Birthday Night - Natural Pampering Routine

For my birthday this year I had the house to myself and I was in the mood to indulge in some budget friendly and natural spa treatments. So I gathered all the essentials; red wine, People: Style Watch, my kobo and some new products I wanted to try. I started off by turning on some Jack Johnson and filling the tub.

 I have been doing Blogilates lately and I was dying sore, so I added some Rocky Mountain Soap Company Sport Bath Salts ($5 for a single-use sachet) to the running water, the salts and essential oils are meant to be soothing for aching muscles. Grabbed my ice lemon water and magazine and hopped in. Oh my goodness this was the best bath I've taken in quite a while. The scent of the bath salts was perfect! Very light but still present, fresh and pure smelling, and best of all the scent is completely natural coming from only essential oils. I was surprised by the rosemary and lemongrass combo - really refreshing.

After about 30 minutes of soaking I dried off, put on my plush white bathrobe and moved on to my next step. This one is a new one for me, a facial steam. I've only done the 'my sinuses are killing me steam' before, and that's not very relaxing! I filled a bowl with very hot tap water popped in Lush's Dream Steam ($2.95) steam tab, put a towel over my head a steamed for about five minutes. The Dream Steam tab claims to be soothing to the skin, reduce redness and cleanse. I didn't notice much difference in my skin afterwards but it was very relaxing to breathe in the scented steam and it did prep my face for the mask I was about to do. One NOT relaxing thing about this tab and the reason I would not purchase it again is the third ingredient is perfume, a definite no-no in my books. I would like to experiment making something like this at home.

After the steam I used another Rocky Mountain Soap Company product. BC Seaweed Spa Mud 100% pure 100% natural ($7.95 for 4 applications). This intriguing product is not on their website but in my local store they had about five varieties. They come with 4 small bricks of dried mud per tube and all you do is add about a half teaspoon of water, let it sit for a moment, mix with your fingers, then apply. It says on the instructions that you can use on face, thighs and bottom, feet or put all four in your bath for a mud bath. I loved this! I chose to apply it on my face, it comes with the perfect amount of product - no waste but you don't have to skimp with your application either. I let it dry and harden while I watched a total guilty pleasure of mine, Drop Dead Diva. I removed with a warm wash cloth, applied some argan oil to moisturize and my face felt incredibly soft and smooth.

All in all this was an excellent night of pampering and indulging without too much guilt over using products filled with nasty toxins or spending an arm and leg. The total cost of the products I used came in under $10, much less then I spent on wine and Thai takeout!

What are your favourite products for pampering at home?