For all you DIYers and skincare lovers out there, we’re sure you’re dying to know tricks of the trade from our holistic estheticians. We’ll let you in on a little secret: the best skincare results don’t come from seeing your esthetician once in a while, they come from your daily skincare routine at home!

While it’s important to see your esthetician if you’re dealing with major (and even minor) skin conditions such as rosacea, cystic acne, psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis, and many others, true results come from the products you apply to your skin every day, just like a nutritional diet!

Building a habit

Real talk: if you exercise once a week, or even once a month, you’ll most likely see very slow results (or none at all). The same goes for seeing an esthetician. While an esthetician can treat the skin with professional-grade back bar ingredients targeting specific skin conditions, unless you see your esthetician frequently, you may or may not see continuous results. Your esthetician is more like a guide who can help analyze your skin in the moment, give it the nourishment it needs to heal, and recommend a skincare regime that’ll slowly and gently heal your skin over time. If you’re using these powerful yet gentle healing botanicals daily, you’ll begin to see a shift in how your skin looks and feels.

It’s the age of instant gratification, but unfortunately, some skincare actives that promise quick results can actually cause detriment to your skin in the long run. We like to think of Botnia Skincare as slow beauty: skincare that works WITH the rhythms of your body, working in synergy with the way our skin heals itself naturally. Did you know that it takes 28 days for your skin to regenerate and heal itself? Knowing our body rhythms can help us to allow our skin to take the time it takes to assimilate with our skincare and heal. We typically recommend trying out a new product or new routine for a full 30 days to see results before adding new products or changing your routine.

Weekly treatment protocol

Here’s a quick facial treatment you can follow at home:

-Wrap your face with a warm towel and breathe deeply for 10 breaths.
-Cleanse to remove all makeup, and double cleanse if necessary.
-Apply a mask mixture to cleansed skin, keeping the mask moist if you see it drying out. We recommend spraying our Rose Geranium Hydrosol if you notice the mask drying. Leave on for 7 to 15 minutes.
-After rinsing clean, use a toner or hydrosol to bring the pH levels of your skin back to balance. 
-For an extra luxurious treatment, add in facial massage, gua sha, or lymphatic massage with one of our facial oils. 
-Follow with your daily skincare routine.

If you already have a great skincare routine that you enjoy in the morning and evening, another way to boost your weekly regime is adding in a nourishing mask treatment up to twice a week.

When you receive a Botnia facial, our holistic estheticians will usually apply two masks in your service - an exfoliating mask and a finishing mask, both tailored to specific needs that your skin requires for healing. We’ve created gentler versions of our professional products for you to use at home.

Exfoliation Mask - Previously named Weekly Digest Mask, our Exfoliation Mask features nourishing oats and gentle fruit-based enzymes that help to exfoliate and brighten your skin. This trio of powders helps to treat uneven skin tone and texture. Great for those with acne, dry, normal, and oily skin types. Mix with Essential Enzymes, Soothing Repair Mask, or Hydrosol.

Sulfur Mask - Previously named Fix-Zit Mask, our Sulfur Mask is a powder aid for those who have acne-prone or inflamed skin. Made with soothing oats and sulfur to help deeply exfoliate congested pores, balance bacteria and give you a fresh and brighter complexion. Soothing oats help to restore moisture in your skin: this is our esthetician’s secret ingredient for extending the soft supple post-facial glow. You can use this mixed in with Essential Enzymes, Soothing Repair Mask, or even as a spot treatment with Clarity Oil to target those pesky breakouts!

Kale Mask - Previously named Kale-Yeah Mask, our Kale Mask combines nutritious greens like kale, soothing oats, and gentle chamomile to help calm irritation and inflammation in the skin. Kale helps to brighten the skin and is packaged with powerful vitamins and minerals to nurture and restore the skin. When used as an under-eye treatment, vitamin K1 helps to improve skin elasticity and the mitigation of dark circles. Vitamins A and B6 help to promote cell regeneration and help to fight the overproduction of sebum. Try mixing this mask with Soothing Repair Mask for maximum benefit. This mask is perfect for all skin types.

Flower Mask - Previously named Flower Powder Mask, our Flower Mask is great for anyone targeting sun damage in the skin. Rosehips provide a powerful dose of Vitamin C, an antioxidant that helps to promote a balanced complexion. Vitamin A helps to support collagen production and cellular turnover to unlock your most vibrant skin in between facial treatments. Wonderful for most skin types, except sensitive skin. Mix with Essential Enzymes, Wisdom Oil, or Clarity Oil depending on your skin type.

Get creative with different mask bases

There are so many ways to use our powdered masks and it can feel overwhelming! Here are a few go-tos.

All of our masks pair perfectly with Essential Enzymes, a gentle exfoliating mask base that helps to break down the plant cell walls and make the masks more bioavailable to the skin. This product can also be used alone as a weekly exfoliating treatment. Apply for 15 minutes to clean skin and rinse off. Follow with your daily skincare routine.

Our Soothing Repair Mask is also a great mask base for those who need extra hydration. This product is also in our professional line and recommended for those with inflamed, dry, or dehydrated skin. You can also use this mask on its own, and even as an overnight treatment to lock in that moisture!

Feel free to experiment with other Botnia products! Our Clarity Oil is a great mask base, especially with the Sulfur Mask to target acne and breakouts. And Wisdom Oil will add a boost of antioxidants into your weekly treatment, especially for those with sun damage.

Check out our post on building your own at-home apothecary where you can get creative adding in other ingredients such as high-quality honey. We like this one from our friend Candice at Sonoma County Bee Company. Or good ole goat’s milk yogurt which contains lactic acid that helps to gently exfoliate the skin.

Tools of the trade

We’re thrilled to now offer products beyond our skincare!

We’ve designed the perfect facial brush that can be used to mix your face masks and apply masks, and it can even be used as a dry brush to help gently exfoliate your skin and offer light massage as well.

Trying to keep your skincare fresh? Our mother of pearl shell spoons are a great addition to your skincare cabinet. Use it to scoop your powdered masks into a bowl, and mix your mask base together while keeping your hands clean!

Mixing bowls are always handy to have on hand. These palm-sized ceramic mask bowls designed by local Sausalito designer Nikkie Stutts are perfect for a single mask serving. Make sure you mix your mask to the consistency of pancake batter before applying it.

Lastly, our reusable 100% hemp facial pads are perfect to rinse off your mask, or use with any of our other products!

Now you’re ready for a full spa day in the comfort of your own home!

If you’re curious to know which mask or mask base works best with your current routine or to target specific skin conditions, you can submit a request to our Master Estheticians to create a customized regimen just for you!

Xo,
Botnia