These pretty blue nuggets of fizzy, pine-scented goodness are the perfect accompaniment to a hot bath on a cold winter day. They’ll tumble in the bath water, fizzing away and releasing a fresh, wintery scent blend of pine, fir, and vanilla along with skin-softening ingredients like Epsom salts and baking soda. These Winter Wonderland Bath Bombs are also the last Winter Wonderland recipe of the season as we come close to wrapping up my Holiday gift idea recipes!
Want to watch this project instead of read it?
Bath bombs are basically a dry version of that baking soda and vinegar volcano we all made as kids. The baking soda part stays the same, and for the acid we’re using citric acid, which has the bonus of smelling much nicer than vinegar (citric acid doesn’t really smell like anything) in addition to being dry. We’ll mix the baking soda and citric acid together with some good-for-skin things like Epsom salts and safflower oil, add some colour and essential oils, and then use the smallest amount of liquid possible to hold them together. Too much and they’ll react with themselves before they hit the bath, so it’s important to be as sparing as possible.
You can use water in a mister bottle if that’s all you’ve got, but I highly recommend using witch hazel instead. I find the mixture reacts less with witch hazel, and the finished formed bath bombs dry out much faster as well—double bonus! Water or witch hazel, you’ll definitely want that mister—it makes it possible to add teensy amounts of moisture to the dry mixture and get that teensy amount very well dispersed from the get go.
In order to incorporate the oils as well as possible, I like to blend them with some of the baking soda in a blender or food processor before we do anything else. I’ve got a mini food processor that I picked up at Value Village for a couple dollars that I use for projects like this, but your normal blender or food processor will work—some detergent and hot water will easily clear out any remnants of the mixture, as long as you’re using essential oils. I’ve found fragrance oils to be darn near impossible to get out of things, especially plastic things, which could mean your next batch of spinach dip smells weirdly like trees and perfume. So, if that’s your thing I highly recommend getting a DIY-only mixer. Because of the quantities we’re working with, your DIY-only coffee grinder isn’t a great choice here; with a full 15mL/tablespoon of liquid, I would be worried about that seeping down into the motor of the grinder and ruining it.
With bath bombs it’s always very tempting to add all kinds of colours and herbs and glitter and stuff… but one must remember that all of that will either be going down the drain, or getting scrubbed out of the tub! For that reason, water soluble stuff is a great option as it’ll dissolve in your bath water and wash down the drain with little to no fuss. For pigment, I used a touch of indigo root, which is potent enough that we don’t need much, so there’s fairly little clean up to worry about. I’ve included an emulsifier (olivem 300) to help the safflower oil fully emulsify with your bath water so you don’t have to worry about oil slicks. I did put some wintery glitter in mine, a la LUSH, but it can make a bit of a tub mess, so that’s totally optional. It is pretty awesome for the littler ladies, though!
Once everything comes together you’ve got a great Christmas gift that smells like a forest with a hint of vanilla. They’re lovely in a hot bath on a cold day, and I think you’ll like these Winter Wonderland Bath Bombs.
Want to watch this project instead of read it?
Winter Wonderland Bath Bombs
1 cup baking soda (USA / Canada)
3/4 cup citric acid (USA / Canada)
3/4 cup Epsom salts
2 tsp olivem 300 or Polysorbate 20 or Turkey Red Oil
1 tsp safflower oil (You can substitute another lightweight oil like sweet almond, grapeseed, or sunflower seed)1/2–1 tsp white glitter (optional)
1/32 tsp indigo root or blue ultramarine (I use these tiny measuring spoons for tiny measurements like this)2 “blobs” benzoin essential oil
16 drops fir essential oil
10 drops pine essential oilMister filled with witch hazel (water is also ok if you don’t have witch hazel)
Measure the baking soda, olivem300, safflower oil, indigo root, and essential oils into a food processor or blender, and blend until you have a uniform mixture.
Transfer the blue baking soda mixture into a large, wide bowl and whisk in the citric acid, Epsom salts, and white glitter until the mixture is uniform.
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 (the reaction isn’t as vigorous when you use witch hazel, plus the bath bombs dry faster).
So, spread your mixture out in your bowl so you have as much surface area as possible, and spritz. Then quickly stir/whisk thoroughly. Repeat until you can grab a clump of the mixture and it will just hold together after a firm squeeze.
Once the mixture will hold together, firmly pack it into a mold of your choice (I like a ¼ 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! This recipe will make about 8 quarter-cup bath bombs.
The ultramarine will react with the citric acid in th bath and a very unpleasant scent is released. I think I would stick with the indigo. Thanks for sharing this one. Bath bombs make an amazing gift!
Ah, good call! I’ve heard that ultramarines can smell sulphury, but I’ve yet to encounter such a situation, and thanks to you, I’ll continue to avoid them 😀 Happy making!
These look lovely Marie…and right up my alley in the scent department. I will be making these little beauties to add to my stash for the Christmas holidays. Its going to involve living in my pjs, yummy nibbles, wine, books (one of them yours), netflix and lots of soaking in the bath..can’t wait 🙂
Ooooh, lovely! That sounds divine 😀 Enjoy!
Hey Marie,
do you know if it would make a difference to us ordinary castor oil? i cant find it here (europe :-))
Martina, Soapkitchen in the UK sell Turkey Red Oil. And they ship internationally (and have great products). Castor oil won’t work because it isn’t a solubiliser.
Thanks! 😀
Yes, it definitely would—Firegirl is right 🙂
Hi Marie, I just love your recipes and look forward to your posts. I already have fir and benzoin, but I don’t have pine. Can I use black spruce or camphor instead?
Absolutely! Spruce would be a great choice 🙂
It’s so sad this is the last Winter Wonderland recipe!
I’ve been enjoying them so much. I’d have to say my favourite is the lip gloss, following by the lined blue soap for it provided lots of inspiration and finally made me try apricot kernel oil and rice bran oil in my soap making! The lotion the other day- I made it with a wee drop of two of cocoa absolute and a few of benzoin and made me think of adult beverages. My co-worker stole mine from my purse so I have to make more this morning!
And. I think I need to make more chocolate lip butters. Not because I need more, because I want more! And because it cost 22rmb for a kilo of food grade soy lethicin (compared to the 27+shipping for 30mL) I’ve got so much soy lethicin to go through!
Aww, well thank you! Cocoa + benzoin = LOVE. NOM. I’m impressed that you aren’t licking your co-worker haha! Also, you never cease to amaze me with the quantities of things you manage to source LOL. Do you live in a 3 bedroom home that is now a 1 bedroom, 2 large pantry home? 😛
Where can I send a picture of my soap room? Two bedroom house and really need a bigger kitchen. My contract is up for renewal soon and I’m trying to bite my tongue for an apartment upgrade. Because moving would be worse!
The benzoin story is hilarious. I tried out benzoin when I first started visiting your blog but the oil must not have been of good quality as it rank something fierce. And couldn’t figure out why you used it. Then I learnt I had bad quality stuff. Then found another seller to buy from. They did not have benzoin or mango butter or various clays or or or or or. They were just starting out selling stuff for soaping so only really sold the stuff they liked to use.
Then I came around.
With my do you know where I can buy tamanu oil from? “Moringa? Nigella seed oil? Sea buckthorn? Beeswax in soap? Huh?” Now, at that time my Chinese was pretty bad and I couldn’t write anything so had to go through a friend to translate everything. Oh dear lord those were the days! I think I’ve out their kid through university by now! I know I’ve sent them on their trip to Bulgeria to get their rose essential oil that they keep trying to sell me!
So in October I finally got a message from them saying, you’re really going to love us, we got benzoin essential oil in. But we aren’t sure if it is what you are looking for. It’s extremely thick and doesn’t come out of the dropper. I did the happy dance cause they finally found it after a few years of looking. I bought it, then finally understood why it’s loved!
I made the wonderland lotion the other day (bruised my hands trying to tube it!) and scented it with clove and benzoin and called it, “Black Clove Rum” to give to my students fathers for Christmas presents as I taught them about pirates at Hallowe’en and thought it’d be cute!
And yes. Cocoa and benzoin oil with a few drops of orange to lighten it a little, my tiny baby humans actually licked my arm the first time I wore it cause they thought I was wearing food.
If you can share it on the HB&M Facebook page that would be pretty perfect!
That is an awesome benzoin story! I’m glad you figured out you got a bad batch to start with as it would’ve heartbreaking to have you write it all off from a bad first experience. Cue you wanting to add benzoin to pretty much everything from now on 😀 I love how it’s vanilla-like, but not cloyingly sweet like a lot of the vanilla fragrance oils. NOM. It’s also amazing in perfume! And soap! And lip balm! Benzoin ALL THE THINGS!
Can i use polysorbate 80 instead of 20?
Yup!
Hi there ! I was just wondering if you use Witch Hazel with or without the alcohol in it ? Thank you so much for all your Recipes !!!
I use the without alcohol stuff, but either will work for this recipe. The stuff with alcohol might even be a better choice as it’ll dry faster!
so I have been wondering is there a way to create a hybrid of your bath bombs and your bath melts? A fizzy bath melt? I love the wow factor of the bath bomb plus the Epsom salts that go in it, and the silkiness and mistuning properties of the bath melts. So I wonder if there was a way to get both in one product as opposed to having to make two?
Hmmm, an interesting idea indeed! In theory I think it should work… hmmmm. I guess one of us will have to try it!
I’m a little worried about the smell of natural ultramarine blue. Would a blue mica work as well?
Also wondering what you think of adding cornstarch. It seems a lot of people do.
It’s an inexpensive filler that’ll leave the skin feeling silky. I think I once read that cornstarch in bath bombs can cause yeast infections which is why I haven’t in the past, but a second google doesn’t turn up anything verifiable on that front, so if you want to add some, go for it!
Yup! Just make sure the colour in it doesn’t come from ultramarine, ha. For what it’s worth I’ve never experienced an issue with the smell of ultramarines 🙂
How many does this make?
Please refer to the last sentence of the recipe 🙂
HI Marie, what about the option of adding Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate to the mixture to make the bath bomb bubbly! What would the ratio have to be for a recipe like this? Thanks so much! Love your recipes.
I’ve done it for other recipes, like this one 🙂 Refer to that for some ideas!
What does the Olivem do?
I’ve included an emulsifier (olivem 300) to help the safflower oil fully emulsify with your bath water so you don’t have to worry about oil slicks.
This looks so good! What a fun gift to make for friends!
Thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Yes, these will store for years if kept cool and dry 🙂