Saturday, 10 November 2007

Make Your Own Bath Bomb!

I remember excitedly telling a friend of mine (he's a guy by the way) about the first time I made a bath bomb and he goes "Ewwww, I don't want to know what you do in the toilet." Well, lucky for you, that wasn't what I made and that's not what I'm going to teach you how to make.

A bath bomb or bath fizzie is a ball that when dropped into a tub of water effervesces, basically meaning it fizzes and releases scent, colour or other properties in to the water depending on what it's made of. It is a combination of bicarbonate of soda and citric acid. When combined and added to water creates a chemical reaction and carbon dioxide is released.

Basic Bath Bomb

There are many good recipes for the most basic of bath bombs and you can find one here, here and here

Bath bomb moulds and colourants can be found at Brambleberry if you are living in the U.S and Aussie Soap Supplies if you live in Australia. Links are on my sidebar.

Tip: Don't have a mould? Cut a tennis ball in half, makes a lovely mould. In fact cut open any hollow ball in half and it'll pretty much do the trick.

You can add almost anything your little heart desires like salts, fine oatmeal, oils, milk powders, honey powder, herbs, flowers, cornstarch and the list goes on. Do check out some great recipes for bath bombs at Bath and Body Recipes or At Home with Arista after you are familiar with the technique. Again, links are on the sidebar.

Hereare a list of other fun things you can do involving bicarbonate of soda and citric acid like making a rocket!

Lush Handmade Cosmetics has obtained cult status here in Australia and their bath bombs are part of what projected them to fame. Celebrities like Kylie Minogue and Halle Berry are big fans of Lush.

Below is their bestseller bath bomb called the Butterball.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cocao), Synthetic Musk, Ylang Ylang Oil (Cananga odorata), Perfume.

Let's make this clear now; it doesn't have your usual kind of butter in it, the kind of butter that comes from cows. It does have cocoa butter, made from the roasted seeds of the cocoa bean, to condition and soften your skin to make it gloriously smooth to the touch. As the Butterball fizzes into oblivion, the bathroom is scented with ylang ylang with a touch of (synthetic*) musk and a hint of chocolate from the tiny shavings of cocoa butter that melt in the water's warmth. Your whole body will be moisturised and perfumed so beautifully that you won't want to put your clothes back on. Use Butterball just before bedtime or whenever you're going to wear something that reveals an expanse of bare skin.

The picture and passages above are taken from the Lush Australian Website. I used Lush as an example because of their popularity and because this particular bath bomb is notoriously easy to make. I am assuming by now you have already read the basic bath bomb recipe. Please do so as I'm running quickly through the instructions and not covering everything.

Basic Butterball Bath Bomb

  • 1 cup bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 cup citric acid
  • 1/2 cup grated cocoa butter
  • Musk Fragrance Oil (to your liking)
  • Ylang Ylang Essential Oil (to your liking)
  • 60 mm bath bomb moulds

1. Combine the bicarbonate of soda and citric acid and run it through a sieve. This makes it easier to work with as bicarbonate of soda tends to clump and form hard little balls.
2. Add the fragrance and essential oil and blend well.
3. The trick to getting grated cocoa butter is to use a drum grater. Cocoa butter melts at skin temperature and the less you touch it, the better. Add the grated cocoa butter.
4. Spritz lightly with witch hazel while stirring continuously until you get to the stage where the mixture JUST sticks. Yes, a little bit of cocoa butter will melt, we can't help that.
5. Pack the mixture into both halves of the mould and squish together. Let dry for a few minutes, pop out and let dry for a further 3 - 4 hours on wax paper.

Should make about 4 bombs. Well, you know what? You just made 4 butterball bath bombs that would've otherwise cost you AUD 5.95 each.

1 cup bicarbonate of soda (AUD 0.50)
1/2 cup citric acid (AUD 0.48)
1/2 cup grated cocoa butter (AUD 3.60)

AUD 0.50 + AUD 0.48 + AUD 3.60 = AUD 4.58

You get 4 bath bombs for less than the price of 1 Lush bath bomb! I just amazed myself. I never bothered to do the calculations before. I only knew it was cheaper, now I know how much cheaper.

Discounting the price of the fragrance and essential oil because I don't know how much you will be adding...but still!

I hope you enjoyed that. Bath bombs are so fun to make and fantastic to use. Have a great weekend! I leave you with another pretty picture of a bath bomb from Lush. Another bestseller called the Sex Bomb.

Lush Official Website
Lush Australia Website


Kevin said...

You should have said how I thought it was real edible food hahah, your chocolate bomb or something

LoveMichie said...

That was before you saw what it looked like! :)

Kennytheshark said...

Awesome and delicious looking. A chocolate bomb sounds like a great idea; how about cocoa powder?

LoveMichie said...

It does sound yummy doesn't it? Cocoa powder is an excellent addition to a bath bomb!

Chacy said...

How much musk and ylang ylang did you use? I'm thinking 1 tspn of each?

Ann said...

Do you know where I can get solid cocoa butter in NSW, Australia? I've been thinking of making a Butterball for my friend.

LoveMichie said...

Hi Ann, yes I normally order from these three suppliers.

If you don't want to order online, you can usually find cocoa butter in the chocolate section at a specialist health food store.

Neelam said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...

If anyone is looking to use herbs/botanicals in their bombs I used dried orange peel in mine with some Satsuma fragrance oil, and they came out wonderfully.

Here's a link.

Anonymous said...

Can you use shea butter or does it have to be cocoa?

Anonymous said...

Do you know how to make their lemon moisterizer soap? It is great the winter when our skin gets so dry!