The holiday season hasn’t even started, and you’re already beat. Bruce Schoenberg and his wife, Marti, owners of the Oasis Day Spa and the soon-to-open Oasis on Park, are known for their mean lava-stone massages. But they understand your thrifty, homebody impulses. Here are Schoenberg’s suggestions for turning your home into a treatment center without going farther than your corner Duane Reade.
Soak your aching feet in a warm bath of Swan Epsom salts ($2.99 for eight ounces). Follow up with an exfoliating scrub using an inexpensive buffer to get rid of dead skin (Beauty by Me, $3.79). Finish by massaging a heavy moisturizer (Neutrogena Hand Cream, $4.49) into your feet to help eliminate toxins and relax your whole body.
Prepare a hot bath with extra-foamy bubble bath. Calgon ($4.99), which is particularly sudsy, is one of Schoenberg’s favorites.
With a loofah mitt (Elementals, $1.99), apply fresh herbal body wash. Neutrogena and Clairol Herbal Essences both smell great ($5.99 and $4.76) all over the body.
Put a relaxing blue-gel eye mask (LeClaire Bayot, $19.99) in the fridge for an hour and then place it on your eyes for ten minutes.
Prepare a warm cup of chamomile tea (Celestial Seasonings, $2.99) and curl up on the couch with a great book.
Before bedtime, apply a rich moisturizer (again, the Neutrogena) on both hands; immediately put on an old pair of gloves and go to bed.
And maybe the best thing about making your home into a spa is that you get to decide what to put on the cd player; why suffer Yanni? You’re trying to relax.
PLUS: This Week’s Sale Picks
Check out the fall 2001 issue of New York Shops, our guide to the city’s best stores, including a six-month roundup of “Sales & Bargains.” On sale at newsstands now. To order a copy, call 800-496-7833 ($4.99 plus $2 shipping and handling).