Gift Guide: The at-home spa
Posted Sunday, December 10, 2006 at 01:56PMWhile a spa getaway probably ranks as one of the most rapturously received gifts possible, spa junkies can also be immensely gratified with pampering treats that make staying at home feel as indulgent as a trip to some Spa Finder-approved destination. To start, consider a deliciously soft and cozy robe like the Kashwere Shawl Collar Robe selected by ThisNexter Traci Meyer. Made with microfiber knit, the robe is lightweight and “really yummy,” according to Traci.
To treat your giftee’s feet, slip her into some Bucky Booties Foot Warmers. Filled with whole buckwheat seeds and an optional aromatherapy sachet, the booties are far more snug than those flip-flops offered up in most spa locker rooms. They also make for “most fantastic product for those winter days and nights,” according to jazwyn. “You come home and it’s freezing outside,” our shopcaster imagines. “You throw these booties into the microwave for 1 minute and then you put them on and it feels like paradise.”
Another aromatherapeutic, microwaveable delight, Crabtree & Evelyn’s Herbal Comfort Neck Wrap is stuffed with soothing herbs that release their stress-melting scents once heated up. (And in the summertime, you can keep it the freezer for when you need a quick cool-down.)
For bathing beauties, help create a jacuzzi-like experience with the Bubble Spa Bath Mat. “Spa bath tubs can cost a fortune, but now you can create a spa bath in your own bathroom,” say John and Rose. “This bath jet spa is an incredible massaging bubble mat that sends a powerful force of air through its unique soft mat to fill your bathtub with thousands of invigorating bubbles.” Tub time can get even more tantalizing with Deep Water Bath, a gadget that’s become highly popular on ThisNext. “I don’t have the luxury of those new fancy spa tubs so I keep one of these handy and use it, literally, almost every day,” says Nicole, who explains: “There’s a hole on the side that acts as the overflow to the drain so you can decide just how full you want your tub to stay.” Also a hit with John and Rose, Aunt Beep, and skibblymook, Deep Water Bath has made a big splash with Greg Clay (“this rocks”) and bitchinmona, who notes that the product allows her to “pretend, if only for a few minutes, that I live a life of leisure and luxury.”
That leisurely, luxuriously life can also be glimpsed by spending some time with LaLicious Coconut Cream Sugar Souffle, hands-down the most scrumptious-smelling and all-around-fabulous body scrub I’ve ever used. John and Rose and pinkolive75 recommend the all-natural sugar souffle as well, with the latter declaring that “these scrubs are highly addictive and moisturizing! Your shower will never be the same again. LaLicious uses only the finest ingredients and whip them together to create the ultimate sugar scrub.”
Other highly addictive at-home spa stuff (including an Energizing Pomegranate Body Wash, Energizing Pomegranate Whipped Body Cream, and Energizing Pomegranate Body Polish) can be found in Murad’s Gift Of A Spa Experience At Home collection, another pick from John and Rose. For a beauty product that doubles as decor, go for Creative Nature’s Massage Oil Candle. Once heated, the gorgeously scented, vitamin E-infused soywax melts into an oil that’s perfect for a tension-dissolving rubdown. And to put that oil to good work, give Massage Mind and Body by Larry Costa, a book that the author regards as a “straightforward reference and an inspirational photographic guide on how to give and receive a massage.”
See more of my Gift Guide: The at-home spa list at ThisNext.
Tags: *Fashion/Beauty, *Health/Wellness/Fitness, Holiday Gifts 2006, beauty, gifts, holidays, home, spas, stress, stress relief
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