4 oz. baking soda

2 oz. corn starch

2 oz. citric acid

2 oz epsom salt

1 1/2 tsp water

1 tsp essential oil

1 1/4 tsp coconut oil (olive oil works, too)

food coloring (optional–amount varies depending on your color preference)

• Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Whisk until it’s a soft, clump-less mixture.
• Combine wet ingredients in a glass bowl. I recommend a large measuring cup — the spout comes in handy. If you’re using coconut oil, you’ll need to microwave it until it’s in a liquid state.
• SLOWLY pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients, mixing constantly. If the mixture starts to fizz, you’re going too quickly. Take your time here. This is when it came in handy to have an extra set of hands.
• Once mixed, test the mixture by taking a small amount in your hands and squeeze. The mixture will still feel dry, but it should stick together. If it doesn’t stick, slowly add more water until it does.
• Fill each half of the *bath bomb mold until slightly overflowing. You want to pack this lightly. Do not pack too tight.
• Press the two halves together. This might feel unnatural, but trust me. This is what will “pack” your mixture down. Immediately remove one half of the mold gently.
• Place the bomb, mold side down, on a pan. Allow to dry out slightly (10-15 minutes), then GENTLY remove the other half of the mold. I found it easiest to flip the uncovered side into my palm, then gently lift the mold from the bomb. These are very fragile, you need a gentle and light hand.
• Let dry completely for approximately 8 hours. I recommend just letting them sit out overnight.  Store them in a sealed ziplock baggy or container.

Tips

It was an experience for sure. We learned some things along the way. This recipe totally works, but it takes some strategy and patience. There was a lot of testing and changing along the way. You’ll find your groove after your first few, promise.

I’d recommend researching the oils before selecting which ones you want to use. We didn’t. We went with oh this smells good! and oh! we could make that one a pretty color! That works, sure. But it might not be the best route to take.

Lavender. I’d recommend this. It’s a lovely scent, calming and relaxing. Lavender is known for eliminating nervous tension, reliving pain, enhancing blood circulation and treating respiratory problems. It also helps induce sleep, which worked wonderfully for me. I had a lot of trouble finding relaxation and sleeping through everything with my dad, and I slept very soundly after using this bomb.

Lemongrass + Peppermint. This one smelled amazing, but uh…I wouldn’t recommend using peppermint in a bath bomb. Both oils are excellent for relieving sore muscles (which was a happy accident that I used this one the night after getting back into running), but the two together made me feel like I was bathing in a cold bath (I wasn’t).  You know that feeling you get from icy hot?  Yeah, it was like that.

Eucalyptus. This one was lovely. We made it a beautiful blue shade (not pictured), and it smelled so nice. Eucalyptus is good for mental exhaustion (definitely experienced some of that lately). It’s also an excellent deodorant (bonus) and acts as a decongestant. Perfect for this time of year.

Overall, we had so much fun with this project. I’d totally recommend giving it a try. I ordered all the ingredients from Amazon Prime, and we’ve put them in a special place because we are definitely making more bath bombs here in the near future!