EHD At-Home Spa DIYs with Culligan

If you tuned into our EHD team pampering post two weeks ago then by now, you should know my feelings about a spa day. It’s relaxing, rejuvenating and something that everyone deserves every now and then. But as much as I love a spa day, I don’t love having to spend an arm and a leg to get my arms and legs massaged and rubbed clean of their toxins. So, we decided to create (and shoot) an at-home spa, not only to showcase how easy it can be but also to give my staff a little time away from the office for some much needed R&R. Yes, it may have been during working hours, but there was a strict “no checking emails” policy enforced. We spa hard at EHD. If you missed that first post then be sure to click through here to see how we transformed “America’s Patio” into a relaxing retreat, as today’s post is all about the DIYs, recipes and instructions to create an at-home spa day for yourself.

Let’s start with the spa waters. If you’ve been to a spa, then you know this is one of the first things that will greet you (besides the friendly staff, of course). So, I wanted to do the same for my guests (staff) when they came into “Spa Henderson.” I pulled together these three recipes that are all very easy to recreate and, most importantly, are delicious, refreshing and have some health benefits. Each of them is composed of just two to three off-the-shelf herbs or fruit and our delicious “filtered from tap” Culligan Water (more on that later).

Grapefruit & Rosemary Water

While the grapefruit detoxifies your body, rosemary acts as a calming agent. Detoxify while keeping me calm? I can get behind drinking something that does that. The rosemary can also provide anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds that help to fight the damage from pollution, stress and everyday living. This water recipe has a slightly tart taste due to the grapefruit so if you are looking for something sweeter and grapefruit isn’t your thing, the two recipes that follow might be best for you, but I loved how refreshing and fresh this tasted.

The process is simple – I sliced the grapefruit into large slices that would fit into my pitcher. If yours is slightly smaller, you could always halve your slices so that they fit. Then I clipped some fresh rosemary (which can either be purchased pre-cut in the produce section from the store or if you have a plant or herb garden (ha!) you can use some from there) and added it into the pitcher and finally added water. You’ll want to let it sit at least a few hours to really get the full taste of the fruit into the water, but you can also prep this the night before and let it sit in the fridge.

Pear, Lime & Raspberry Water

According to our research, this combo of fruits is belly-slimming and metabolism boosting. Not to mention this one tasted delicious and fruity. A quick note on this one: The pears do start to separate and get a bit soggy so we found it was best to throw everything into a decanter or pitcher a few hours before your guests arrive so that it stays fresh but you still get all the good benefits from the fruit.

The prep for this one is similar to the last – slice your ingredients, add in your water and you are good to go.

Blackberry Mint Water

Blackberries contain wonderful anti-oxidative components and the fresh mint is an old herbal remedy that has an anesthetic effect on the stomach lining which stimulates the production of bile and helps to burn fat (sounds gross but it means that it can suppress your hunger and help to cleanse your system). Lastly, mint has also been said to help people with asthma, fatigue, headaches, depression and memory problems.

For this one, you don’t have much to prep other than washing the leaves and berries and then placing them into the water.

But, let’s talk for a second about that all-important water ingredient. Culligan Water, which not only runs through all the pipes in our home but is also what we used for all the water in this post, is a water treatment company that I was able to partner with only after I already had installed their system in our home. Meaning I wanted the system first and the partnership came later. It was something that felt organic and although you might ask yourself, “a post about water filtration?”, it is something that has made not only our home but also our bodies better.

Charcoal Face Mask

Next up, let’s talk about the topical treatments that I pulled together for the spa day. If you’ve been paying attention to product labels recently then you’ll know that just about anything that has to do with beauty now has some form of activated charcoal in it (meaning the charcoal has been heated or treated in some way to increase its absorption power). This was reaffirmed when we were prepping DIYs for the party and I looked on my bathroom vanity to find that my face wash, hand soap and toothpaste all had activated charcoal in them. Not to mention I was taking activated charcoal pills regularly. Now, I am no beauty blogger nor do I know all the chemical benefits that activated charcoal could bring to your life, but I do know that when used on your face, it can help to draw out impurities and clean out your pores (hence, eliminating acne), which is something that all of us, no matter how young or old, could enjoy. So we created our own face scrub using the ingredient.

To pull the full mask together, we used:

• 1/3 cup organic cane sugar or white sugar
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 activated charcoal capsules, about 1/2 tsp of powder
• 3 drops skin-nourishing oil – we used lavender

The ingredients can all be poured into a mixing bowl (don’t worry the activated charcoal will wash off any dishwasher-safe bowl, so you won’t stain anything). Once everything is in there, you can slowly stir the mix until it forms a gritty paste. It will feel somewhat like wet sand that crumbles in your hand. Once everything is combined, you can portion them out into individual containers for each of your guests or one large one if you plan to keep it for yourself.

Probiotic Yogurt Mask

Next up, let’s talk about the soothing mask that we made to treat our faces. This one is a lot more laborious, taking hours of time in the kitchen to pull together and…who am I kidding, it is two simple ingredients and takes less time to prepare than it does to say “baby soft skin.” I can’t take full credit for this treatment as I found it through Lauren Conrad, but let me tell you that a facial mask that takes 30 seconds to make and will leave my skin feeling baby soft is something that I can endorse even if LC talked about it first.

Here is what we used:

• Probiotic capsules
• Plain Greek yogurt (get something that is organic and pure)
• Cotton balls or pads for application

As mentioned, this one is quite easy to pull together. You will use one probiotic capsule to every four tablespoons of yogurt. If you are prepping it just for yourself, then four tablespoons of yogurt and one capsule are plenty, but if you have a lot of guests then you can double or triple the recipe as needed. The mask not only left our skin feeling soft and silky, but we noticed that it did help to cut down on redness, as well.

Rosewater Facial Spray

Last but not least, because “The Bachelor” is on a hiatus right now and there was no shortage of roses in LA, we grabbed a few dozen roses and made our own DIY rose spray. A quick word about rose sprays: If you haven’t tried them, don’t knock them. Yes, they may not have immediate benefits that you can see in your skin when you are using them, but the benefits come in your emotional stability. If you haven’t spritzed yourself a few times with rose water during a stressful, anxiety-ridden day then you haven’t fully experienced the power of rose water. It is calming, soothing, smells delicious and is one of those little things in life that takes two seconds and makes you feel a whole lot better about anything and everything that may be happening in your life.

I will now step off my rose petal encrusted soapbox to chat about the steps to create your own DIY rose spray at home.

Here is what you’ll need:

• 1 dozen fresh roses (you will want to make sure that the roses are in tight buds and that none of the petals have any sort of bruising or wilting)

• Cotton balls or rounds

• 6-8 small spray bottles (this recipe makes almost 1 liter of rose water – so you can halve the recipe if you are just prepping it for yourself)

• Essential oil of your choice (we used the same lavender oil from the scrub)

• Start by taking the petals off each rose. We found the easiest way to do this is by holding the rose petals in your hand and ripping off the stem. If you still have any green parts attached then you can pull those off and discard. Although we did shoot this with light pink petals (for aesthetic purposes), we did try it with red rose petals and it did make the rose spray a bit more fragrant and a darker color. They both have the same effect so you can go for whichever you prefer.
• Place all the petals in a large pot and cover with enough softened water to just submerge the roses. Press gently down to make sure that all the rose petals are covered.
• Turn stove to medium-low heat and bring to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid and let simmer on low for about 15 minutes, or until the petals start losing their color. You will want to make sure that you don’t overcook them or turn the heat too high which can leave you with burnt rose petals and a foul-smelling mixture. We want “Bachelor in Paradise” rose spray, not “Temptation Island” rose spray.
• Strain the rose water from the rose petals and allow the rose water to sit for 20-30 min or until cool to the touch.
• To assemble the individual face misters, add one ounce rose water for every three ounces of water to spray bottle – or dilute until the potency is something that you like. If you would like you can add two to three drops of your favorite essential oil (we used lavender) and mix all of it together before separating into individual misters.

A quick note on softened water: When we moved into our home, my first priority was protecting those beautiful live finish brass fixtures that you see throughout, but I also knew that I wanted a solution that could filter the water in our home for health benefits. In doing a bit of research, I found that the benefits of softened and filtered water are far beyond just the obvious ones that pertain to drinking. In regards to the home, softened water can help eliminate hard water spots on your shower walls and door, it is better for the longevity for all of your appliances as the softened water is easier for them to process, and it also will get things cleaner as it removes the majority of minerals such as calcium and magnesium that could leave a residue on your dishes or countertops.

As far as the physical benefits go, it is softer on your hair, skin and body which means your hair will feel less crunchy, your skin will feel less dry and your body will overall be happier. So it is something that I was excited about and have loved creating original content around this year – whether that be about my unlacquered brass faucets or about a spa-day for the EHD crew.

Listerine Foot Soak

Now to that Pinterest famous Listerine foot bath we teased you with in the last post. The recipe is simple and the effects are pretty immediate. Yes, it is not as good as going to get a pedicure where they grind a layer of dead skin off your feet, but it is something that when you pull your feet out of that bath you will notice a difference. Ten to fifteen minutes in the bath and you’ll be one infant-like-step closer to baby soft feet…toddler feet?

To pull it together, you will need:

• 1/2 cup Listerine (mouthwash) – we opted for a clear color
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 full cup softened warm water
• Edible flowers (purely for decoration)

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl (we used these serving bowls) and then sit back, relax and let the foot bath do its magic. You can always follow it up with a pumice stone or scrubbing cloth to help slough the dead skin off, but even if you don’t you’ll notice a difference in how your skin feels after the bath.

There we all are feeling refreshed, relaxed and VERY Zen after our at home spa day. Let us know if you have any questions on any of the DIYs or materials…and happy spa-ing! Here is a get-the-look with everything we used for the spa day in case you want to recreate the look yourself.

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1. Robe | 2. Matte White Serving Bowl | 3. Slippers | 4. Folding Lounge Chair | 5. Stool | 6. Wooden Tray | 7. Medium Terracotta Vase | 8. Short Terracotta Vase | 9. Macrame Table Runner | 10. Table Mirror | 11. Blush Linen Napkins | 12. Blue Striped Napkins | 13. Glass Pitcher | 14. Marta Juice | 15. Marta Double Old Fashioned Glass | 16. Pink Appetizer Plate | 17. Stone Gray Element Soup Bowls Set Of 4 | 18. Mini Wooden Bowls Set of 4 | 19. Measuring Spoon Set | 20. Cutting Board | 21. DIY Spray Bottle | 22. Glass Jars | 23. Gingham Kitchen Towel | 24. Basket | 25. Palo Santo Sticks | 26. Glass Bottle | 27. Natural Wood Wool | 28. Mediterranean Organic Towels | 29. Ceramic Vase | 30. Blue Linen Napkin | 31. Air Plant | 32. Sage Smudge Sticks 

Let me know if you try any of the DIYs and how you liked them. OH, and if there are any other at-home beauty treatments you swear by, pretty please link to them in the comments below so we can all benefit from some more DIY spa goodness.

***Photography by Sara Tramp for EHD