In the midst of finals, the excuse to take a break and relax can seem like something out of a dream. I’m going to be honest — up until I attempted this project, I had never looked at Lush Cosmetic’s Instagram and I have never stepped foot into a store. I’m not a huge bath person, but the swirling colors had me sold. 

With the holidays coming up, these bath bombs are a great option for a DIY gift that won’t break the bank and will have a certain air of classiness to them. I’m going to admit that these bath bombs were an adventure, and it took me about five mini-batches divided from doubling the recipe we found online. In addition, we used old Easter eggs as the molds rather than buying molds, but some people have suggested using two halves of an ornament, while others have just used cupcake liners in a muffin tin.

What You Need

– 12 oz. baking soda

– 6 oz. citric acid (found in the canning aisle of Walmart or online)

– 6 oz. corn starch

– 6 oz. Epsom salts

– 3 teaspoons of olive oil

– essential oils

– food coloring

– whisk

– mixing bowl

– bath bomb mold

– water in a spray bottle

Instructions

1. Combine the baking soda, citric acid and Epsom salts in the mixing bowl.

2. In a small jar or container, mix the olive oil and food coloring.

3. Slowly, and in small amounts, pour the liquid ingredients into the mixing bowl fully combining the ingredients.

4. Mix the ingredients with your hands, adding a very small amount of water so when you squeeze it together in your hands, it maintains shape.

5. Pour into the mold, packing it down tightly.

6. Allow them to dry overnight.

Bath bombs are full of ingredients that are ripe with therapeutic ingredients that are perfect for relaxation. The Epsom salts are used to give the bath a more therapeutic soak and are helpful for sore or stiff muscles. The baking soda softens the water and also helps to counteract the possibility of irritation from the citric acid. The essential oils can also add an therapeutic aspect to the bath bombs. Also, certain fragrances are known to provide different effects. For example, Lavender is known to have a relaxing effect while peppermint is known to have an invigorating effect. My favorite scents are usually vanilla, which has a calming effect, and grapefruit, which has an uplifting effect. Some people have also suggested using tea as a scent as well, which seems like a good combination.

So the caveat of this recipe is to limit the amount of water you use as much as possible  to limit the amount of fizzing that occurs whenever you combine the liquid ingredients with the dry ingredients. The first three batches I made, I ended up using too much water because the recipe said the consistency of wet sand. In actuality, it’s more like the consistency of actual sand with a little, tiny bit of water.

My suggestion for making them Christmas-present ready is to make them either in the large bath bomb molds or ornaments and wrapping one in a piece of wax paper in a small burlap pouch with a cute ribbon. Another alternative is to make them in cupcake liners with a bunch of different colors, tie them together with a ribbon and put them in a clear bag with a ribbon at the top. Or you can combine this project with a few others for soaps, sugar scrubs and candles and make a small spa set to gift.