These holiday scented bath bombs are just perfect for a hot bath on a cold, dark night. They also make perfect stocking stuffers as they come together in a jiffy and still look super impressive to the uninitiated 😉
I no longer recommend making this as it no longer lives up to my formulation standards. These bath bombs are much better!
Bath bombs are basically a dry version of the baking soda (USA / Canada) and vinegar volcanoes you made as a kid in science class. So, instead of vinegar, we use citric acid, giving us a powder we can pack into wee pucks that fizz like mad when dropped into a tub of water.
I’ve scented these bath bombs with my favourite Christmas smells—nostalgic fir balsam, warm cinnamon & clove, and bright orange. A bit of Turkey Red Oil (which self-emulsifies in water) softens and moisturizes the skin. If you don’t have any Turkey Red Oil you can use another liquid carrier oil, but be sure to watch for oil slicks in your tub afterwards.
The trickiest part of making bath bombs is striking a balance between enough moisture to bind them together, but not so much that they react while they dry. I’ve done this many times before… but this time I messed it up. I went back to check on my bath bombs a few days later and found them all bloated 🙁
Looking good!
Oh, crud.
So, a fix for any over-grown bath bombs. They’ll still fizz in a bath (though not as vigorously), but they look a little ugly. So, bash ’em up with a hammer and gift them in a festive jar. Waste not, want not, right?
I no longer recommend making this as it no longer lives up to my formulation standards. These bath bombs are much better!
Christmas Spice Bath Bombs
1 cup baking soda (USA / Canada)
1–3 tsp hibiscus or beetroot powder
16 drops cinnamon bark essential oil
4 drops clove bud essential oil
16 drops orange essential oil
20 drops fir essential oil2/3 cup citric acid
½ cup Epsom salt
1 tbsp Turkey Red OilMister filled with witch hazel
Place a few spoonfuls of baking soda (USA / Canada) in your DIY coffee grinder, and add the hibiscus powder and essential oils. Blend to combine. Once blended, mix it in with the rest of the baking soda (USA / Canada) and stir in the citric acid.
In a small bowl, stir the Epsom salt and Turkey Red Oil together thoroughly. Sprinkle the mixture over the baking soda (USA / Canada) and citric acid mixture and stir to combine.
Now it’s time to add just enough liquid to get the mixture to hold together in a mold. Not too much, though, or it will react during the drying phase, not in your bath. That’s why we’re using a mister (it’ll spread the moisture better) and witch hazel (for some reason the reaction isn’t as vigorous when you use witch hazel, plus they dry faster, apparently).
So, spread your mixture out in your bowl so you have as much surface area as possible, and spritz. Then stir thoroughly. And repeat until you can grab a clump of the mixture and it will hold together after a firm squeeze.
Once the mixture will hold together, pack it into a mold of your choice (I like a 1/3 cup measuring cup), and then tap it out onto a sheet of wax paper. Let dry overnight, turning once.
To use, drop in a hot bath and enjoy!
I chose Turkey Red Oil because it self-emulsifies in water, meaning no weird floating blobs of oil in your tub, or oil slicks afterwards. If you don’t have it feel free to substitute any liquid carrier oil like sweet almond, grapeseed, safflower, or olive.
Makes eight 1/3 cup bath bombs.
Hi Marie!
I was thinking along the lines of this but got hung up on that extra smell (fir balsam)! that’s an awesome holiday combination!
I found when I make your bath bombs recipe that adding the Turkey red oil to the epsom salts separately works best. Then adding the EOs to the Turkey red oil and epsom salts holds the scent longer. I add that mixture to the baking soda and citric acid and mix thoroughly. It also helps to keep the bombs from blowing up. 😀 Hope this helps. 🙂
Cathryn
PS: I LOVE YOUR BLOG!
I’m pretty sure I’ve tried that method before… I read about it on my own blog after these bombs, err, bombed out :/ I felt like quite the dolt after that haha. Thanks for reading and laughing with me! 😀
Well then…no wonder “I came up with this idea!” I read your back articles, at least once a week to catch up! Totally hilarious! I’m so glad your sense of humor is stupendous!
Great minds think alike!
Hi there!
Thanks for sharing this!
Why use Epsom salt and what kind of salt is that? What about usual salt as substitute?
Hi Eugene! Epsom salts (or magnesium sulphate) are a common ingredient in bath salts as they are said to help with muscle soreness. This may or may not be true, but yes, you can use table salt (sodium chloride) instead 🙂
Love your blog! Thanks for keeping it real 🙂
Thanks, Jeanna!
Instead of hibiscus or beetroot powder could i use arrowroot powder?
Hi Aimee! So… definitely no. The only thing they have in common is having “powder” in the name. Both hibiscus and beetroot powder/extract are pink/red, and they are what makes the bath bombs pink/reddish. Arrowroot powder is a starch that is white, so it would pretty much just be a waste of your arrowroot. Hope that helps!
Thank you. I’m new to this and appreciate your patience for what probably seemed like a silly question ☺
No worries! If you haven’t checked out my basics section yet, it’s got some great stuff in there, like my DIY For Beginners guide 🙂
I have almost everything to make these!! I have a couple of questions…I’m still pretty novice at making my own products, so I find that I can’t make a lot of the things you post, but THIS one…ooh, I can’t wait!
1. I get some of my essential oils from Mountain Rose Herbs. They have “fir needle” essential oil, but not “fir balsam”. It’s not a risk that I want to take, so should I just make sure that I get the balsam or is the needle the same thing?
2. Also, I have jojoba, argan, coconut, avocado, olive oils, but not the Turkey…should I add the Turkey red to my arsenal, or will one of the ones that I already have work just as well?
3. I have beet root powder that I got to make a tinted lip gloss. It wasn’t fine enough and just leaves grains of dried beet on your lips, lol…will that be okay for the bath bombs, or should I dump what I have in my Blendtec and see if that will make it finer?
Thank you, so much for your hard work in sharing what you do! <3
Hi Tara! Your fir needle essential oil should be perfectly fine—it may smell a bit different, but should still be very Christmas-tree-like (depending on what kind of Christmas trees you grew up with and are used to, I suppose).
I would recommend getting yourself some Turkey red oil if you like bath products since it self emulsifies in water. It is also part of my all natural Turkey red oil/guar gum combo that’s an alternative for polysorbate 20 for emulsifying small amounts of oils in water.
If your beetroot powder is roughly the consistency of table salt that’ll be fine for this application 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Hi there!! MMh I finally buckled and bought more citric acid, the stuff I have at parents storage unit is probably old by now :/ so I have a question. Are you familiar with homemade witch hazel? I can’t recall if I’ve seen you use alcohol free witch hazel on your blog at all but I assume that’s basically the same thing, as I just steep witch hazel in water… It smells very herby and I love it. Seems to work fine in place of sore bought. But I’m wondering if it’s the alcohol that helps the misting or not?
Hi Colie! I’ve never worked with homemade witch hazel before, but I do buy alcohol free witch hazel, so it should be more or less the same thing 🙂 The only thing I’d be worried about with homemade is spoilage—I’ve found homemade plant/herb infusions tend to mould quite quickly, and take whatever they’re in with them. That shouldn’t be a problem here, though, as all the moisture evaporates off quite quickly.
Hi Marie,
While on your website, I clicked on an add and I came across this site as a result… Some of their prices are better than NDA or SB. Have you seen them or used their products before?
http://www.bulkapothecary.com/
I haven’t tried ’em ’cause they’re based out of the US, and with the exchange rate the way it is (plus international shipping + brokerage fees) I find those savings vanish pretty fast. Sigh.
I love your recipes for bath bombs. I have a hard time determining how much liquid to use. I will keep practicing until I get this right.
Thanks, Nikki! Be sure to frequently test your mixture by grabbing fistfuls of it and seeing if it holds together, and stopping as soon as it does!
We had thought of beet root powder to color bath bombs, too! Are there any other natural ways to color bombs and soap bars? Are colored micas colored synthetically, and have you ever used them in bath bombs or soap? “Lab Colors” sound awful, even if FDA approved!
Hi Dee! This is a big question with lots of caveats.
I chat about soap colours here.
Micas are coloured synthetically. Because they are insoluble I avoid them in bath bombs as they leave a ring in the tub, and I find their colour to be quite weak for use in soap (I usually use oxides instead—chatted about in the above linked blog).
In general, oxides are the most reliable colourant. They are basically synthesized rust—synthesized to avoid heavy metals and the like. They are insoluble (so not great for bath bombs), stable, and reliable. They’re potent enough to be useful in small quantities, meaning you can get good colour without seriously throwing off your formula.
Plant based colourants like beetroot will oxidize when exposed to water, meaning they aren’t great for lip glosses or lotions, and because they are water soluble they cannot be used in oil based products. They’re also not very potent, meaning they aren’t too useful in cosmetics.
Hopefully that gives you somewhere to start 🙂
Hi I was wondering with the use of cinnamon essential oil if it bothers sensitive parts of the body or not? I have read that it should only be used up to .5%. Thanks
Once these bath bombs are diluted in an entire bath tub of water I think you’ll find you are wellllll below the 0.5% usage rate 🙂
Will the essential oils burn your eyes? Cinnamon or peppermint since they are hot oils? Are they safe for children who may try to open their eyes under water?
The ingredients in these bath bombs will be very diluted in an entire tub of water, but I can’t say I’ve tried to open my eyes underwater in a tub of bath-bombed water, so I’m afraid I can’t say.
Can you use another emulsifier (e.g. A vegetable based non gmo emulsifier) along with a carrier oil like almond instead of the turkey red? If do, how would I incorporate it into the recipe ? Thanks!
Hey Minna! Honestly, if you want a vegetable based non GMO emulsifier, TRO is a really great option. You could also use olivem300 or polysorbate 80; I’d probably start with 1.5 tsp each.