Homemade Essential Oil Bath Bombs

The fizz-whizzing fun of dropping a bath bomb into a steaming hot bathtub is one of those small pleasures, guaranteed to make you smile every time. But, when did you last buy yourself a bath bomb and indulge in this oh-so-pleasurable sensation? We think we may already know the answer to that question…

Maybe it’s just us, but it would never occur to us to buy one! We just wait patiently until some kindly person runs out of other ideas for presents and a fragrant, fizzy bath bomb comes our way.

Cost vs. value

We have a sneaking suspicion that very few people would consider buying bath bombs for themselves. We also suspect that the reason we deny ourselves this little bathtime treat is down to cost. A quick online search reveals an average cost per perfumed ‘bomb’ of around £3 and quite a lot more than that for one of the more fancy ‘natural’ brands. Now, we reckon that’s rather a lot to pay for a one-off sweet-scented wallow in a tub, no matter how enjoyable it may be.

DIY!

So, how about we let you into the secret of how to make your own essential oil bath bombs? Trust us when we say it’s simple and inexpensive. Best of all, you get to choose the fragrance and can have no end of fun experimenting with blends to suit different moods.

 

Essential Oil Bath Bomb Recipe

Ingredients:

225g bicarbonate of soda

110g citric acid

110g cornflour

110g Epsom salts

1 tbsp water

3 tbsp oil (almond, avocado, grapeseed, jojoba and fractionated coconut all work well)

20-30 drops of essential oils (try relaxing lavender, exotic ylang ylang or woody Sandalwood. Or make your own blend)

3-5 drops food colouring (optional)

 

 

Instructions:

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Using a hand whisk may help to break down any lumps and make sure they’re really thoroughly mixed.

Mix the liquids in another bowl (or shake in a lidded container if you have one handy). If you’re using food colouring, then make sure the colour is mixed in thoroughly.

Slowly pour the liquid mix into the dry ingredients at the same time as mixing. If you’re too quick, you’ll hear the mixture fizzing but all you need to do is to stir faster and it’ll stop.

You may not need to use all the liquid, so keep testing as you go. Stop adding when you can pinch the mixture into some kind of shape. If you run out of liquid, just add a little more oil.

Pack the mixture very tightly into metal muffin or bun tins. Fill muffin tins ¾ full and bun tins to the top. You can make your homemade bath bombs look super-cute by putting some rose petals or dried herbs into the tins and then packing the mixture on top.

Don’t leave them to dry out in the tins but carefully remove them straight away and leave them in a dry place for a few hours or overnight.

 

Get soaking

Now you’re ready to drop one of your homemade essential oil bath bombs into a steaming hot bath, enjoy the fragranced fizz and relax… Better still, this fizzy fun can now be a regular thing! And, before you know it, you’ll be parcelling up your sweetly scented effervescent treats and presenting them as gifts to your very fortunate friends and family!

So, now you know why it’s great to make your own bath bombs. Why not get busy?