a makeup artist who styled me for a boudoir shoot and I’ve also seen it advertised in magazines. It’s affordable and it has a TON of different uses and works so well for chapped lips.
• Glam Up Sheet Masks
  • This multipack is a great deal and comes with a ton of different masks for your different skin needs.
• Tweezerman Mini Tweezers
  • These are super cheap and easy on the hand. With other tweezers, I found that my hands would cramp up because of my arthritis, whereas that doesn’t happen with these tweezers. I find they work really well for plucking my eyebrows.
• Terre Mere Aloe and Tea Tree Toner
  • You can actually feel this toner working. It tingles and I can actually feel my skin tightening. It works amazingly.
• Eminence Strawberry Rhubarb Dermafoliant
  • This is actually what is used at my favorite local spa when I go in for facials there!
• Earth Harbor Marina Biome Brightening Ampule
  • This same brand has also another product called Calypso Rejuvenating Moisture Elixir which also gets rave reviews. I find that this serum really helps soften my skin. It’s great!
• C.E.O. Sunday Riley Vitamin C Rich Hydration Cream
  • This moisturizer is my absolute favorite. It smells like orange creamsicle and makes my face feel and smell amazing!
• EltaMD Renew Eye Gel
  • This eye gel is super gentle while getting rid of dark circles, wrinkles, and more.

Spa Essentials for Hair and Body Treatments:

• Gloss Moderne Hair Masque
  • This is by far one of the best hair masques I’ve used, but if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, these Garnier Hair Treat masks are awesome as a little pick me up!
• Sauce Chimichurri Mint Tingle Intense Repair Shampoo
  • I love this brand! Their products smell wonderful and they always make my hair feel great.
• Sauce Coconut Cream Intense Repair Conditioner
  • This conditioner is amazing. They also have a guacamole whip hair mask that works wonders, though it appears to be out of stock right now.
• Brazilian Bum Bum Cream
  • This body cream leaves me feeling silky smooth after baths and showers. It’s supposed to visibly tighten your skin.
• Spongelle Coconut Verbena Hand Cream
  • This hand cream works so well and leaves my hands feelings super moisturized. This is one of my favorite products especially with how often we’re sanitizing our hands now with covid.

Spa Essentials for Bath Supplies:

• Bath Bombs
  • This bath bomb multipack from Aofmee is great for getting to sample many different scents for fairly cheap!
  • The brand Da Bomb is my absolute favorite. They come in a ton of scents and usually have a surprise inside. The surprise is usually a kid’s toy/ trinket, but the trinket isn’t the main reason I’m using them anyway! My favorite bombs from them are their Treasure Bomb, which is coconut scented, and their “F” Bomb, which is lavender scented.
• Whish Coconut Shave Cream
  • This shave cream is so much more moisturizing than the typical store brands. I love that it’s got less of the harsh chemicals too.
• Schick Hydro Silk Sensitive Razors
  • I have really sensitive skin and always ended up getting razor burn until I switched to these razors. The moisture strips on these razors honestly help SO much.
• Brooklyn Botany Arabica Coffee Scrub
  • This coffee scrub smells AMAZING if you love the smell of coffee. It’s super exfoliating with the coffee grounds and dead sea salt.
• OGX Coconut Coffee Scrub and Wash
  • This body wash smells SO good that when I first started using it, my hubby was stealing it for himself, haha! Also, I don’t know if you’ve noticed a trend, but I like things that are coffee and coconut scented!

Spa Essentials for Pedicures:

• Aliver Foot Peel Masks
  • These peeling foot masks really do work. Funny story, I forgot that I used one and literally thought I was decomposing 😂. So just be aware, it’s not pretty when you start shedding all of the dead skin on your feet, hahaha!
• Cake Beauty Cake Walk Triplemint Foot Creme
  • This foot cream has a light, sweet minty smell that isn’t super overpowering. It’s great for tired feet that need a bit of extra moisture.
• Bliss Kiss Simply Pure Cuticle and Nail Oil Pen
  • This cuticle oil was really helpful in softening my cuticles! It helped to make my home pedicure feel more like what I would get from a salon.
• Nail Polish – These are the colors I used. I really like Essie and Orly brands. They’re not too thick, not too runny, and the color selection is great! I was going for a mermaid-ish vibe, so I used lavender, minty teal, and silver glitter polish. My husband was actually sweet enough to paint my toes for me!
  • Essie – Worth The Tassle
    • This nail polish is the lavender/ lilac purple color shown in the picture above.
  • Orly – Vintage
    • This nail polish is the minty teal color shown in the picture above.
  • Essie – Set In Stones
    • This nail polish is the silver glitter color shown in the picture above.
• Sally Hansen Big Shiny Top Coat
  • This top coat is one of my favorites. I love the sheen it gives off.

The Order of Operations

This is the order that I used each of these products. Now, again, in no means am I a beauty expert, cosmetologist or anything of that nature. This is just how I did it. Sorry if it’s wrong, haha!

Start with the lips, hair, cleanser and a hot bath

First, I start with my lip scrub and then I wet down my hair and put on the hair masque while the lip scrub exfoliates my lips. If you know you’re going to be having a self-care day, you could even apply the hair masque the night before! Next, I use my cleanser with my Clarisonic Mia 2. I make sure that I fully clean my whole face. Next, I use my dermafoliant to exfoliate my face. I then use a warm wet washcloth to rinse off any cleanser, dermafoliant and the lip scrub.

Next, I apply the Papaw ointment to my lips and put on a face mask. At this time, I typically take a nice soak in a hot bath. I put my bath bomb in the water, or if I don’t have a bath bomb, I’ll use epsom salts, like these scented ones I got for Christmas. After 15-20 minutes, I take off the face mask rubbing in any excess serum and exfoliate my legs using the coffee and sea salt scrub. Next, I’ll clean off with the OGX coconut coffee body wash and lastly shave my legs. After shaving, I drain the tub and shower off. At this time, I rinse out the hair masque and use the Sauce Beauty brand shampoo and conditioner. If I’m feeling really ambitious, I may use some olaplex in my hair to strengthen my split ends.

After the bath comes the facial

After I get out of the tub, I moisturize my body using the Brazilian Bum Bum Cream and apply the peeling foot masks to my feet. While the foot masks are on, I typically continue my facial. At this time, I steam my face with a hot towel, or if you’re fancy, you might want one of these facial steamer contraptions. This opens up the pores and makes it easier to pluck my eyebrows, which is the next step. Totally optional, but may as well tidy up the brows while I’m already here.

Once I’ve plucked my eyebrows, I try my best to get the redness to go away, haha! So, I will then use a cold washcloth on my face to shrink the pores and minimize inflammation. After doing this, I apply my toner to further reduce inflammation since tea tree oil has natural anti-inflammatory qualities. Next, I apply my Earth Harbor serum, then my Sunday Riley moisturizer once the serum absorbs into my skin, and lastly the eye gel.

Now focus on the hands and feet

Once I’ve completed my facial (and assuming it’s been at least 60-90 minutes) I remove the foot masks and rinse my feet off to remove any of the chemicals on them. After I rinse off my feet, I moisturize them as well as my hands with the hand and foot cream to get them feeling silky smooth. I give myself a small massage too while I apply the creams. After my hand and foot massage, I massage my cuticles with the cuticle oil and shape and file my nails. Next it’s time for polish, which the hubs helped with. I was going for a “Mermaid-esque” look and I think they turned out really cute for being a home pedicure!

That’s All Folks!

After all is said and done, I had a really great Mother’s Day. Being able to pamper myself with my favorite spa-essentials and perform some self care was amazing. I definitely feel like it’s worth it to go all out and have a day where you treat yourself. It was a nice, relaxing break, for sure, and I feel like doing things like this for yourself, you come away from it feeling and looking more refreshed.

I hope you enjoyed reading about the different ways you can take time for yourself and that you may have even found your new favorite product from this post! Let me know which spa essentials are your favorites in the comments below. If you want to read more posts like this one, check out my “Fun and More” page or any of the posts below! If you’re interested in weekly updates, be sure to subscribe. Thanks so much for reading!

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