Lux for Less: Recreate a Five-Star Spa Afternoon For Less
With the cost of living going through the roof its time to ditch the Spa Day. Here is the same afternoon rebuilt piece by piece, from the soak to the robe.
Lux for less is the game a lot of us are quietly playing right now. Rent, groceries and power bills have a way of eating the spa day first, but the wish for one properly slow afternoon has not gone anywhere. So here is one luxury, picked apart: a five-star hotel spa afternoon, priced from the hotel's own page, then rebuilt piece by piece with things you can actually buy or book this week.
Bringing you LUX FOR LESS on Blank Identity: where we take one luxury, price it from the source, then rebuild it from things within reach. The aim is not a lookalike, it is the feeling behind it.
A spa day is really a handful of separate feelings stacked together: heat, a long soak, something exfoliating, a mask, something rich on your skin, a robe, a good smell, a hot drink. Each one can be copied on its own, and the copy does not have to feel like a consolation prize.
The splurge: Chuan Spa at The Langham, Melbourne
The Langham sits on the Southbank Promenade and describes itself as a five-star hotel. Its Chuan Spa package is listed at $330 per person. That covers a 1 hour 30 minute run of treatments: a 30 minute facial, a 30 minute Chuan Harmony massage and a 30 minute herbal salt scrub, plus full use of the spa facilities for the day and one complimentary valet park.
Those facilities are the real draw. The spa's own page lists an indoor pool overlooking the Melbourne skyline, a jacuzzi, a sauna, a steam room and a relaxation lounge where phones are not allowed. The same page also notes a $20 surcharge on package treatments from Friday to Sunday, so the weekend version of this afternoon costs more than the headline figure.
The rebuild, item by item
The hotel's package does not list a robe, a candle or a cup of tea, but those are what turn a list of treatments into an afternoon, so they are in the rebuild too.
Heat and a long soak: City Baths, ~$20.00
This is the biggest swap and the one that does the most work. Melbourne City Baths on Swanston Street opened in 1860 and has the largest pool in the CBD, along with a spa and saunas. Its casual entry price for swim, spa and sauna access is $17.60 for an adult, and locker hire is $2.40 per visit, so $20.00 gets you through the door and your things locked away. The spa and sauna close 15 minutes before the centre does, and weekend hours run 8am to 6pm, so plan the soak for earlier in the day. (Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Tasmania)
The scrub: Dove Exfoliating Body Polish, $12
The hotel offers a herbal salt scrub. The stand-in is the Dove Exfoliating Body Polish in Brown Sugar and Coconut Butter, a 298g tub at Kmart for $12. It is a sugar polish rather than a salt one, which is a softer, sweeter version of the same step, and it belongs in the shower right after the soak while your skin is warm.
The facial: Formula 10.0.6 The Real Deal clay mask, $10
A 30 minute facial is hard to copy exactly, but the sit-still, face-down-the-world part is easy. The Formula 10.0.6 Clay Mask is a 100ml tube of pink clay and aloe vera at Kmart for $10, with directions to leave it on for 7 to 10 minutes before rinsing. Put the timer on, put the phone in another room, and treat those minutes as the whole point.
The massage: Palmer's Shea Butter body oil, $12
No bottle replaces a therapist's hands, and it would be silly to pretend otherwise. What an oil does give you is the slow, unhurried finish. Palmer's Shea Butter is a 250ml bottle with raw shea and vitamin E, $12 at Kmart. Warm it between your palms, work it in after the scrub, and take your time. If there is someone at home willing to trade shoulder rubs, the bottle is big enough to share.
Left to right: Dove Exfoliating Body Polish, Formula 10.0.6 The Real Deal Pore Refining Clay Mask and Palmer's Shea Butter Formula Body Oil. Images: Kmart
The robe: Woman Towelling Robe, $45
The robe is the item people remember from a hotel spa, and it is also the one that stays with you afterwards. The Woman Towelling Robe is a 400 GSM cotton towelling robe in white with a velour-feel front, an inner tie for support and front patch pockets. It costs $45 , which is the biggest single line in the rebuild and the one that lasts the longest.
The lobby scent: Sandalwood Musk candle, $16
Spa lobbies smell like somewhere you want to stay, and that is mostly a candle's job at home. The Sandalwood Musk Soy Candle is only $16 and has a triple wick and a wooden lid, with notes of bergamot, vetiver, sandalwood and musk. Light it before you start so the room is already warm and fragrant when you come out of the shower.
The hot drink: Pure Peppermint, $7.00
The finish is a pot of something caffeine free. Pure Peppermint in the 40 bag box is $7.00 on special at Woolworths at the time of writing. One box is a lot more than one afternoon, so it carries over into the rest of the week.
Left to right: Target Woman Towelling Robe, Sandalwood Musk Soy Wax Blend Scented Candle and Twinings Pure Peppermint . Images: Kmart and Twinings
Splurge against copy
Add the rebuild up and it comes to $122: $20.00 for the baths and a locker, $12 for the scrub, $10 for the mask, $12 for the oil, $45 for the robe, $16 for the candle and $7.00 for the tea. The Langham package is $330. That is a gap of $208, and $61 of the rebuild (the robe and the candle) is stuff that stays on your hook and your shelf.
What the copy cannot do is match the treatment room, the skyline pool or the valet. The spa is its own kind of treat, and on a good month it is worth booking. For every other month, this is the version that keeps the feeling alive: the heat, the quiet, the soft robe and the smell of something expensive.
At a glance:
- The splurge: Chuan Spa package, The Langham Melbourne, $330 per person
- Soak: Melbourne City Baths swim, spa and sauna, $17.60 plus $2.40 locker
- Scrub: Dove Exfoliating Body Polish 298g, $12 at Kmart
- Mask: Formula 10.0.6 The Real Deal Clay Mask 100ml, $10 at Kmart
- Oil: Palmer's Shea Butter Formula Body Oil 250ml, $12 at Kmart
- Robe: Target Woman Towelling Robe, $45 at Kmart
- Candle: XL Sandalwood Musk Soy Wax Blend Scented Candle, $16 at Kmart
- Tea: Twinings Pure Peppermint 40 pack, $7.00 on special at Woolworths
- Totals: $330 for the splurge against $122 for the rebuild
Verdict: Book the Langham when there is something to celebrate. The rest of the time, a $20 soak, a scrub, a mask, an oil, a robe, a candle and a pot of tea get you a spa afternoon for $122 first time and then free after that.
