There’s no lie, summer is the ultimate season of the year. But as the seasons change, your routines begin to change as well. We’re all probably familiar with the saying: “hair gets lighter, skin gets darker, water gets warmer, drinks get colder, music gets louder, nights get longer, life gets better,” which basically describes summer in a sense. And in celebration of summer, I’ve decided to introduce a new series that highlights each of these attributes! And to kick things off today, we’ll be starting off with your skin.
Try as you might, your skin will get a little bit darker even if you slather on the right amount of SPF and stay in the shade. I’ll admit that I hate tanning, so summer for me means lots of hats, sunscreen and hiding under the umbrella at the beach. That’s not to say that I don’t like spending some time in the sun (because I do), but I limit myself to it to prevent becoming too tanned.
A) because my hair color actually gets a little washed out when I’m tanned – it’s not a true black, but more of a cool-toned brown. So when my skin gets tanned, my hair starts to look really ashey and lack-luster.
B) I just feel like I’m overexposing my skin to the UV rays when I get tanned – tanning to me is like visible proof that I’ve spent too much time in the sun. I know, I know that you can’t avoid tanning a little bit even if you have SPF on, but it basically affirms to me that I’ve seen too many UV rays for my liking.
But since I can’t avoid getting a little bit tanned, I might as well make the best of it and get a good one. One of the essentials of a good tan is being properly exfoliated. This way, you avoid a buildup of dead skin in unpredicted areas which could potentially result in a patchy tan. Once you’ve exfoliated, you’ll get a nice even glow!
Now, you can go the do-it-yourself route at home and scrub off your dead skin with some sea-salt scrubs or even a loofah (heck I use a loofah once a week!), or you could go the route of getting a nice little spa date with your girls and be exfoliated at the same time – I chose the latter.
Mel and I booked the signature treatment, Hammam & Gommage, at the Miraj Hammam spa by Caudalie at the Shangri-La hotel, after a long work week to unwind and spend some time together outside of the office. What better way to spend some girly time together then at the spa?
The Hammam & Gommage basically incorporates a steam treatment together with a a full body exfoliation to detoxify both your skin and your body. A word of warning, this treatment is done in the nude, but don’t worry. They have disposable undergarments for you to use if full frontal nude isn’t something that you’re comfortable with. We had initially brought swimsuits with us because we weren’t to sure as to what was going to happen either!
We were given these cozy bathrobes to change into before we were brought into the steam rooms. Given the option of a low intensity room and a high intensity one that was a little bit warmer, we both lay down on the Jerusalem gold marble inside the eucalyptus scented, high-intensity chamber and detoxified our skin. After being rested for 10 minutes, we were each taken back out into the low-intensity chamber one at a time to experience the Gommage.
The Gommage exfoliation treatment was completely beyond anything that I had expected. We were rubbed down with a black Moroccan soap that was also infused with eucalyptus and then exoliated with a texturized viscose glove. It’s like getting a full on skin treatment with an exfoliation and a massage at the exact same time.
After our Gommage, we were each rinsed down to completely get rid of all of the dead skin cells (it was not a pretty sight) before drying ourselves off and moisturizing with some Caudalie products. But before you think that that’s it, the treatment didn’t end there!
We were then walked down the hallway into a lounging room full of Moroccan style lounge benches and were served a refreshing sweet chai tea along with some grapes and the most delicious Baklava that I’ve ever tried.
Finishing all of our snacks, we regretfully headed back to the changerooms to grab our belongings and leave – something we definitely did not want to do. The entire treatment was so refreshing and invigorating that I was dreading heading back out into the crazy downtown atmosphere. It didn’t even feel like we were in downtown Toronto the entire time that we were at the spa.
The relaxing music paired with the sound proofed rooms and delicious scents made it feel as if we were transported to an authentic Moroccan spa – except you’re right in the middle of luxury hotel. It’s definitely a spa that I can look forward to visiting the next time I’m having a stressful day after work and looking for a reprieve that doesn’t require a crazy amount of time to travel to.
Romper – Zara | Kimono – Forever 21 | Tights – HUE | Boots – Forever 21
