Something shifts in the week before a holiday. The itinerary is confirmed, the bags are taking shape, and somewhere between packing the third pair of sandals and refreshing the flight status, it becomes very clear, very quickly, that the gap between the current situation and the version of yourself you intend to be on arrival deserves some serious attention. Beach-bound goddess does not just happen. She is the result of at least one very intentional evening with the bathroom door closed, a line-up of products that would not look out of place in the world’s best hotel room, and the particular pleasure of doing something extravagant for absolutely no reason other than the fact that you are worth it.
This routine is that evening. It works from hair to toe and ends where your own skincare routine begins. The products have been chosen for the experience they create as much as the results they deliver, because pre-holiday prep is as much about feeling like that girl as it is about the science behind the ingredients. The scentscape alone earns the investment in products—frangipani, neroli, jasmine—to transport you somewhere else before you’ve left the bathroom. By the time this everything shower routine is over, you’ll smell and feel like the international goddess you’re about to be. And if you build it into the weekends leading up to departure, the benefit compounds until you’re, quite literally, glowing.
Pre-Shower
Hair Oil: Kérastase Elixir Ultime L’Huile Originale
Before a single drop of water touches anything, the hair gets oil. Kérastase Elixir Ultime applied to dry lengths and ends is the difference between hair that survives a flight and hair that has to recover from one. Work it through from mid-length to tip, paying particular attention to anywhere that has been heat-styled or coloured. Clip it up and leave it there while everything else that follows gets started. The rest of the shower will deal with it, and the hair that emerges on the other side will be the evidence it’s worked.
Kérastase’s Elixir Ultime L’Huile Originale. Shop here
Face Mask: Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Skin Clay Mask
Apply the Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Skin Clay Mask to clean, dry skin and leave it to work while the shower does its thing. The timing is deliberate. Getting the face mask on before the shower means steam opens the skin while you are busy with everything else, and it rinses off at the end without adding a separate step. This is also a part of your everything shower that helps you feel a spa-like sense of serenity before you’ve even turned the water on.
Charlotte Tilbury’s Goddess Skin Clay Mask. Shop here
Lymphatic Drainage: Dry Brushing or Body Gua Sha
Before the shower, take a few minutes to work through the body with either a natural bristle dry brush or a body-sized gua sha tool. Both achieve the same thing through slightly different actions. The brush exfoliates the skin surface while it works, and the gua sha focuses purely on moving fluid through the body’s lymphatic vessels with smooth, deliberate strokes. In both cases, work from the extremities toward the heart in long sweeping movements, covering the legs, arms, stomach, and anywhere else that has been sitting still for too long. This is the step most people skip and the one that makes the most immediate difference to how the body looks and feels by the time the routine ends.
In-Shower
First Shampoo: Ouai Detox Shampoo
The pre-shampoo oil comes off first, and Ouai Detox Shampoo is what removes it, along with everything else. The first wash is the scalp step, clearing away the accumulation of product, sweat, and environmental buildup that most people underestimate between washes. A clean, healthy scalp is the foundation of healthy hair growth, and the Detox Shampoo clears everything without stripping. Lather thoroughly, work into the scalp, rinse completely, and move straight to the second shampoo.
Ouai’s Detox Shampoo. Shop here
Second Shampoo: Ouai Shampoo by Hair Type
The second shampoo is where the actual conditioning of the hair begins, which is why matching it to your hair type matters. Ouai’s Fine, Medium, and Thick Hair Shampoos approach the conditioning process differently, and using the right one means the mask that follows builds on a foundation that already suits what your hair actually needs. Lather, work through the lengths, rinse, and move on. And if you’re still not convinced about double shampooing, especially on everything shower day, just try it to see how salon-fresh your hair feels. You won’t regret it.
Ouai’s Shampoo by Hair Type. Shop here
Bond Builder: Olaplex No. 3 Plus
What was Olaplex No. 3 is now No. 3 Plus, and the new formulation isn’t just a marketing fad. The original bond-building technology that made Olaplex a fixture in professional colour and treatment is still at the core, now working alongside a Damage Defense Cationic Complex that addresses the hair’s outer cuticle as well as its internal bonds. Apply to damp hair after the second shampoo, work through from roots to ends, and leave it for the grand total of 3 minutes that the new formula needs to work. By the time you’ve belted out Celine Dion with your loofa microphone, you’ll have healthy, glossy, well-protected hair, ready for the runway.
Olaplex’s No. 3 Plus. Shop here
Hair Mask: Moroccanoil Intense Hydrating Mask
The Moroccanoil Intense Hydrating Mask replaces conditioner in this routine, bit you can use both if you really want to. Apply it generously through the mid-lengths and ends, clip the hair up, and leave it until the body steps are complete. This is the everything shower’s signature move—stacking treatments so each one is working while the next one begins. By the time the mask comes off, it will have absorbed long enough to make a real difference. Rinse with cool water to seal the cuticle before stepping out.
Moroccanoil’s Intense Hydrating Mask. Shop here
Body Scrub: Elemis Frangipani Monoi Salt Glow
The Elemis Frangipani Monoi Salt Glow goes on damp skin in circular motions, starting at the feet and working upward. Mineral-rich salts and hibiscus lift away dead skin while Tahitian Monoi Oil and frangipani seal moisture in as they work. The formula melts on contact, which means the exfoliation and the nourishment happen at the same time. Scrubbing before shaving rather than after also prevents irritation, and removing dead skin first allows for a closer, cleaner shave. Plus there’s no risk of driving salt into any nicks if the sequence is correct. Rinse thoroughly and move straight to the shave.
Elemis’ Frangipani Monoi Salt Glow. Shop here
Shave: Aesop Moroccan Neroli Shaving Serum
Shaving after exfoliation rather than before it is the step most people get backwards. With dead skin already removed and hair softened from the oils, the Aesop Moroccan Neroli Shaving Serum glides over a smoother surface, delivering a closer, cleaner result with less irritation. The serum texture is lighter than a foam and kinder to skin in the process, and the neroli adds a quiet floral note that makes this step feel more like a spa ritual than a routine task.
Aesop’s Moroccan Neroli Shaving Serum. Shop here
Body Cleanser: Augustinus Bader The Body Cleanser With TFC8
The final in-shower step is the one that sets up everything that follows. Augustinus Bader’s Body Cleanser contains TFC8, the brand’s patented Trigger Factor Complex, developed by Professor Augustinus Bader after three decades of research into skin healing and cellular repair. It is built from amino acids, vitamins, and peptides that work by guiding nutrients directly to skin cells, improving cellular communication and triggering the skin’s own renewal process. Using it in a cleanser means the technology begins working before the post-shower routine even starts, so the skin that emerges is not just clean but already primed and ready to receive everything that follows.
Augustinus Bader’s The Body Cleanser With TFC8. Shop here
Post-Shower
Body Serum: Clarins Renew-Plus Body Serum
Pat the skin dry and apply the Clarins Renew-Plus Body Serum immediately, while the skin is still slightly damp. The glycerin, peptides, and squalane in the formula build the moisture foundation for everything that follows, so applying it now rather than waiting matters. Work it over the whole body in upward strokes, let it absorb for a moment, and move straight to the lotion.
Clarins’ Renew-Plus Body Serum. Shop here
Body Lotion: La Mer The Reparative Body Lotion
La Mer’s The Reparative Body Lotion goes on next, and this is where the routine starts to feel genuinely transformative. The Miracle Broth at its heart is a cell-invigorating elixir that floods skin with nutrients, stimulating renewal and calming irritation while the Marine Fortifying Ferment encourages ceramides to restore a healthy barrier. The result is skin that is visibly firmer, more even in tone, and plumped with the kind of deep hydration that cushions against moisture loss for hours. Apply it generously and take the time to massage it in properly. This is the step the skin has been waiting for since the gua sha started moving everything into place.
La Mer’s The Reparative Body Lotion. Shop here
Body Oil: Diptyque Satin Oil
The Diptyque Satin Oil goes on last, sealing all that hydration in and giving skin the luminous, almost lit-from-within quality that only genuinely well-hydrated skin produces. Skin at this level of hydration does not just feel different, it behaves differently on holiday. It takes the changing humidity in its stride, it feels comfortable rather than tight in the heat, and it looks better in whatever you plan to wear on the beach than skin that has been neglected ever does. The jasmine that lingers on your skin will follow you through the rest of your evening, close to the skin and quietly telling you that you’re ready for your best trip yet.
Diptyque Satin Oil. Shop here
Hand & Foot Cream: L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream & Foot Cream
The L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream and Shea Butter Foot Cream are cult classics for a reason. They go on last, applied generously to clean hands and feet. Pull on pure cotton socks and pure cotton gloves immediately after, and leave them on for as long as possible. The occlusion does the work overnight, and waking up to soft, cared-for hands and feet the morning before a flight is the final boss of pre-holiday prep. Nobody arrives at a beach and wishes they had skipped it.
L’Occitane’s Shea Butter Hand Cream & Foot Cream. Shop here
This is what a mini holiday feels like
The full routine takes roughly two hours and every minute of it is accounted for by what waits on the other side of check-in. Do it the night before a flight and you’ll board already feeling like someone who knows how to travel in style. Do it on the weekends leading up to a trip and the benefits build in a way that a single session can’t quite replicate. And if you don’t have a holiday on the horizon but you need to feel like you do, do it anyway. Adding even one step elevates a regular shower into something that deserves its own occasion. The full sequence turns an evening at home into a ritual that comes close to the feeling of arriving somewhere you have been looking forward to for months. That feeling is entirely achievable whether travelling or not, and it starts in your bathroom.
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