Meisje van Moss

I love a bathroom that feels like a quiet, moody spa. I really got into this aesthetic and carried it through multiple home renovations in Europe and here in the states.

If you are easily overstimulated by visual noise, hiding neon plastic bottles and chaotic labels behind uniform dispensers is the cheapest way to make a standard shower feel like a sanctuary. It brings the visual volume right down. For me, this is the result of years of finding little ways to casually manage severe anxiety. I can’t quite explain it, I just know that for me, it’s important.

But if you’ve ever seen a flawlessly minimal shower online and thought, “There is no way they only use three products,” you are right. They don’t.

Creating a cohesive, calming shower space doesn’t mean you have to compromise your actual routines. I apply a mix of what I learned from taking so many color theory courses during my bachelor’s degree, combined with real-world trial and error.

1. Don’t Decant Everything Do not feel pressured to funnel your entire life into matching bottles. In our house, my husband uses the matching shower pumps for his daily shampoo and conditioner, he uses MoroccanOil, which keeps his thick but fine straight hair, healthy, fluffy, and as thick as when we met 10 years ago. It’s good and versatile enough that I also use it if I run out of my favorites. But we’ve also needed to cut back on all expenses, and he’s used the OGX Argan Oil dupes in those very same bottles. I have amber that matches Aesop since I religiously use some of their products (while others I don’t like or think they’re not economically necessary). I keep my favorite feminine wash in a labeless foaming hand soap amber colored plastic bottle same as my favorite shower oil that goes in an amber generic bottle. All those bottles lasted for years, you can see them in my rental above from several years ago.

If a product costs more than $25, contains active bond-building ingredients, or just feels better in its original packaging, keep it. Skincare actives and certain products actually decay in the light (hydrogen peroxide and castor oil are great examples), so they belong in their original opaque bottles. I keep my heavy masks and Cécred treatments lined up on the outside ledge of the shower. They only come inside with me when I actually need them, 2x per week when I wash my hair. It keeps the inside of the shower visually quiet the other six days of the week, protects my expensive formulas from sitting in the steam, and saves space, which is crucial since my shower today is much smaller.

2. Hack the “Spa” Vibe with Atmospheric Scents You do not need a $60 luxury soap to make the shower feel high-end. The secret is the scent profile, not the price tag. What smells like a “spa” to you? It turns out the spa smell is super individual and unique. For example, Anthropologie used to sell a Dune spray for $11, and I stocked up. It smells just as “spa” to me as Aesop Tacit, the Aesop facewash, and Aesop Eleos, that my husband and I both use. They smell totally different, but for some reason, both capture that exact feeling.

I keep my designated body wash dispenser filled with the Being Frenshe body wash from Target. It’s $10 and occasionally on sale. But I also love the Eleos smell, it’s a creamy luxurious cleanser that I put on my cheap but cohesive bath gloves and leaves my skin silky smooth. But I blend cheap products and expensive ones all the time. To trick your brain into feeling like you are at an exclusive wellness retreat, skip the fruity or bakery-themed scents (no strawberry or vanilla cupcake) if that doesn’t feel relaxing or luxurious to you (for me it doesn’t), but definitely keep if it does. Body washes with woody, earthy, or atmospheric notes that smell clean, like cedar, palo santo, or bergamot have no price point. When you pump an earthy, $10 soap out of a minimalist bottle, it feels incredibly luxurious, as does a $5 one, and a $60 one.

In my experience, you can have the visual quiet of a high-end spa without making your shower totally unlivable or unrealistic. Leave the everyday basics in the matching bottles, bring in your treatments only when you need them, keep your towels in black, white, or a neutral color at any price point, and let your favorite scents do the rest of the heavy lifting.