The Good Life: About Face

Get baby-soft skin all over with a new at-home facial

You know how gratifying it feels when you painstakingly follow a recipe — step by step — and your dish actually resembles and tastes the way the cookbook claimed it would? Well, that's exactly how I've been feeling each time I treat myself

You know how gratifying it feels when you painstakingly follow a recipe — step by step — and your dish actually resembles and tastes the way the cookbook claimed it would? Well, that's exactly how I've been feeling each time I treat myself to the new at-home Intense Hydra Masks from Dr. Dennis Gross's MD Skincare Line: slightly tickled, and admittedly self-satisfied.

I was skeptical when I first heard about the masks – in-spa and so-called “medical” facials are indulgences I happily and regularly shell out for. But unlike other messy at-home facial kits, this one had me at the packaging: Inside a compact orange box come six individually wrapped packets of … goo, plus a fan-shaped brush, mini mixing cup and a small bottle of über-moisturizing Hyaluronic Gel. Simple instructions on the back made the process even simpler than a Rachel Ray ragu recipe: First, I schmeared the so-moisturizing gel all over my face and neck (and feet!). Next up was a self-heating mask that, spookily and amazingly, warms without burning. After watching The Bachelor finale with said concoction on my face for 15 minutes, I wiped off the gunk and revealed to the world (or, um, my boyfriend) my new baby's-buns-soft skin. Now, my winter-dry forehead is flaky no more, my feet are soft as silk and my cheeks are simply begging to be pinched.

So, no, I'm not rushing to cancel my monthly (or more) facial appointments around town. But the next time my face (and, yes, my feet) need a little mid-month TLC, I'll be happy to whip up the Dr. Gross goodies I now happily stash at home.

$60 at Bluemercury, 1707 Walnut Street, 215-569-3100; mdskincare.com.