I will happily admit that I motored through my Unicorn Bath Parfait very quickly—the luscious, silky bubbles and bath water was far too lovely to pass up if there was still some parfait in the jar! So, when Ivan from YellowBee dropped by with some very cool screw-top test tubes I knew what had to be done—more bath parfaits, with a fresh, summery twist 😄For some reason I’ve had Five Alive on the brain—I think I made a Five Alive soap back in 2011, and something got me to thinking that I should make more Five Alive things. For those of you who might not know, Five Alive is a blend of five citrus juices that usually comes in a blue can covered in dancing fruit—according to Wikipedia it’s widely available in Canada and the UK, but less so elsewhere. Anywho—the gist of it is “yay, citrus!” plus bath time delight. Let’s dive in!
Want to watch this project instead of read it?
A bath parfait is like a delightful combination of bath salts, bubble bath, and bath bomb. If you add it to the tub while the water is still running you’ll be amazed at the wonderfully thick latte-like foam that will bless your bathwater. And then, to make things even better, the water is all wonderfully silky soft and decadent. Swoon!
I opted to use a citrusy fragrance oil instead of essential oils, but you can use either!
They’re also super easy to make, and you can have lots of fun with colours and layers and pretty things like sparkly salts. This is the perfect project for taller-than-wide transparent containers as that’ll really give the layers a chance to shine (and the thinner the container, the faster the layers will come together!).
The general gist of this is stir, stir some more, divide, stir, and then spoon away! You’ll quickly be rewarded with a wonderful bath treat that makes great gifts (or just keep it all… I won’t tell 😝).
Want to watch this project instead of read it?
Five Alive Citrus Bath Parfait
168g | 56% baking soda (USA / Canada)
84g | 28% citric acid (USA / Canada)
43.5g | 14.5% Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate (SLSa) (USA / Canada)3g | 1% citrus essential oil blend or fragrance
1.5g | 0.5% mica (orange, green, and yellow)Epsom salts, as needed (USA / Canada)
Weigh the baking soda, citric acid, and SLSa into a bowl and stir to combine, using a spatula or the back of a spoon to break up clumps. Once the powders are relatively well blended, scatter the essential oil blend or fragrance overtop and blend that in as well, stirring thoroughly and continuing to break up clumps.
Divide the powder between three bowls. Stir the orange mica into one, the green into another, and the yellow mica into the last one. The addition of the mica will make any remaining clumps extra visible, so take this opportunity to further break them up.
Now it’s time to make your parfait! You’ll want a transparent container; a taller, narrower one will make for more distinct layers. I used two of these nifty test tubes and this apothecary style jar, both from YellowBee.
Begin layering the different colours; I did orange-green-yellow-Epsom salts, repeating as necessary. I recommend spooning out each layer so you can get even cover and use the back of the spoon to smooth out each layer—shaking the jar to settle things will cause layer overlap. You’ll want to fill the container as full as possible to reduce the amount of mixing that will happen if the jar is jostled, but don’t pack the powder in or you may find it seizes up and is hard to get out of the jar.
That’s it! To use, scoop some out into your bath and enjoy the fizzy, bubbly fun. Add while the water is still running for the most bubbly fun!
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this bath parfait does’t contain any water it does not require a broad-spectrum preservative (broad spectrum preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Be sure to keep the powder dry to ensure it lasts as long as possible—don’t let any water get into the jar and it should easily last a year.
Substitutions
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 300g.
- If you don’t have/don’t want to include a surfactant, leave it out and adjust the base to 66g baking soda and 33g citric acid. This will remove the foam and leave you with just fizz.
- You can feel free to choose different colours for your bath parfait, and to use more or less mica to get the desired level of pigmentation. I’d recommend staying in the citrusy theme, though 🙂
- Scent it as you please! There are lots of wonderful citrus essential oils to choose from, as well as many citrusy fragrance oils.
i love this! all the fun of the bath bomb, without the stress of getting the perfectly wet consistency.
would you say those test tubes from yellowbee are an amount good for one bath, two? more?
I’ve been using one tube for one bath 🙂 They sure are fun!
Did you use the entire test tube at once or just pour some in?
I use the entire test tube all at once!
These are lovely, Marie. Something like this has been on my “To Do” list for awhile. My only concern has been the accumulation of gases from the combination of Baking Soda & Citric Acid in an airtight package that I have heard can cause a jar to burst or a plastic standup pouch to “Poof Up”. I can always poke a tiny hole in a plastic standup pouch, but how can I get around this anticipated problem when using an airtight vessel, like a jar or test tube? LOVE the test tube packaging!! Thank you for your advice.
Hmmm, I can’t say this is something I’ve ever encountered, but I do live somewhere very dry, so that’s hardly a surprise. I suppose if you could find a way to vacuum seal the container that would probably be best, though it obviously wouldn’t do much once the container had been opened the first time. Hmm. I’d recommend testing it in your environment and seeing what happens—I’d worry a hole to the world will invite humidity and result in clumping.
Marie, these look so lovely and fun and easy! I’m not a bath person but your description makes me want to take one! And I remember Five Alive. We used to have here in the States, but I guess I haven’t seen it for years.
Hey Kelly, You can still get 5-Alive in the States. It’s usually in the frozen juice can section. My local supermarkets carry it only in the frozen cans. Haven’t seen it in the half gallon cartons in years, though.
Hi Marley, thanks for the info. I’ll have to check it out and see if I can find it. 🙂
Thanks so much! I am adding these bath parfaits to my list of “blog projects to do when time has gotten away from me” haha!
Hi! I love your posts! So I’ve made myself the perfect face moisturizer its equal parts oil and water and I want to know if there is something that will emulsify them that is gentle to use on the face and is natural preferably! Do you know any ingredients like that?
Hey! Equal parts is a bit tricky to emulsify with most readily available emulsifying waxes—most are formulated to work with a larger water part than oil part. You might look at this project for a bit of an idea. Keep in mind you will also need a preservative to protect your product and yourself 🙂
Thank you! This was very helpful!
You’re so welcome!
Hi Marie! This is beautiful and would love to give it a try, however, I only have SCI and would like to sub that for the SLSA. Can you give me the amount that should be used? I’m not sure if it’s a 1:1 ratio
1:1 should be fine for something like this 🙂
Thanks for the great recipe Marie- looks nice and easier to do than bath bombs (which also don’t work well here on the Wet Coast!). I added a couple spoonfuls of colloidal oatmeal to- thought that would be nice !
Oooh, how lovely! Enjoy your stylish soaking 🙂
Hey Marie,
I won that eBay lot! (SO EXCITED!!!)
Included in the mix is a couple packs of SLS. I’m not a HUGE fan of it, but I hate to throw it away.
In my googling, I found this comment from SoapQueen.
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/bath-fizzies/aloe-bubble-bath-bombs/#comment-261375
Do you agree with this? Would it be ‘safe’ to us SLS in place of SLSA in recipes? (for example, the one on this post) I’m thinking of maybe scaling back the amounts…
(not trying to start a soaper opinion war, I just really respect your opinion and want to weigh that in my decision)
Any ideas what else to do with a bunch of SLS? I was thinking maybe laundry soap or dish cleaner…
(Anyone else with ideas I’d appreciate input)
PS: Thank you for doing a recipe with Dimethicone 350 recently. I’m getting a bunch of that as well that I have NO IDEA what to make with :/
(Ditto above: I’m not a fan of cones in my hair, so any ideas, sort of weather proofing my boots, would be nice. Makeup primer maybe…
Hey Nicole! Congrats on the win 🙂
SLS and SLSa are both anionic, powdered surfactants—that’s a good place to start with substitutions. Powdered SLS is ~90% active with a pH in the 9.75–10.25 range. SLSa is ~65% active with a pH in the same 5.0–7.5 range.
That means you should use ~70% the amount SLS as you would for SLSa, and you will want to be adjusting the pH, especially for any kind of leave-on application. In a project like this, which is highly diluted, I probably wouldn’t worry too much about the pH balancing (you could try making up that 30% SLSa with more citric acid… just an idea, ha). For skin care and hair care applications you will definitely want to be testing and adjusting the pH with a 50% citric acid solution to ensure you’re maintaining a pH level that’s appropriate (typically ~5.5).
All that said—SLS is also going to be stronger than SLSa, with longer-lasting bubbles. Look for recipes of mine that call for SCS—it’s a bit closer to SLS and will make for slightly easier swaps. My dishwashing paste kicks butt 🙂
You can include dimethicone 350 in lotions at 1–3% for really lovely slip; just lower the amount of oil to make room for it 🙂 You might also find this interesting! Dimethicone has lots of possible uses 🙂
Hope that helps!
Marie,
It surely does help. I’m so excited that the dishwashing paste could be a good fit because I wanted to try that. Just added some PH strips to my amazon order. I doubt I’ll do much beyond bath fizzes and the paste, but it never hurts to have supplies if I need them, lol. Thank you again for the help 🙂
No worries, happy sudsing!
How come you’re using SLS in so many of your new products?
Isn’t it one of the reasons for DIY, to lose the irritating, unhealthy ingredients?
I’ve never used SLS; I don’t even own SLS. What I’m using is SLSa, which is a totally different ingredient. It has a significantly lower pH and is much more gentle.
Ohhhh….aaaahhhhh…oh, sorry, hi! I’ve just taken a bubble bath, what can I say? 😉
I LURRRVE Five Alive, so, *BOOYAH!!!*
Oh, and I have a weird question, as always. (Don’t we all?) Soooo, I was reading, and I saw the part in the beginning where you said: “Ivan from YellowBee dropped by with some very cool screw-top test tubes”…
Question #1: Who is this Ivan?
Question #2 How do I get him to send me stuff?;-D
Question #3 I’ve noticed you say stuff like that a lot, like ____ from YellowBee/Windy Point/New Directions/ Saffire Blue/ insert company here sent me _____, and how do the rest of is reach this point where people from amazing companies send us stuff?
Thank you for dealing with my insane weirdness.
Love, Poppy!
Ivan is the owner of YellowBee here in Calgary 🙂 I think the point is where the exposure you can offer could result in additional sales and a growing customer base for them—the “can I recover the cost of this item in additional sales resulting from gifting it?” point, I suppose. I definitely always try to be transparent about what is gifted and don’t talk it up just because it was free, but I also don’t feature gifted items that are awful haha—I funnel that feedback back to the supplier so they know 🙂
Thanks so much for replying! I think you have sufficiently satisfied my curiosity! 😉
No worries!
Hi Marie, I am not trying to set off a fire storm on this topic, but can I ask why I don’t need a some amount of lipid or solubol sort of product in this recipe? It seems like the idea that you need to use a lipid or solubolizer like solubol in the bath so as not to burn the “essentials”. I want to use this recipe for kiddos and want to be sure I am not missing something. Thanks in advance for your answer. It seems like such a hot button topic so I want to be sure I am not missing something.
Hey Lynn! The Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate (SLSa) works well to solubilize the fragrance 🙂
Perfect! Thank you. Christmas stocking stuffers in the making!
Did a trial run. This recipe made about 10/11 40 ml tubes for me. I gave them to my adult daughters and their friends to try. They loved them! I made my own EO citrus-y master blend and carefully weighed it according to the recipe. They loved the aroma and they said the bubbles lasted the whole bath.
I’m so thrilled to hear it! 😀
I’ve been wanting to make these for a long time and just got around to it. I live this! So easy and pretty! And bath time is wonderful and fun! Thanks for this and all of the great recipes you create and share!
Hoooray! I’m so thrilled you’re enjoying this fun DIY 🙂 Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making!
Hi Marie
this is such a great idea and it was so easy to put together! Makes for a perfect little present too.
However, I did have an issue with it going a little solid in the jar 🙁 I guess it is a little humid here. Is there anything you would recommend in order to avoid this? maybe less fragrance? maybe some sort of powdery thing to make it stick less? lol
I have no idea and thought I would ask you before starting to experiment with it.
I would try incorporating some Natrasorb and/or dendritic salts, as I do here 🙂
Hi Marie,
This recipe looks great! I’m going to make this, I have a question however..
I’ve learned from your bath bomb posts that the polysorbate 80 makes the essential oil mix with water. In this recipe you don’t use polysorbate 80, is it the SLSa ingredient in this recipe that makes it mix? Or it just don’t mix, and you chose a safe choice of EO oils?
And if I want to add some more foam to a bath bomb recipe of yours adding SLAa, what ingredient do I replace?
I’ve tried the Ice palance recipe, with a quarter less epsom salt, replacing it with SLSa, but I don’t know if that is the right ‘logic’… 😉 Hope you can enlighten me! Thanks in advance!