Iced Bath Bombs
Bath bombs are a favourite DIY gift, and these iced bath bombs put a fun and unique spin on the typcial plain bath bomb. Iced bath bombs have a cocoa butter and mica ‘icing’ on the top, which melts in bath water creating a moisturizing creamy soak. Plus it makes your bath bombs look really yummy (but don’t eat them)!
The addition of cream of tartar in this recipe hardens the bath bombs and makes them less crumbly. If you don’t have cream of tartar you can just replace it with more citric acid however.
How many bath bombs this recipe makes will depend on the size of the molds you choose to use, but it's quite a big batch (1kg).
530g baking soda
95.5g Epsom salt
270g citric acid
50g cream of tartar
17.6g OliveM 300 as a solubiliser
26g almond oil
5g mica for colour in the mixture (optional as you will have the coloured icing too)
0.5g essential oils of choice
Icing:
50g cocoa butter
10g mica
For easier molding: isopropyl alcohol in a spritzer bottle
Weigh the mica (if using in the mixture), witch hazel, OliveM 300, almond oil, and essential oil into a bowl.
Weigh the baking soda and Epsom salts into a different large bowl. Stir to combine it, then add the witch hazel mixture. Put on a pair of latex gloves and blend the mixture thoroughly using your hands.
Next, weigh out the citric acid and cream of tartar, and add to the mixture, blending to combine. You should end up with a clumpy mixture that holds together when squeezed firmly, kind of like damp sand.
If the bath bomb mixture starts to dry out, spritz some isopropyl alcohol into the mixture until it becomes workable again.
Mold your bath bombs by packing each half of the mold to overflowing with your mixture then squeeze the two halves together, compacting the bath bomb mixture tightly. To release the mold, lightly tap around the middle with the back of a spoon. Release one half of the mold at a time, taking care to handle the newly formed bath bomb carefully. Once released, gently place it on a tray to dry and harden overnight.
To decorate: melt the cocoa butter fully, then stir in the mica. Allow it to cool a little bit, then drizzle, dollop or pipe it over the bath bombs, depending on how you want them to look. You can achieve a range of different looks, and even add sprinkles such as dried petals, rolled oats, poppy seeds etc on top of the icing. Allow the icing to set fully before using.
To use the bath bombs, just drop one or two into your bath and enjoy the aromatherapy fizz!
