Spa Deck [Cards]

Barbara Close (Author), Susie Cushner (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001

With cards divided into three categories--remedy rituals, rejuvenation rituals, and beauty rituals--and treatments ranging from Lavender & Tea Tree Blemish Remover to Papaya Body Butter, this deck will meet the pampering needs of any body. The recipes and beauty treatments are easy to prepare and use. With ingredients available at any health food store and easy-to-follow recipes, nurturing and enriching your mind, body, and spirit has never been so simple. Grab this practical and portable deck and you're on your way to a complete spa experience in your own home!

Editorial Reviews

Review

SHAPE
Each card in The Spa Deck: 50 Recipes for Relaxation and Rejuvenation, by New York's Naturopathica Spa owner Barbara Close bears a beautiful photo corresponding to a recipe on the back for a soothing and/or beautifying spa-based treatment or drink. Revitalize your skin with a Ruby Grapefruit Exfoliating Paste, soothe sore muscles with an Herbal Bath Infusion or give yourself a vitamin C boost with a delicious Kiwi Kick smoothie -- you'll find all the ingredients you need at the health-food store.

About the Author

Susie Cushner is a Boston-based photographer whose work has appeared in House Beautiful , Metropolitan Home , and elsewhere.

Barbara Close is a certified aromatherapist and the founder and owner of Naturopathica, a full-service holistic spa in East Hampton, New York. She is also the author of Aromatherapy A-Z.

Product Details

• Cards: 50 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811829464
• ISBN-13: 978-0811829465
• Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 3.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,306,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Start, January 12, 2009

By 

Beaumont Hardy "Beaumont Hardy Editing" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spa Deck (Cards)

The Spa Deck is a fairly simple way to learn about essential oils and their various uses and benefits. Once you make a few of the recipes, you learn how to modify them to suit your own particular needs. You also learn how to use essential oils in other parts of your beauty regimen and in other household cleaning activities.

At first, the Spa Deck seems daunting, because, as one reviewer noted, few people have these basic supplies in their houses. Each recipe calls for at least two different essential oils, and most require the use of various-sized glass bottles with stoppers, coffee grinders, strainers or other implements.

However, you can ignore the more complicated coffee-grinder and French-press recipes at first. You'll soon realize that once you assemble a basic set of essential oils and a few sizes of glass bottles, you can really get a great deal out of the Spa Deck. You can make several of the recipes for hair treatments, soothing facial washes and aromatic bath soaks. As you become more and more familiar with the oils and their effects, you realize that you can substitute one essential oil for another or make do with the supplies that you have on hand. You can also slowly add to your arsenal of supplies, as your budget allows.

I think the Neroli Complexion Serum, which requires one 1/2-ounce bottle and six different types of oil is so soothing and effective that it's worth it to buy the whole Spa Deck just for that recipe alone.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely superb!, February 22, 2008

By 

L. Loree (Nampa, Idaho USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spa Deck (Cards)

This deck makes the perfect gift for our harried and overworked girlfriends. For all the information you get the price is very reasonable. The recipes are easy and they span the gamut of topical applications to great smoothies that revitalize and refresh.

The recipes do use ingredients that are not commonly found in our kitchen, but I've found that buying the essential oils a little at a time is quite painless and I can get great prices online. Once you have the oils they last for what seems like forever so you're getting a lot of bang for your buck.

One thing that often overlooked is all the cost benefits of essential oils. Once I started using them around the house and in my natural moisturizers, and diffusing them in my house, my family hardly ever gets sick! When you pay approx. $100 per doctor visit I can easily justify a $6 bottle of tea tree oil! If that's not what you're looking for though, I've found that just sitting down and looking at the great photography and reading the cards is great therapy! I can't wait to get several more decks for my girlfriends.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nurturing..., February 16, 2006

By 

Vickie Metcalf "be good...and you will be lon... (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spa Deck (Cards)

I disagree with the other review....that person has no idea what essential oils costs, and I totally diagree about these recipes being for special occasions.....they appeal to me because they take care of the body and mind....and I do keep the ingredients used most often on hand....they give you a list.....you can certainly find these ingredients on-line at very competative prices. I'm afraid that the other reviewer was looking for something more "homey" and not aromatheraputic and nurturing.