I can’t believe it’s been so long since I made bath bombs. Shame on me. When I was about 12, bath bombs were the height of pampering and luxury in my pre-adolescent world. I might get one or two for Christmas and a birthday, and I would horde them for months until I felt I was sufficiently stressed to warrant pulling on into use (oh, to think being 12 was stressful—what was it, a particularly irksome book report?).
Once I started making all my own bath products, bath bombs were one of the first things that came to mind. I mean, there was no way they were worth the exorbitant prices they somehow commanded at those little stalls in the middle of the mall hallways. I was right, of course—they are mostly baking soda (USA / Canada) and salt, with citric acid for the fizzy reaction, plus colours and fragrance. And that’s it, really.
Anyhow, I felt it was high time to bring bath bombs back to the forefront of my DIYing, and I decided to start off with these pink-hued, rose-scented beauties. Heather gave me the idea to use my abandoned lip stain colourants as bath bomb dyes, and it worked brilliantly here, so expect to see more pink bath bombs in the future 😉
I chose rose, lavender, and cardamom as my essential oils to create a lightly spiced floral scent that’s exotic and luxurious, but not overpowering. It’s also wonderfully relaxing, and leaves your bathroom smelling like what you might imagine the Taj Mahal smells like.
Rose Spice Bath Bombs
1 cup baking soda (USA / Canada)
1/2 cup citric acid (USA / Canada)
1 tsp beetroot powder
2 drops rose absolute or 15 drops diluted rose absolute
10 drops lavender essential oil
5 drops cardamom essential oil1/2 cup Epsom salt (USA / Canada)
1 tbsp Turkey red oilMister filled with witch hazel
Blend the baking soda (USA / Canada), citric acid, beetroot powder, and essential oils together in a food processor and transfer to a large, wide bowl.
Blend the Epsom salts and Turkey Red Oil together in the food processor and transfer to the bowl with the baking soda (USA / Canada) mixture, stirring the 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 in the bowl/mold, 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 1/4 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.
Looking so rosy and spring-like! 🙂 I must find that beet root powder somewhere, I like to use natural colourants too. I’ve been making (and using) lots of bath bombs lately…
😀 There’s nothing quite like a bath bomb to make one forget (however temporarily) that it is still snowing outside 😛
Hi Marie,
The kids are making bath bombs at 7 years old these days. My little grand-daughter and her friend were given a bath bomb kit to play with and yours truly was chosen as the designated overseer and boss. Great fun withpink powder all over the place and trials in the kitchen sink! They are selling kits now (complete with safety goggles, measuring jugs, colouring etc.) a good afternoon was had by all. I see a new lip gloss box has arrived box in the house. One way of staying young! Your timing is good with Easter coming up.
Best regards George.
How fun! And what a great way to get them excited about chemistry at a young age 🙂 Your lucky grandchildren will never have to suffer the bath bomb drought that I did in my youth 😛 And for Easter, if you dug up an old plastic Easter egg, you could make awesome egg-shaped bath bombs 🙂
Hi Marie! I like bath bombs – especially if they have skin nourishing ingredients like goatsmilk powder etc. My question with this recipe is- does the beetroot stain the bath? Also – I am thinking of trying your beetroot lip gloss. Is the list of ingredients supposed to have honey in it? Cheers, Jane
Hi Jane! With these bath bombs there’s only about 1/8 tsp (or less) of beetroot powder per bath bomb, so I haven’t experienced any staining at all.
Good catch on the beetroot lip gloss! No, it’s not supposed to have honey in it, though you could add a wee bit if you wanted to. I was going to include it originally, but elected to leave it out as beetroot is quite sweet on its own, and I like to avoid extra ingredients when I can 🙂
Love the colour, and although I have the beetroot powder…(I’ve been diligently following your concoctions and have soooo many supplies now, ah, the life of a diy-er), how do you think french pink clay would work?
As always, happy to see your recipes,
Jan
Hi Jan! You could use pink clay if you want, but I’d stick with the beetroot powder. This is because the beetroot powder is water soluble, so it dissolves in your bath and mostly washes down the drain on its own. The pink clay will settle out as sediment and need to be wiped/washed out. There’s not a lot, so you might not find that to be too annoying, though. 🙂
Hi Marie! Thanks for this recipe. Love it! Do you think I could sub ground hibiscus flower for the beetroot powder?
Thanks,
Nicole
I think it would work like a charm 🙂 I’ve got loads of hibiscus powder as well, so I’ll definitely be trying it myself.
Hi Maria,
I made some bath bombs a little while ago [month ago maybe?], and they’ve been stored in an airtight container since. I popped one in my daughters bath tonight and it didnt fizz at all! What’s the shelf life of them normally? I’m trying to work out if I did something wrong…or maybe someone left the lid open for a period of time.
Hi Ravyk! The shelf life of bath bombs depends both on storage and ambient humidity. It’s really dry here, so my bath bombs store quite well out in the open (though not in the bathroom), and will last for months like that (though the scent does dissipate). If you live somewhere humid, or are storing them in the bathroom, the humidity can trigger a “slow burn” of the reaction and neutralize the bath bomb before you get a chance to use it. It sounds like you figured that out yourself by choosing to use an airtight container—maybe next time you could try wrapping them individually in clingfilm or putting them in individual zip-top bags and squeezing out as much extra air as possible? You could also try a note on the lid insisting it stay sealed at all times 😉
The other culprit can be not letting them dry enough before storing them. If there’s moisture left in the bath bombs when you store them somewhere airtight, that’ll definitely cut the shelf life short.
Hope that helps! It doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong, I’d definitely blame storage 🙂
I would love to try these, but turkey red is hard to come by in my neck of the woods, unless I’m buying it in bulk. I’m also new at all this. Can I substitute the turkey red with vegetable glycerin so I don’t get the blobs of oil floating around? my friend gave me a ton of it she isn’t going to use. I have no idea what to do with the stuff lol.
Hi Kristen! You can use glycerin, but I probably wouldn’t bother for something as huge as a bath since it’s not likely to have much of an effect. There are tons of things you can do with glycerin, though—here’s a search of my site with all the recipes that use it 🙂
Hi Marie,
A newbie here. Tried to do the bath bombs the first time today and not sure what I did wrong, but they keep growing…
Could It be because I used too much witch hazel distillate?
Thanks for your help!
Hi Inam! That sounds like classic too-much-witch-hazel. Do you live somewhere very humid? That could also be causing the bath bombs to react and swell.
Hey Marie! I am planning to make this for Christmas, yay! I looking for the ingredients now, and I am wondering, how many bombs do I get from this recipe? Also, what is a good size for the bombs? Like an ice-cream spoon-size? I am making them as a gift so I don’t want to end up with too little ingredients, thus too little amount of bombs. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Hi Andrea! Yield is 100% dependent on how big each bath bomb is. This recipe makes about 2 cups of mix, so if you use a 1/3 cup measure as mould you’ll get 6 bath bombs out of it. I find anything from 1/4–1/3 cup is a good size 🙂
Thank you so much, my epsom salt arrived today so I can finally make them! 🙂
Woo! Have fun 🙂
I’ve seen some recipes where cornstarch is used to make bath bombs. Can you tell me what cornstarch does for making the bath bombs?
Hi Maria! Cornstarch is generally added for a smooth post-bath feel and an inexpensive bulking agent. I don’t use it because I’ve read it can cause yeast infections… this seems to be up for debate, but I’ve never missed it and didn’t feel like being a guinea pig for that one!
Could you use the beetroot powder to turn the bath water red or pink? Do the bath bombs above turn the bath water pink?
Hi Kat! If you used enough beetroot powder it would turn your bath pink, but I think you’d need at least a tablespoon or two to notice anything, so these bath bombs definitely won’t make a dent 🙂
Hi! Thanks for the recipe. I found mine wouldn’t tap out of the measuring cup- I had to use a knife and they’ve come out a lot messier. Why do you think it stuck?
Hi Sara! It sounds like you might not have found the right moisture level. I’d guess they might have been too dry as it sounds like they didn’t stick together as well as they should have. You can also try lightly greasing the cup in the future 🙂
Hi, Marie: For beetroot powder, would rose-coloured mica work instead?
Yup! Probably even better than beetroot powder, as it won’t oxidize 🙂
thanks! C
Hi! I’m struggling with getting my bombs to be red without staining a tub. I’ve opted not to use additional ingredients other than the coloring, so food coloring won’t work, is this possible? Do you have a measurement for the beet root that will make my bombs red without staining?
Good morning!
Red is a difficult colour! As mentioned in the article, “A Quick Guide to Colourants“, beet root will make a pretty looking bath bomb, but nothing will happen in your tub. Food colouring is not something I’d recommend to use when making bath bombs so it’s a good thing you’ve already opted not to use them! The only real way to get a true red bath bomb or red bath water from a bath bomb is from water-soluble cosmetic colourants.
I made these today with hibiscus powder – worked perfect 😉
I’m so thrilled to hear it! Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂