My Turkish Bath Experience

My mom and I went to the spa the other day for a special treat since our trip to California got cancelled due to the Coronavirus… We went to the Hammam Spa by Céla at Bayview Village in North York, Toronto and it was so relaxing and gorgeous that I just had to share my experience! Below is a picture of the tea lounge.

I got a custom facial for my first treatment which was pretty standard and and felt super nice, and then my second treatment was something called a ‘Turkish Bath’. This is the description of the treatment on the Hammam Spa website:

“Cleanse your body and soothe your spirit with this purifying and refreshing ceremony, modelled on one of the world’s oldest cleansing traditions. Center yourself in our steam room before heading to our calming Turkish suites. Lay on a heated marble table while hot and cool water treatments stimulate your senses. Feel renewed as you are exfoliated with a Céla exfoliating mitt, then experience deep cleansing as layer upon layer of moisturizing bubbles are gently placed on your skin, leaving you softer than silk. The treatment concludes with a final cleanse with stimulating eucalyptus black soap. To finish, unwind in the tea lounge with warm tea, baklava, and Turkish delight — a perfectly sweet ending to this ethereal experience.”

So basically you start in their steam room for 15 minutes to get all your pores open and ready for cleansing. This steam room was SO cool. It is a big room with gorgeous Mediterranean looking tiling and a big pole in the middle where the steam generates. It gets SO steamy in there it was kind of hard to breathe in there sometimes (but I liked it hehe), and you could only see about 1 metre in front of you. It had cool LED lights that changed colours and really soothing music playing. It was so trippy in there it felt like a mild LSD trip with the combination of steam, lights and music LOL.

Then I went into this gorgeous marble room with a marble table that I lay on. They give you disposable underwear to put on and a small towel to cover your boobs, so you’re basically naked. It starts with the splashes of warm and cold water, and when I say ‘splashes’ it’s literally an entire bucket of water poured all over different parts of your body. It’s mostly the hot water that is used but you also get a few cold splashes of water on the top of your head, back of your neck, and all over at the very end of the treatment (but the water really isn’t that cold, more refreshing). After the first few splashes, she then takes an exfoliating mitt and work on my whole body from head to toe. My skin was SO soft after, not a trace of dead skin was left.

The next part was my favourite. Your whole body gets covered in bubbles!!! Legit you look like the Michelin Man, your body is completely covered and you can feel them dissolving over your body it and it actually feels really nice. When the bubbles are still on you, they will take a black soap and cleanse your entire body with it as it mixes with the bubbles. It feels SO soft on your skin and they kind of massage your body as they do this. After that they splash you with more water to rinse, and have you lie on your stomach so they can do it all over again for your back. And as I mentioned before, the treatment concludes with a final splash of cold water on your front and back. After the treatment, I went into the steam room for one last steam.

This was unlike anything I’ve heard of before and it was such a unique experience. It’s not something I would do all the time (it really is just a glorified shower) but it’s definitely a luxurious treat from time to time. The next time I go I want to try a clay wrap!

I definitely recommend the Hammam Spa for any of you Toronto readers. It’s a little pricey but definitely worth it for a day of luxury!

That’s all I have for now!

xoxo,

Sarah

 

My Lash Lift Experience!

I used to be all about that lash extension life, but I’ve noticed that they really do cause damage to your natural lashes. So many technicians out there say that this doesn’t happen when you use the right technique or some say that they just appear smaller because you’re so used to seeing them so long. Both of these are lies because even the most experienced technician who has been doing it for over 10 years admits that there will almost always be at least a bit of temporary damage. It’s nothing that a lash serum can’t fix but the temporary damage is definitely still annoying and it takes about 2 months for my lashes to grow back to their full extent afterwards. Since I’ve been trying to do modelling on a more professional level lately, I think going with a natural look is better for the industry anyways, so I thought I would try a lash lift instead while I let my lashes grow back.

Whenever I try something new I always love to share my experience to see if can educate anyone else! So here it is, my first lash lift experience.

My friend referred my to this girl on instagram who does lashes out of her house part-time. She’s based in Etobicoke (West-End Toronto for anyone who isn’t familiar), and her prices are pretty decent. She is @xonikibeauty on instagram if you want to check out her work!

A lash lift is basically like a perm for your head hair but you would do it on your lashes. It’s a multi-step process. First, they put on the under eye gel pad to make everything comfortable, then she took my lashes and temporarily glued them on to a board on the top part of my eye, between my lashes and my eyelid. This board is what gives it that upward curl look. Once they are glued to that curved board (making sure they are all evenly separated, it’s time to apply the perming solution. I’m not exactly what it is that they use, but they put some sort of solution on the lashes glued to the board, wait for it to set for 15 minutes, and then wipe it off and repeat that step twice. Once you have permed it and let it set for 30 minutes (two 15 minute cycles) it’s time to apply an oil solution to remove the glue and separate your lashes from the board on your eyelid. Once the board is removed, the lashes should be perfectly curled upward into place.

You’re not allowed to wet your lashes for 24 hours afterwards (same with extensions) and your eyelids are left feeling kind of weird after, it’s like there’s a film leftover or something. Some of the lashes are also a little clumped together right afterwards, but once you are able to wash your face all of these feelings should subside, and the lashes will look as they should.

The lift should last about 6 weeks, and I didn’t get a tint along with it because my lashes are naturally dark anyways. My technician actually recommends against getting a tint in the same day as the lift, because adding the tint makes it last not as long. If you think about it, if we’re not allowed to get it wet with water in the first 24 hours, why would ink be okay? It should last longer if you don’t get it with a tint, and it’s cheaper too! Most technicians don’t admit this because it’s all about getting more money for them, rather than caring about the integrity of their work.

Overall, I definitely recommend a lift as a more natural alternative to lash extensions, and it’s better because you can wear mascara with them! It’s also a much smoother comedown period, there’s no messy gaps in your lashes or lashes that refuse to curl upwards like sometimes happens with extensions. It removes a lot of the annoying things we have to do when we have extensions, so I think I’m gonna keep up with this for a while!

That’s all I have for now!

xoxo,

Sarah