At Tierra Chiloé, a boutique spa island hotel resort in Chile, potatoes are one of the main ingredients used in the hotel’s cuisine as well as the spa services at the property’s Uma Spa.

In Mapudungun (the language of the Mapuches), poñi means “potato” and has always been a central part of the local diet, which is primarily vegetarian. The high vitamin C and calcium content in potatoes helps generate collagen and elastin, which promotes cellular renewal. They also are known to reduce spots and facial expression lines, and help to prevent premature aging by moisturizing and nourishing the skin.

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At Uma Spa at Tierra Chiloé, skin treatments are offered in a quiet, harmonious setting with smells that evoke nature, allowing guests to enter a deep state of relaxation.

“We focus our attention on you and pamper your face in a caring, delicate way for about an hour,” says  Katherine Zenteno, Manager of Uma Spa at Tierra Chiloé. “We apply our products to your skin—starting with a cleaning with a combination of natural oils. We then give you a nice massage, then finish with a wrap featuring the delicious aromas of our native ingredients that will revitalize your skin.”

Here, Uma Spa at Tierra Chiloé shares the recipe for a DIY Potato Facial that you can do at home to recreate the relaxing spa experience:

Tierra Chiloé Potato Facial

• Clean your skin. Use a mixture of hazelnut oil and sweet almond oil, which will help to remove any product that may have been applied to the skin previously.

• Prep skin. Once skin is clean, continue by preparing it to be able to absorb the most nutrients possible from the products applied later. In this cleaning process, use a combination of essential oils and water-based emulsions.

• Exfoliate. In this step, softly remove the stratum corneum (the outermost layer of the skin).  Afterwards, rinse off the exfoliant with warm water. Be sure to use a variety of different flours in your exfoliants, such as flours made from Chilean hazelnuts, grape seeds, clay, and an emulsion made from organic oils.  

• Toner and serum. Apply toner to return the PH balance of the skin, in addition to completely removing the exfoliant layer. After the toner, apply the following serum using massage techniques.

• Mask. Apply the mask (made of mashed native potatoes, clays, flours, and an oil emulsion) and leave on for 15 to 20 minutes. This combination nurtures, hydrates, and illuminates skin.

• Moisturize. Finish the treatment with a facial moisturizer.

For more information, visit Tierra Chiloé’s website and follow them on Instagram: @tierrahotels

[Images courtesy of Tierra Chiloé]

Kamala Kirk is a University of Southern California graduate and has been an editor/writer for more than a decade. She has written for E! Online, Total Beauty, TravelAge West, Malibu Times Magazine, and many more. She resides in Los Angeles and is a proud pug mom. Follow her on Instagram: @kamalakirk