Picture yourself at a Palm Springs resort spa modelled after an Italian villa, relaxing in a river-like, saltwater pool surrounded by waterfalls and flagstone. If the image appeals, but the $300-to $400-a-night price tag doesn't, here's an alternative: create your own spa experience at home.

It's unlikely to include an indulgent river experience in the North Saskatchewan, especially not at this time of year. But there are other ways even we northerners can get a touch of the California desert without leaving town, says Jennifer di Francesco, director of spa operations at the Well Spa at Miramonte Resort and Spa in Indian Wells, Calif.

She ventured north of the border recently to promote the luxury spas so prevalent around Palm Springs, and to offer do-it-yourself versions of some of their most popular treatments.

Take, for example, the antioxidant wine bath offered at the Well Spa, in the comfort of a $30,000 hydrotherapy tub -- what di Francesco calls "the Lamborghini of tubs." At home, your own Smart car or Ford Fiesta of tubs will do just fine. Simply add a cup of red wine (preferably Californian) to your bath water, along with a half-cup of olive oil and eight to 10 drops of rosemary oil.

"Those three properties really have a wonderful effect on the skin," says di Francesco. "We actually serve you red wine to drink while you're in the tub, so it becomes pretty decadent." Of course, that you can easily do at home, too.

Red wine is high in beneficial antioxidants, which are absorbed through the body's largest organ, the skin. Olive oil, rich in polyphenols, which are natural antioxidants, is also great for the skin. And rosemary oil, which can be bought in its pure, preferably organic, form at health food stores, promotes circulation and acts as a diuretic, she says.

"That's one thing people can do at home: learn about essential oils," adds di Francesco. Peppermint oil, for example, is good for getting rid of headaches. Lavender oil encourages relaxation and sleep, and would make a good alternative to rosemary oil in the red-wine bath.

"Pour yourself a glass of red wine, turn the lights out, light a candle, put on some music and tell your family that you need 30 minutes to yourself," di Francesco suggests.

Even some of the Well Spa's more unusual treatments can be replicated outside the spa, like its painting party, or "Pittura Festa."

In that treatment, offered to couples or to groups of women for events like bachelorette parties, participants paint each other with warm, coloured mud in a private spa treatment room with a private, outdoor patio.

There's also an open-air shower in which to rinse off. The couples' treatment is followed by a side-by-side massage.

Groups of friends often paint each other with their bathing suits on, she adds. "It becomes a really fun, festive, experience."

Similar charcoal-based, detoxifying muds can be found at health food stores for people looking to have their own painting party at home.

Some of the biggest spa trends are do-it-yourself services and couples' or girlfriends' experiences, like the painting party, says di Francesco.

"It used to be you went to a spa to have a solitary experience, to have time out, away from everyone else. Now it's more about togetherness services."

Some offer a combination of both, like the spa's Watsu treatments, in which a therapist manipulates and stretches couples as they relax in a warm, saltwater pool.

The therapist spends part of the time teaching the couple how to perform Watsu on each other.

"At the end of the day, I think a spa should be a place where you learn about yourself, you learn about your partner and you take that home with you," says di Francesco.

Here are two recipes for home spa baths from the Well Spa at Miramonte Resort and Spa.

Wine bath

1 cup (250 mL) red wine

1/2 cup (125 mL) olive oil

8-10 drops of rosemary oil

Add the ingredients to a warm bath, pour yourself a glass of red wine, and relax.

Coconut milk bath

1 cup (250 mL) organic coconut milk (high in lauric acid; anti-microbial, antibacterial)

10 drops rose essential oil (great uplifter, good for menstrual cramps)

Add to warm bath water and again, relax.

Edmonton Journal

mgold@thejournal.canwest.com