Vanilla & Cinnamon Bath Bombs

Bath bombs are reputedly fun and easy to make so I thought I would try this Vanilla & Cinnamon Bath Bomb recipe which uses ingredients that I usually have at home. I found it a bit tricky to form them into balls (even with a mould) as it is a fine line between adding enough water to have the balls stick together but not too much so that they start fizzing too soon. I’ve since read that you can press them into muffin tins if you don’t specially want them to be round.

1 1/2 cups baking soda
3/4 cup citric acid
2 tbsp melted shea/cocoa/kokum butter*
2 tbsp sea salt or mineral salts
25 drops vanilla essential oil
10 drops cinnamon oil (or 1 tsp ground cinnamon)
Optional: 1 tbsp mica powder – your choice of colour, I used gold

A spray bottle containing floral water or plain water

Mix the baking soda, citric acid and salt together in a bowl.

Add vanilla and cinnamon oils and melted shea/cocoa/kokum butter, and mix again.

Lightly spray the mixture, and form into balls with moist hands, or press into moulds. Keep spraying the water onto the mixture until it will form a ball without falling apart. Leave them to set for 3 hours or overnight.

I used moulds where you pressed the mixture firmly into both halves and then sprayed the middle so that you could join the two halves together. Supposedly you immediately tap the moulds 3 times and then remove them to leave a perfectly formed ball. I couldn’t get that to work but left them in the moulds a bit longer – then it was more difficult to remove them, but I did manage to get a reasonable result.

Enjoy in a warm bath or wrap in cellophane and include in a homemade gift basket of bath goodies for a friend.

* you can make them without the melted butter but it does give your skin a lovely smooth feel in the bath.