Green Apple Rock Hard Bath Bombs. Floating and Spinning

Bath Bomb Recipes

Oct 17

Written By

I get asked many questions about bath bombs in my Facebook group DIY Bath Bomb Recipes. All kind of questions about things like:

floating
spinning
colorants
cracking
activating
slow fizzing
oils
polysorbate 80
fragrances and essential oils
humidity
packaging
pricing

Naturally, I can not answer all of those questions in one post. So I have decided to turn a part of this blog a bath bomb to a Bath Bomb Knowledge Data. It is going to make my life so much easier, because I could direct many of the members of my group to blog posts instead of typing the same answers all over again.

In this post I will give a simple but very good, stable, beginner-friendly recipe. By no means it should restrict your fantasy in any way. I provide you with a base and you can turn it into a masterpiece of bath bomb art.

We are going to focus on making a light, fluffy mixture to help our bath bombs float and spin. I am going to include a few tips and tricks on how to achieve a perfect bath bomb consistency. Let's the journey begin!

RECIPE

Ingredients	Amount in grams	Function
Baking Soda	280	foundation
Citric Acid	140	foundation
Cornstarch	35	filler, helps to harden bath bombs
Cream of Tartar	20	helps to harden bath bomb
Apricot Kernel Oil	13	helps to wet our mixture, adds moisturizing properties (you can use a different oil)
Polysorbate 80	5	emulsifier, solvent - disperses oil into water, prevents slippery bath tub
Green Apple Fragrance Oil	10	scent
Natrasorb (optional)	15	anchors the scent
Water (you can use rubbing alcohol or witch hazel instead)	2	binder, the final touch to bring the mixture together
Green Water Soluble Dye	1/8 tsp	colors bath bombs and/or water/foam
Green Cosmetic Glitter	as needed	makes things shiny and sparkly

that's how my Green Apple bath bombs smell like. You can use any fragrance you want . Follow your heart...and, probably, nose!

How to help your bath bombs to float and spin?
Here're a few tricks:

Light, fluffy, airy mixture.

Do not add a lot of salt. Salt is heavy and it might be the reason why your bath bombs don't float.
Add a little bit of cornstarch (20-40g per 1cup (260g) of Baking Soda
Introduce air to your mixture by using a hand mixer or stand mixer. You could also fluff your mixture up by going in there with your hands and mixing it up a little. I do it before each molding. This ensures that the ingredients which are on the bottom of my bowl do not get wet and heavy. Bring them up!

Packing / Molding
1. Your molding method is also crucial. You shouldn't overpack. If you squeeze your molds too hard your bath bombs won't float and could even crack. And if you don't pack your molds enough then your bath bombs will be powdery. It's a very fine and dangerous line between underpacking and overpacking and with enough practice and self-belief you'll get there, trust me.

2. Fluff up your mixture with your hands or a hand mixer or a whisk before making each bath bomb.

3. Poke air holes in the molds while adding the mixture. I poke 1 hole in one half of my round mold and then 2-3 in the other half. This simple and quick trick ensures that one side is heavier than the other and that's what helps with the spinning. It also makes your bath bombs lighter and increases your chances to get a floater.

4. You can also put embeds to help your bath bombs spin. Place 1 embed in one half of a round mold and 2 in the other.

https://youtu.be/L5IX1hZG9OM

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix all of your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. If your ingredients have clumps it's better to sift them. If your citric acid is coarse, if your salts are coarse you should grind them in a food processor or coffee grinder. It will give your bath bombs a very smooth and even texture. Now mix your dry ingredients very well. Get rid of all the clumps.

2. Mix your oils, fragrance oil, and polysorbate 80 in a small measuring glass. Add Natrasorb and stir until uniform. If you don't want to use Natrasorb then just mix your carrier oil with your fragrance oil and Poly 80.

3. Add your oil mixture to your dry ingredients and mix, mix, mix. This step is so important. Once you're sure that your mixture is smooth and everything is completely incorporated it's time for a "soft clump" test. You have to squeeze a little bit of the mixture in your hand and see if you can form a clump. If you can form a clump try dropping it in the bowl with the mixture. It should break into a few parts easily. If you can't form any clump you might need to add more oil until you're there.

INFO: "Soft clump" is a type of clump which breaks easily. It shows us if we have enough oils in our mixture.

1. Adding oils. 2.Oils are incorporated.3.Squeeze test.4. It clumps.5.Breaks apart once dropped.6.Breakes when pushed with a finger

4. I chose water-soluble dyes as my colorant so I have to mix it with some water. I add just a smidge of my colorant to 2 ml of water and mix very well. Then it's time to mix it with the rest of my ingredients.
INFO: If you choose a different colorant you don't have to mix it with water. If you like to bloom your baking soda with water-soluble dyes then, obviously, you also can skip this step.

NOTE: *my mixture looked darker and greener in reality then it did on camera*

5. Now we have to make a "hard clump" test. We squeeze some mixture to see if a clump forms. This time it should not break apart so easily and when dropped in the bowl it should mostly stay together. If you're not there yet then you should add more binder.

6. Molding time! I add a little bit of my fluffed up mixture in my mold, poke a hole, cover the hole with more mixture until it forms a little mountain. Then I do the same with the second half of the mold but I poke 2 holes. Then I press the two halves of the mold together. No twisting! Now I tap on each side until my bath bomb is released. After molding, I place my bath bombs in an airtight container with some rice in it for 24-48 hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5IX1hZG9OM&t=46s