The Fashion Time Magazine

The best home spa treats all under £10

By Lucy Godfrey

Don’t you find there is one particular day every week when you need a break, a little time to be selfish? Whether it’s a Friday night and you’ve been working too hard, a Monday and you’re finding it difficult to get motivated or a Sunday afternoon when you’ve spent the weekend exceeding your limits? I have the perfect low cost solution- a home spa full of delicious treats! It’s the perfect way to revive your mind, body and soul. Light a few scented candles, run a large warm bubble bath, and enjoy…

Manicare cosmetic gel eyemask at only £3.99 from Amazon. The soft mask is made of gel so freeze it to revive tired eyes and reduce swelling or heat it up to relax and de-stress your eyes.

Use the St Ives invigorating face scrub to gently exfoliate and reveal a fresher complexion. Made from 100% natural ingredients, this award winning scrub leaves one’s skin feeling smooth and glowing. Use before a mask to ensure maximum output. £4.29

Next, smooth on a multi tasking face mask. The warming charcoal detox mask from the Sanctuary is great, because not only does it draw out impurities from the skin and absorbs toxins, it also brightens your complexion giving you glowing skin in less than five minutes. It is the miracle for your face! Try the Sachets, at just £1.29!

A body scrub is great to smooth skin, improve skin tone and texture, and some even dissolve the dreaded orange peel effect. To get all these benefits without spending a fortune, you can make your own with a few kitchen cupboard staples. Simply mix together 2 cups of ground coffee, ½ cup of raw sugar and 4 tablespoons of honey or massage oil. Rub in circular motions towards the heart then rinse off. The sugar is a natural exfoliator, the coffee contains caffeine to eliminate toxins that cause cellulite and the honey or massage oil smooths and moisturizes parched skin.

Body Spa organic orange and sea buckthorn creamy body wash pampers tired skin with its natural ingredients. It lathers up quickly and cleanses every inch of your body. The citrus scent refreshes and the oils from organic olives, almonds and Shea butter nourish and protect skin from everyday harmful toxins. £5.80

A clarifying shampoo will help rid of product build up, hard water and mineral deposits that if left behind, will cause your hair to become dull, heavy and greasy. However, clarifying shampoos can be very harsh to hair as they have no moisturizing properties. A cheaper and kinder solution is to mix a lot of bicarbonate of soda with a little water, mix until the consistency is smooth but thick, work the solution through your hair with pads of fingers, leaving it to sit for 2-3 minutes- leaving it will help release product build up. After the time, rinse thoroughly but gently, this treatment will restore shine.

Obviously, bicarbonate of soda is not moisturizing, so following this treatment, use a weekly mask. Having just clarified your hair from all toxins and build up, the mask will work harder and deeper, giving best results. My bargain is L’Oreal Elvive Re-nutrition Pot Mask. It’s a thick, creamy mask that will smooth hair follicles and help undo heat damage, it washes out easily and at £3.96 it’s a steal. It states to leave it on for 1-2 minutes, but for best results keep it on for 20 minutes and cover in cling film, which will lock in heat allowing the mask to penetrate deeper.

Once out of the bath, pat skin until only slightly moist and cover in a thick body cream. The best is The Body Shop’s Intensive Rich Body Butter, now just £6.25. Coconut is the best choice, it offer 24 hours moisturization, its thick and absorbs easily, and the scent lingers all day and night.

To finish the spa experience use Schwarzkopf Gliss Hair Repair Shine Tonic Dry Damaged Hair 100ml for £2.19. Spray into towel dried hair as a leave-in conditioner that detangles and to finish in style immerse in the shine tonic. It’s the only shine spray that won’t leave hair sticky or greasy and it’s a light-weight formula that packs a punch. Your hair will be left silky smooth with a super glossy finish.

My name is Lucy Godfrey. I am seventeen years of age. At the age of fourteen I wrote my first novel called, Forbidden Lives, which is currently being published. It is the first of a trilogy and I am hoping my second follow on novel, Destiny, will be published later this year. Currently I am trying to earn some extra money through freelance writing.