I’ve been enjoying at-home spa days for more than a decade. Over the years, they’ve evolved from drugstore face masks and fuzzy socks for an hour to full-day productions with coordinated snacks, playlists, aromas, and lighting—and now tech. Here’s how to get your gear to work for you for the most relaxing experience you can get without leaving your house.
Set the Stage
The first step in your home relaxation plan is to create your spa space. This can be as simple as cleaning up a small area to relax in, but we have some other ideas. First, an air purifier like the Molekule Air Mini+ ($359.99) can help get rid of any lingering smells or allergens in your home. Its small, sleek design provides a pleasant aesthetic and minimum disruption to your space while the app lets you know what toxins it’s destroying and when to change the filter. Deep breathing works much better when the air we’re inhaling is clean.
Next, set a chill mood with some calming lighting. I have the TP-Link Kasa KL 120 ($45) set up and can trigger different lighting levels with just my voice. You can set this up through the Kasa app, choosing your lighting and giving it a name so Alexa can recognize what you’re asking for. Different smart bulbs have varying features, so you can see what works best for you.
Finally, set up your bathroom with a waterproof speaker so you can listen to calming playlists or relaxing white noise while you soak in the bath or steam in the shower. A favorite among the iPhone Life team is the Ultimate Ears BOOM 3 Bluetooth Speaker ($149.99). Not only can it hold its own against your shower’s spray, but its small form packs powerful sound, letting you fully immerse yourself in your spa day tunes. Plus, iPhone controls let you adjust the volume and switch the sound right from your bathtub, saving you from that icy climb out of the tub and across the bathroom to tap Next. Need ideas of what to listen to? Calm Radio (free) offers soothing playlists to set the vibe.
Grab Your Snacks
No spa day is complete without something tasty to munch. Mine typically consist of an assortment of fruits, chocolate squares, and cookies to much while my various serums and lotions soak into my body. My snack holder of choice is the Craftsandfruits 11-inch mobile phone holder/solid wood snack serving tray ($30). Not only is it beautiful and high quality, but there’s a slot to put my iPhone if I want to watch something on it while I lounge in bed with my refreshments. The mobile holder is a little small, so you may need to take your case off to fit it in there, but it’s worth it.
Now that you have your food, make sure you have something delicious to sip on. I like a nice herbal tea to dodge the stimulating effects of caffeine. To keep my tea at a perfect sipping temperature, I use my Ember Mug 2 (from $129.95), which comes with an app that lets me control the temperature of my drink. Who needs the added stress of trying to catch that thirty-second window where your hot drink is just right? The LED display lets me know when it’s at my desired temperature, saving me from burning my tongue by drinking too soon. Pair it with the MyTeaPal app (free) to steep your brew for the perfect amount of time.
Pamper & Relax
Your stage is set. Your snacks are ready. It’s time to relax. My favorite part of an at-home spa day is lying back with either a mud mask or a sheet mask on my face and letting it do its magic. Before I get to that, though, I need to clean my face, and this is where the FOREO Luna 4 ($279) comes in. It has three different modes for cleansing, and which one you use depends on your skin type. After cleansing, flip it over for massage mode, perfect when paired with a serum. The app guides you through how to use the Luna most effectively, and which areas and ailments each mode best addresses.
Next, I settle in with my DNA Vibe (from $159), which offers relief to my sore and tense areas through red light therapy and gentle vibrations. It’s subtler than most massagers, but I’ve felt the effects just as clearly as I have with my at-home massage chair, and since it straps right on you, there’s no need to move around to try to get it to hit your muscle knots. It’s also small enough that it can focus on targeted areas, like a wrist or an ankle, but also can address my whole lower back. The app controls are easy and let me adjust the settings without fiddling with the device itself, keeping me relaxed.
Finally, I lie back with my long-time favorite gadget, Sensate ($299.99). This one works by calming your vagus nerve (the one responsible for nervous stomach knots) to relax your whole body. The gentle vibration on its own is relaxing enough, but it also offers soundscapes and other relaxation techniques and even promises to help “tone” the nerve for longer-lasting feelings of peace. While I haven’t used it regularly enough to say if this works, I can say that even one use had me feeling happy and calm for the session and the rest of the day!
While an at-home spa day can be as simple as a cup of tea and your favorite scented candle, technology has the potential to bring it to the next level. When thinking about what gear to invest in, it’s important to consider what you can see yourself using again and again, as self-care should be regular. Many of the items featured on this list serve a purpose outside of your personal relaxation time (my air purifier really helped me out with air pollution this summer), but it can also be nice to get something that is purely for treating yourself and making sure you feel good. You deserve it!
