Essential oils are having a big moment right now, and if we're being honest, it's 100% deserved. They serve many purposes—from cleaning the house, to detoxifying the air, to being used as a cooking ingredient. It's no wonder they're called "essential." Now you can use them to make a DIY Lavender Bath Bomb so that you smell and feel amazing.
Ingredients:
This recipe requires more ingredients than this DIY rose body scrub, but just about all of them are items people typically already have in their kitchens or bathrooms.
You will need:
- 1 cup of baking soda
- 1/4 cup of Cream of Tartar
- 1/4 cup of Cornstarch
- 1/2 cup of Epsom salts (plain salts are fine; lavender scented salts give it that extra kick.)
- 1 teaspoon of water
- 2 teaspoons of lavender essential oil
- 3 teaspoons of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of dried lavender (optional)
- Food coloring (any color you want), a bowl, a whisk, and bath bomb molds
Instructions:
First, mix all the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Food coloring can be pretty potent, so don't go overboard. Only a few drops are necessary. I combined red and blue to try to achieve a soft violet color to match the essential oil, but it ended up being more of a powder blue. They can be any color you want.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry one spoonful at a time. The liquid will cause the dry mixture to fizz a bit when they come in contact - as it's supposed to. By the time you're done mixing the wet and the dry, you want the mixture to resemble wet sand.
If you don't think the mixture looks wet enough, add olive oil to it, not water. More water will cause more fizzing, and that's not what you want at this phase. Now comes the tricky part of setting the mixture in the molds.
Pack the mixture into each side of the mold very tightly. Add a little extra spoonful on top of each side so there's a little mound. Then, bring the sides together and press firmly. Before unmolding mine I tapped a miniature whisk along the outside of the mold to make it easier to unpack.
My best advice for the molding process is to be patient. Some of mine didn't unmold properly the first couple times I tried, but keep at it and it will work eventually. As long as you're gentle when unmolding and even more careful when you set the bombs on a plate or other hard surface to dry, they'll turn out great.
Let them dry overnight, or, if you want to use them sooner, put them in the freezer for a couple hours. They need plenty of time to harden so that they don't fall apart. When you're ready to use them, pop them in the tub and enjoy! The lavender scent is really soothing and it's a great way to relax when the semester starts getting busy.
I tried one of these bombs out over break and it was amazing. The lavender is just strong enough to envelop you in its relaxing scent without being overpowering, and when I was done I felt completely refreshed and peaceful.