Years ago, I lived in a hip neighborhood in San Diego that was walkable. My husband and I absolutely loved it. We could go to dinner and a movie or even do some shopping all within a few blocks of our apartment. One of the stores I vividly remember was Lush – a bath and body store that had an entire wall with baskets full of colorful and fragrant bath bombs.
Bath bombs are perfect spheres of molded baking soda, epsom salt and citric acid that fizz when dropped in the bath. It’s almost like those packets of bath fizzies from the health food store – except Lush made them into cute tennis ball shapes.
While I love bath bombs, I don’t love the price tag. It’s typically $7-9 per 6-8 oz bath bomb. Now considering you can only use one bath bomb per bath that’s a HUGE expense. I love relaxing in a warm tub – but not at $9 a pop.
The other issue I have is that while they claim to have natural ingredients – I just don’t know for sure. The scents are so strong I can’t really go into the store anymore without feeling overwhelmed by fragrances. I know there’s synthetics in there.
Plus, while the colors of the bath bombs look great the idea of bathing in artificial food coloring is a huge turn off. I don’t want to bath in chemicals – let alone artificial food colors (which will probably end up staining my tub anyway).
For me, I’d rather make my own to save money and know EXACTLY what’s going into my bath. So I came up with this simple Homemade Bath Bombs you can make at home with just a few ingredients.
There are a few ways you can mold these Homemade Bath Bombs. I used clear holiday ornaments (used to insert photos to make your own ornaments) as the mold to make the perfect sphere for these Lush-inspired bath bombs. They take a little more work as you’ll need to mold them, and then set in a muffin tin to air dry.
Another option is to use silicone cupcake liners. This is a great option to make a lot at once without a lot of fuss. Just line a muffin tin with the cupcake liners and add the mixture to each liner. I pack it down a little so when it sets it has a natural muffin top look. They look absolutely adorable.
I came up with this idea to wrap up each of the Homemade Bath Bombs. Just get clear cellophane bags and add some cute recycled paper grass (I used red to make it festive) to it. Top with the Homemade Bath Bomb and tie with a cute ribbon. I pre-made these for an essential oils make-and-take party at my house and they were a HIT!
Ingredients
- 2 cups baking soda
- 1 cup Epsom salt
- 1 cup citric acid
- 1 tbsp almond oil
- 1 tbsp water
- 8-10 drops essential oils (where to buy), such as Lavender or Ylang Ylang
- 12-15 clear holiday ornament molds
- 12 muffin tin
Instructions
- 1. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together well.
- 2. Add water, almond oil and essential oils in a small bowl. Mix well.
- 3. Very slowly add wet mixture to dry ingredients, and mix well. You may notice some fizzing - just keep stirring. (Note: Don't dump the entire wet mixture at once as it will activate the baking soda and citric acid. It's important to stir it in very slowly.)
- 4. Test mixture. You should be able to clump it together to mold. It shouldn't be too wet or too dry. If it's too dry, add 1 tsp of almond oil as needed.
- 5. Open ornament mold and scoop mixture with both ends to form a ball.
- 6. Place mold in a muffin tin and allow to dry overnight (at least 8 hours) at room temperature.
- 7. Remove mold and test to make sure mold has set. You can let it air dry more to keep it's shape.
Notes
Double this recipe to fill out a 12-cup muffin tin. Each bath bomb ranges from about 6-9 oz - depending on the size of the molds.
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