With perpetually cold fingers and toes (no really, ask my husband—it’s a problem!), there’s really nothing quite like a hot bath to warm you up. Except maybe a hot bath accompanied by some reading, hot tea, and a delicious smelling homemade bath bomb! I recently made these green tea and lemon bath bombs. They are SO fun to use and pretty easy to make.
Some of you might remember last winter when I shared my foolproof method for making your own bath bombs at home. The method is exactly the same (but I’ll go ahead and repeat it here in case you don’t feel like clicking over), but the ingredients have changed slightly. Other than the essential oil and molds, you can pretty much find all these ingredients at a regular grocery store, or at least I was able to.
Supplies:
8 oz. baking soda
4 oz. corn starch
4 oz. citric acid (found in canning sections or online)
4 oz. epsom salt
3 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon lemon essential oil
2 teaspoons coconut oil
2-3 drops of green food coloring (optional)
3-4 bags of green tea, any brand you prefer
molds
mixing bowl
This will make 3-4 bath bombs depending on your mold size.
In a bowl combine the dry ingredients (the first four listed above). Whisk to remove any clumps; corn starch tends to be clumpy. In a small glass jar stir together the wet ingredients (water, essential oil, coconut oil, and food coloring if using). If you’re using coconut oil, give it a quick melt in the microwave or on the stovetop first so it will more easily combine with the other ingredients.
Slowly pour the liquid mixture in with the dry mixture, whisking as you go. If you see the mixture fizz or foam, you may be adding the liquid too quickly. Once all the wet ingredients are combined with the dry, take a small amount in your hand and squeeze it together. It should stick together fairly well in one or two big chunks. If it’s still too powdery to hold together, just add a tiny bit more water and mix until it does hold together.
Then fill each half of your bath bomb molds with some of the green tea leaves and then the mixture until it’s overflowing just a little. Press together, then gently remove one side of the mold. Place the bath bomb on a tray and allow to dry out just a little (10-12 minutes) before removing the other side. As you can see in the photo above, I set the side that still had half the mold (the bottom) on top of some baking soda so it would not roll around my work surface as it dried.
Once you are ready to remove the other side, gently invert the bath bomb so the uncovered side is facing down, then gently remove the other half of the mold from the top. The key word, if you haven’t noticed, is gently. These can fall apart on you very easily if you’re not careful. If a bath bomb does crack in half while you’re removing it, you can gently press it back on top of the other half, or move all the mixture back to the mixing bowl and start the molding process again. I had this happen to a few, so don’t fret. It’s easy to fix.
Here’s a quick video tutorial:
Once they are completely out of the mold, allow them to dry out for 8 hours or overnight. Once very dry, you can wrap them in plastic wrap or wax paper and store in a dry spot until you want to use them. I put the green tea string tags in the side of my bath bombs just because I thought it was cute. Then when I wrapped them in wax paper to store them, I left the tag sticking out. 🙂
Some of the dry green tea leaves may sprinkle off as you unmold or wrap these to store, but no biggie. If you want to try to avoid this though, you can mix the green tea into the mixture before molding. Up to you.
The green tea leaves are similar to adding dried flower buds, you likely will need to rinse or wipe down your bathtub after enjoying. This only takes about a minute if you have a glass handy (I just enjoyed one of these the other night and was able to rinse out my tub in less than a minute). But if you really can’t stand the extra work you could mix in a teaspoon of matcha green tea powder instead of using tea leaves. Either way I think you deserve an at home spa day. 🙂 Enjoy! xo. Emma
Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.
37 Comments
That’s so cool! I never thought about making my own bath bombs!
I loved it. Wanna try with this and a lot of more scents. 🙂
http://www.loveandeverythingblog.com
I bet these smell amazing! Lovely combination of scents!!
This is such a good idea and they look so pretty! Must try! x
http://www.shayholly.co.uk
Beautiful, I haven’t found citric acid where I live but I definitelly want to try this, XO!
http://www.carolinae.com
You can find it in the canning section at Walmart, but if you are thinking about making them in bulk, I wouldn’t waste my time at WallyWorld and order off of Amazon.
Looks like a great project to try!
http://www.shehlagrr.com/2015/12/diy-coconut-lime-body-scrub.html
These always seemed to be so difficult to make but this looks totally doable! Awesome!
This is such an awesome idea! Had never thought of making my own bath bombs before.
It’s usually in the canning section as that’s what it is most commonly used for. You can always buy it online. 🙂
-Emma
Careful! Cold pressed Lemon essential oil can irritate some peoples’ skin and also cause photo toxicity even when highly diluted. A good alternative to the lemon essential oil is using dried lemon zest instead.
I LOVE these! I’m all about hot baths in winter (my feet are perpetually cold, too, so I hear you on this one!), and I love experimenting with various bath salts and foams. But I’ve always thought that making bath bombs was difficult – now you’ve proven me wrong. I need to give this a try!
I made bath bombs with my girl scouts, and they expanded and expanded after we took them out the molds. Also, we put them in ziplock bags and they filled up with gas. Any ideas?
U made them to moist, less liquid
I can’t wait to try this! But I am feeling lazy ha, what is the citric acid for? I’m wondering if I am leave it out, or if it’s key.
Thanks!
THESE LOOK AMAZING!! Would love to try making this sometime soon 🙂
Yaz x
http://ohheyitsyazz.blogspot.co.uk
Wow, I love the scent combination! Perfect for my next bath!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
This is such a cool idea! I love bath bombs but they can get so expensive! I definitely want to try this!
http://www.themoptop.com
You may have Raynaud’s (which is what I have!). Blood flow is limited to the extremities— think fingers, toes, ears, and nose. And if one of those areas gets cold, my whole body gets chilled to the bone! Baths are my favorite way to warm up. Love bath bombs and love knowing I can make my own at home! Thanks for the recipe! (PS – the boyfriend got me fleece slippers with rice bag inserts you can heat in the microwave. I bet you could make them yourself. I highly recommend! http://www.amazon.com/Carex-Bed-Buddy-Warming-Footies/dp/B000KBLKTO)
Hi there! The citric acid is what makes them “fizz” so it wouldn’t quite be a bath bomb without it. It also helps your body utilize antioxidants and helps slow the aging process by revitalizing skin. I hope that is helpful! =)
Hmm. You know, I don’t know. Mine don’t expand when I remove them from the mold. I usually wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper as opposed to zip locks so I guess I’m not 100% sure if they emit gas or not but I def didn’t notice if they did.
You might try this recipe? Maybe some ingredient you used cause them to to do this?
-Emma
Yep. You got it. You need the citric acid for the fizz effect.
-Emma
Thanks! I’ll see if I can tweak it to make it work.
These sound like a gorgeous combination! I’m pinning to try at some point 🙂
Jess xo
I love green tea, I bet these smell amazing! I’ll have to try this soon.
Ella x
http://www.inkdreaming.com
Can’t wait to try this recipe …
quite different from other “bombs’ we’ve tried thank you
These look awesome! http://www.hannamarielei.com
sounds amazing,
cant wait to try this 🙂
Sounds amazing!
Can’t wait to try this 🙂
I’m definitely going to try making my own bath bombs! Nothing beats a warm bath especially in the winter time! Adding a bath bomb is the cherry on top!
Wow how great are these bath bombs looking and seem easy to make. Worth the try.
I am definitely going to try this. I’ve always been a little skeptical of homemade bath bombs, but you make it look pretty simple! I’ve been addicted to Lush bath bombs, but I’ve recently found myself being rather irritated in an area that is not fun to be irritated in, and I’m sure it’s due to that. Not to mention, and this is going to sound silly, but I didn’t realize how much I was spending on just one bath with those in them! Holy cow! http://www.enchantinglyemily.com
Oooh these look amazing!
Jemima x
anotherrantingreader.blogspot.co.uk
Love this!! Green tea is a detoxify-er. So it should pull impurities out of the skin as well. :D. I love how yours look like the fancy LUSH brand ones.
I have got to make some of these, I bet they smell amazing!
These look so good! It’s so cold at the moment i’ve been having loads of hot baths! I can’t wait to try making these
Hannah x
http://crafternooncabaretclub.com
Thanks for giving the description of making homemade bath bomb, i will definitely try it at home and it so much cheaper then a spa or having to buy a bath bomb.
I Just love these collections thanks for sharing this article with us.