A spa getaway can clean out your mind, your body and your wallet with two-night packages at major spas running about $1,300. But you can get those rejuvenating benefits at wallet-friendly prices if you take some free advice from the experts, wrap up a few take-home products and say, ”I`ll take my spa to go, please.”
”The most important thing to do is set the mood,” says Mario Tricoci, owner of Mario Tricoci Salons and Day Spas. ”Turn down the lights, burn some scented candles and put on soothing music.”
He suggests instrumental music reflecting the sounds of nature. Tricoci gets some of his from the Nature Company stores where they stock compact discs ($16-19) and cassettes ($10-12) with titles like ”Gentle Ocean” and
”Tropical Jungle.”
The next step, according to Liz Verbruggen, institute manager for Doral Saturnia Spa in Miami, is a hot bath with aromatherapy oils ”for cleaning the skin and the mind.”
Aromatherapy oils range in price from $4 to $20 and can be found in bath and skin-care specialty stores.
”This is the perfect way to de-stress,” says Verbruggen, who also suggests a mini-facial while soaking. Terme di Saturnia`s Purifying Thermal Facial Mud ($33 for 1.7 ounces at Saks Fifth Avenue stores ) contains imported ingredients from one of the world`s oldest spas, Terme di Saturnia in Saturnia, Italy-where people have been bathing in its therapeutic mud for more than 3,000 years, she says.
”The hot bath water will help the mask penetrate as it absorbs excess oils, removes impurities and tightens pores,” she says.
Spring cleaning
”Winter`s end means spring cleaning your house and your body,” says Cindy Melk, executive vice president and creative director of H2O Plus, a store and product line devoted to at-home pampering.
She suggests two quick steps for an on-the-go-spa treatment: exfoliating and moisturizing.
”Slough off the dead skin from winter with an exfoliating product, then moisturize and go after parts like the upper leg and elbows that you`re often too busy to pamper,” Melk says.
H2O`s Loofah Body Scrub ($15 for 8.4 ounces) has a light herbal smell with natural loofah that leaves you feeling polished and clean. Their Body Moisturizing Gel in Sea Spray ($11.50 for 8 ounces) smells like the air just after a rain and the lemony-smelling Citrus Squeeze ($12.50 for 8 ounces)
contains tiny vitamin E capsules that burst on your skin to moisturize and clean without drying.
From cucumbers to seaweed
Here are a few other spa-to-go products to try if you`re in the mood to indulge:
– Repechage ”Spa On the Go” collection includes seaweed soap and seaweed bath powder which when combined with hot water have a sauna-like effect, opening and purifying pores, and re-energizing shower gel, $75 at Mario Tricoci Day Spas, 277 E. Ontario St.; 1504 Tower Crossing, Naperville;
Oakbrook Center, Oak Brook; 99 W. Dundee Rd., Arlington Heights or call 1-800-284-5044 to order.
– Caswell-Massey cucumber bath oil which reduces oiliness and enlarged pores ($16.50 for 3 ounces) and Elder Flower Energizing Mint Mask which tightens pores and stimulates circulation ($9.50 for 3.5 ounces), both at Folie Douce, 324 W. Illinois St. (or call 1-800-326-0500 to order).
