Would you like to indulge in a spa treatment, but don’t want to pay the prices at the salon? Well now you can, thanks to the Spa Index Website. This site gives you homemade recipes for facial masks, foot scrubs, body scrub, and much more. Mix up a few of these little beauties and invite your bridesmaids over for a before the wedding spa day. Our favorite recipes are listed below, but check out the site and find something that fits your personal needs.http://www.spaindex.com/HomeSpa/HomeSpa.htm
Frozen Egg & Honey Facial Mask
Recommended for dry skin
1 egg
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (but not hot)
1 tbs. honey
Step 1: Beat the egg in a small bowl until frothy and well-mixed. Slowly add the liquid coconut oil and honey, beating until your mask is the consistency of mayonnaise.
Step 2: Take an empty toilet tissue roll and set it up right in a clean bowl. Spoon mixture into the cardboard toilet paper roll (or consider using an empty deodorant container). Place tube, in the bowl, in the freezer overnight.
Step 3: To use, peel away just the top 1/4 inch of the cardboard roll and smooth the frozen stick over your face (think of it as a push up pop). Leave your mask on for 5 to 10 minutes, then rinse off with warm water. Return the cream stick covered with plastic wrap to freezer between uses. Particularly soothing on a sunburn. Keeps indefinitely.
This decadent mask is actually an excellent moisturizer — it leaves your skin baby soft. Recommended for normal skin.
1/3 cup cocoa
3 tbsp. heavy cream
2 tsp. cottage cheese
¼ cup honey
3 tsp. oatmeal powder
Mix all ingredients together and smooth onto face. Relax for 10 minutes, then wash off with warm water.
Strip it Off! Pore Cleaning Strips
This recipe makes a pore cleaning “strip” which works just like those sold in popular drugstores.
1 T Knox unflavored gelatin
1-1/2 T milk
Mix two ingredients and microwave for 10 seconds to slightly warm. Using a clean cosmetic brush, apply to nose and chin area. Avoid delicate eye area. Rinse brush immediately. Allow mixture on nose and chin to dry for 10-15 minutes. Mixture will dry quite stiff and form a “stiff film.” Peel off the film and stare at all the little porcupine quills that used to be in your nose pores (one of the chief entertainment factors with B’Strips!).
END OF SUMMER ALMOND BODY SCRUB
As the end of the summer season approaches, many of us are sporting that attractive tell-tale sign of fun in the sun: Peeling skin.
Spa Index has an excellent recipe for an Almond Body Scrub to gently and thoroughly exfoliate the top layer of dead skin cells. Body scrubs feel wonderful and relieve the itch of flaking skin.
2/3 cup ground almonds
1/3 cup oatmeal
Plain yogurt, milk, or buttermilk, sufficient to make a paste
Essential Oils for scent (optional)
Combine the dry ingredients in a blender or food processor until they are reduced to a coarse meal. Keep this “scrub base” in a glass jar with a screw top in your refrigerator until ready to use. When you want to use the scrub base, scoop out 1/4 cup into a small bowl, and stir in enough of the liquid ingredients (vary it by what you have on hand — yogurt and milk are best, but water works) to make a paste. Yogurt and milk are natural exfoliates known as alpha hydroxy acids, and they will slough off dead skin cells even without the scrub. Scoop up the paste with your hands or a washcloth, and rub over your body to exfoliate peeling skin. Rinse thoroughly.
Beach Sand Foot Scrub
2 Tablespoons Canola oil
2 Tablespoons dry beach sand
3-5 drops rosemary oil
The next time you decide to spend the day at the beach, take advantage of the “on location foot treatment.” Brazilians are known for scrubbing their entire bodies, particularly the feet, deep into the sand while they relax on the beach. When going to the beach, take a small vial of ingredients with you: 2 tablespoons of canola oil (or use your suntan oil!), and, a small vial of rosemary oil — or premix and take one vial. Once at the beach, use an empty container (a soda cup is fine) to mix the ingredients together. Mix into a paste. Massage sand scrub onto feet (and elbows), concentrating especially on problem areas. Rinse off in the foamy waves, pat dry with your beach towel.
AROMATIC MILK BATH
Use this mixed concoction immediately after making it, for soft and silky skin.
1 egg
1/2 cup light olive oil
1 tablespoon glycerin
1/2 cup dried milk powder
1 drop jasmine essential oil
1 drop rose essential oil
6 drops lavender essential oil
2 cups distilled water
Beat together egg, olive oil, glycerin and milk powder with a whisk or hand held beater. While beating add essential oils. Continue beating until a smooth paste forms. Add the water a little at a time, continuing to beat. Immediately add to your warm drawn bath (be careful…if the water is too hot you’ll make scrambled eggs).
Nail Brightener
1 denture tablet
1 cup warm water
1-2 drops essential oil
Saturate one denture tablet with a few drops of essential oil of your choice. Drop the tablet into a small bowl of warm water. Soak fingertips 10 minutes. Do not keep mixture. Discard after use.
Overnight Foot Masque
1/4 cup Almonds
1/4 cup Dry Oatmeal
3 tablespoons food grade Cocoa Butter
2 tablespoons Honey
Process almonds in a blender or coffee grinder until finely ground. Set aside. In the same blender, pulse your oatmeal until of the same consistency. In a bowl, combine ground oatmeal, cocoa butter, honey and ground almonds. Rub into your clean feet, step into cotton socks, and leave on overnight. The next morning, remove the socks and rinse feet in cool water. Pat dry. We recommend you not remove the socks until you’re standing in the tub!