Hi friends. This week I’m sharing with you how I make my own Lush copy bath bombs. I’m guessing you’re here because you can’t fathom paying $8 for a single bath bomb at Lush. While they make your bath 1,000 times better, I don’t care who you are, that’s just stupid expensive! While I absolutely love Lush and will continue to shop there for some of my favorite items, I’ll never buy a bath bomb again now that I know how easy and inexpensive they are to make at home.
Materials/Ingredients
With just a few ingredients, you can also break free from spending way too much of your hard earned money on a magical ball of bathing heaven. Here’s what you’ll need to make 8 bath bombs.
2 cups baking soda
1 cup corn starch
1 cup Citric Acid
1 cup Epsom Salt 
1.5 tsp water
5 tsp melted Coconut Oil 
15-20 drops of Essential Oils
You should be able to find all of the ingredients at your local grocery store but if you have any trouble finding some of them I would recommend heading over to Amazon. Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will make a commission if you click through and make a purchase. The first time I made these I found a few very small bottles of citric acid in the canning section of my grocery store but that proved to be a difficult task with future batches so I just ordered a large bag from Amazon. Also, while I have special bath bomb molds
, you can use other types of molds as well. I’ve seen others use the plastic Easter eggs, tennis balls or plastic ornaments.
Now lets get on to the fun stuff and actually walk through how to make the bath bombs.
Directions
Step 1
Pour all of the dry ingredients (baking soda, corn starch, citric acid and epson salts) into a medium bowl and whisk together.
Step 2
In a separate small bowl, heat up the coconut oil until it is completely melted. For my microwave that takes 45-60 seconds. Then add the remaining wet ingredients (water and essential oil) into the small bowl with the coconut oil.
Step 3
SLOWLY add and mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. I can’t stress slowly enough. If you pour too fast, the wet ingredients will cause a reaction with the citric acid. What I like to do is whisk the dry mix while slowly adding a few drops of the wet ingredients at a time. If you are like me, you’ll get impatient and just want to drop it all in at once but trust me, suffering through that extra 30 seconds of patience will make the perfect consistency and save you hassle down the road. Once the wet ingredients are mixed in, your mixture should feel like damp sand.
Step 4
This step is optional. What I like to do is separate some of the mixture into a few bowls and add different colors of food coloring to each bowl. This allows me to make mixed color bath bombs. Be careful not to add too much food coloring. I recommend starting with a few drops and then adding more after you mix it in until you get your desired color. You could also get creative with mixing different dyes. I would caution that you stay away from very dark colors as it may stain your bathtub. If you want white bath bombs you can skip this step.
Step 5
Fill each half of the mold with the mix pressing it down FIRMLY with some extra mix extending over the top of the mold. Firmly press the two halves together. I like to twist them a bit while pressing them together to squeeze the excess mix out from between the two halves.
Step 6
Let the mold sit for at least 1 minute before removing the bath bomb. You may need to lightly tap on the mold to release the bath bomb but 9 times out of 10 it falls out fairly easily. While your first one sits, you can use your second mold to work on the next one.
Step 7
Let the bath bombs sit for 12+ hours before storing them. They will harden over this time.
That’s it! Super easy and at a fraction of the cost of Lush bath bombs. Plus, you can get creative with the colors and shape of the bath bombs. I’d love to see what you come up with! Please share your DIY bath bombs using #handmadeweekly on social media.
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If you like this bath bomb tutorial, check out my tutorial on DIY Floral Soap Bars.
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What can I use instead of coconut oil?
Hi Laura. I’ve never made them without coconut oil myself but I’ve seen other recipes that use olive oil or water in place of it. You’ll just want to be sure that you replace the liquid from the coconut oil with another liquid otherwise the mix will be too dry to hold it’s shape.
I use sweet almond oil in place of the coconut oil! Works perfect and feels great on our skin!!
Thanks for the comment Laura. I’ll have to give that a try!
Thank you so much for sharing!!! I was nervous making them because I assumed it would be very difficult. I followed your recipe and they worked out perfect! What is your favorite brand for essential oils? Mine don’t have a strong smell but I think it’s because it’s a cheap brand. Thanks again!!!
I Love bath bombs but haven’t ever made them myself!! These are so cute! Definitely going to give them a try! Thanks for the great tutorial!
~Emily
You’re welcome Emily. They are so easy to make and soooo much cheaper when they are handmade. Thanks for stopping by!
This is a great tutorial! I’ve used many others and love the way you explain how to not get it to start fizzing!
It calls for 1.4 tsp of water. Is that 1/4th or 1 and almost a half of a tsp? Thanks!
Thanks Hillary! 1.4 is a typo. Great catch! It should be 1.5 tsp. I’ve updated the post to reflect that.
I made these a few weeks ago. So super simple. I used plastic Christmas ornaments for my mold. They worked great.
Great idea to use plastic Christmas ornaments.
Ladies I have a question when I make bath bombs they discolor when they dry I even tried onebatch without essential oils thinking my oil did it what would be the promblem??
That’s interesting Debbie. I’ve never had that happen. What type of food coloring are you using? I’ve only used the gel food coloring and haven’t had issues with it.
I used liquid food coloring and it left my mixture kinda “confetti cake looking” not fully mixing in. Did I do something wrong?
Mine usually looks like funfetti cake at first too. The liquid food coloring doesn’t mix perfectly but I’ve found that if I use a whisk and mix for a while it eventually mixes in.
I followed this with everything except the food coloring- the bath bombs would not hold together. They would either stay in halves or not come out of the mold without prying. Any suggestions?
That’s interesting. If you did not use the food coloring you may need to supplement it with a little extra water. That would definitely be the case if they are not holding shape. The mixture should feel like a slightly damp sand but not too wet. I’ve had them be too dry and fall apart before and adding a little more water fixes it. I’ve never had issues with them not coming out of the mold. If you’re using the same molds that I linked, Try over filling each half and then pressing them together tightly while twisting clockwise until they come together and the excess in the center falls out. This method gets the two halves to stick together well.
I’ve seen other recipes that call for a spray bottle of witch hazel or rubbing alcohol. You spray and mix until the right consistency.
I have the same problem and I have food coloring and added more wet mixture. I live in a really dry climate, so I felt ok about adding more wet ingredients but still have this problem. 😔 This is my first time making them, though. Next time I will adjust it a little more. 👍
I had a problem like this when I used the small bottles of canning citric acid from the grocery store. I found out later that that citric acid has an anti-caking additive so that the mixture stays loose. It wouldn’t harden in the mold, had to just dump the mixture into a canister to spoon into the bath.
I just ordered a bag of citric acid from amazon. I’m going to try that and see if it’s more successful.
Oh that is interesting! Thanks so much for sharing Shannon.
How many bath bombs does this make?
It makes 8 bath bombs.
Can you leave out corn starch or maybe substitute it for something else?
I’ve never tried it without corn starch so I can’t say if they would turn out ok. There is a very specific liquid to dry ingredient ratio that is needed for them to keep shape so it would definitely need to be substituted with something dry. Are you having a hard time finding corn starch? Most grocery stores carry it.
She could try arrowroot maybe. Cornstarch is often subbed for arrowroot, so I would imagine it works both ways
Any favorite oil combinations to speak of?
Hi Lou. I’m not too big into essential oils so I’ve actually only used mixes that I’ve bought specifically for calming and headaches. I figured if it smells good it’ll work just fine 😂
How do you make multicoloured ones and is gel paste ok to use?
Hi Deborah. I use gel food coloring sometimes and it works just fine. To make multi colored ones I split the mix into different bowls before i add the food coloring. I then add different colors to each bowl and then pull mix from different bowls as I’m filling my molds. I actually just posted a time lapse video of this on my Instagram page last weekend if you’d like to see my process in action.
Hi
When i make bathbomb after 2 hours it is cracked.what s the reason
I’ve never had that happen but I read online that it might be because the bath bombs aren’t packed tight enough.
I just made your recipe for bath bombs. It took me a few tries to get the mold process right. I wasn’t packing them in tight enough. After I figured that out they went together great! Very happy with the results! Mothers Day Gifts for my daycare kids to give their moms! Thank you for the great instructions!
Your welcome Cheryl! I use all of my strength when I make them. It may be a bit overboard but they turn out when I give it my all!
I’ve followed the recipe to a tee but the consistency is still too powdery. Should I add more coconut oil? Please help!
If it doesn’t feel like damp sand and won’t hold shape try adding a tiny bit more water or essential oils. Also, it’s important to use a lot of pressure when packing the molds and squeezing them together. It may be that they are just packed too loosely and not that the mixture is too dry.
I just made the bombs. Unfortunately, it has been a lot of work to only have 4 stay together. I will take the suggestion of adding more liquid to compensate for no color to modify the consistency.
My goal is to keep them white for my daughters baby shower. Any other suggestions?
Definitely add some more water. I have another bath bomb recipe for white ones with flowers. The first time I made those I tried using the same recipe as the ones with food coloring and had the exact same problem. A few drops of food coloring doesn’t seem like it would make a difference but it sure does! Just add some more liquid to make up for it.
What brand of essential oil do you recommend?
Hi Ellen. I’m actually not particular to any brand. I tend to pick them up at TJ Maxx and Marshalls since you can get them for a good price there. I’ve also linked some in my post that I’ve used.
Does using gel food coloring leave any residue in the bath tub or on skin? I’m in the process of trying to make “safer” bath bombs and tried using mica powders for color which has left me feeling defeated. I turned one of my kids blue as well as my tub. Most of it came out but still…
Mica powders are not water soluble so the coloring sits on top of the water and colors the tub and or skin. Are gel food colorings water soluble?
Any advice welcome.
Hi Tina. I’ve only ever used gel food coloring in mine. I tend to go easy on the coloring and make my bath bombs more of a pastel color to avoid staining the tub or myself. I only ever had a problem with staining one time and that was when I made a very red bath bomb. It didn’t stain my skin but it left a ring around the tub. I was able to get it out but it was a lot of work! Pastel colors won’t stain in my experience.
Try soap colorant? I used that to color some homemade body butters and bath soaks, and I never had a problem with anything staining. Found mine on Amazon.
I justctried making these. Not enough wet ingredients ti nake mine like damp sand. I had to add more water.
These need more wet ingredients.. they were too dry.. I added another 1.5Tsp to half of the mix.. still a little dry.. pretty bummed..
That’s a bummer Leanne. It’s the exact recipe that I use every time and I’ve never had issues. I wonder if it has something to do with climate and humidity.
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Hi,
I tried making bath bombs for the first time and found that after i unmolded them and left them to dry, they started to swell and fizz a bit. I didn’t find the mixture too wet when i was making it – it was just holding it’s shape. What could it be?
That’s interesting. I have never had that happen. Is there maybe too much humidity in the air?
Mine did the same thing. Raised like bread dough!