Today, Holly Port from the Lotion Bar Café is sharing a fun and colorful bath fizzy recipe. Holly is a bath bomb expert and other of the book, Make it Fizz: A Guide to Making Bathtub Treats. This bath bomb tutorial involves making a mini bath bomb, and embedding it into a larger bath bomb mold. When placed in the tub, the fizzy has two layers of color. Holly also shares her story on how she got started making bath fizzies, and the tips and tricks she has learned after hundreds of batches. -A.M.
Hi Soap Queen readers! I’m Holly Port, author of Make it Fizz: A Guide to Making Bathtub Treats and owner of Lotion Bar Café in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Mother of two teenage boys and married for 21 years to my f-bombing assistant (aka) fizzy bomber. I am a bath lover by heart and take one every night for as long as I can remember. For those that have boys can relate, there is not much girlie time left in the day. Bath time was and is my oasis. After being fed up with breaking out with store bought bath products, I looked into making products for myself and also for Christmas presents. Over 8 years ago I made lotion bars and people loved them. I was inspired to make more things. I learned how to make bath bombs and never bought store bought stuff again. My skin felt amazing, no more itchy dry skin or irritations!
I started making 3 to 4 batches a week and would get half to come out and the others went into a big bucket of failure. Either too dry, too wet, pockets full of unmixed dry ingredients. Ugg, the frustration was real! I learn to spritz, spritz, spritz and mix, mix, mix. I took notes over the years including information on the temperature and how much moisture was in the air. Was it raining or did I have a gremlin lurking in my soap dungeon playing tricks on me?
I also would get a headache and sometimes a migraine when I was making bath fizzies. Well, I found out I was allergic to witch hazel. I eliminated the witch hazel and used alcohol and distilled water instead. Spritzing like a crazy lady with the same results. After a few years of this I had my first BIG wholesale order and I was excited and scared. I would have to do double the work to get the amount I needed. That is when I said “no more!”
I thought about baking; let’s break down the ingredients like we would a homemade cake. I took my Kitchen Aid Mixer and put the paddle on like when mixing flour. Only this time I added my dry bath bomb ingredients to make sure they were broken down and blended well. Next, I melted the butters and oils and let them cool for a bit. Then, I added the bonding agent that will bind the two together (the water and alcohol). Instead of spritzing, I dumped it in. I found when spritzing you could not control how much was coming out in each spray.
On the right is Holly’s Rose Mint Bath Fizzy, and on the left is her Energy Bath Fizzy.
People ask me all the time if I have a machine and the answer is I have no machines, only a meat baller and my assistant. We can produce over 2,000 fizzies a day and not have one batch fail. Consistency is the key. I borrowed a machine to test my recipes for the book, but found we were faster than the machine.
What kind of alcohol do I use? I use at least 70 percent. The higher the alcohol makes it evaporate out and leave a nice hard fizzy.
Why dump it in? What about the fizzing reaction? As soon as I dump it in I turn mixer up for a few seconds to get it to incorporate and the fizzing action stops then lower down on a slower speed.
What about humidity? I have made them in Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, South Carolina, New York and have no problems. Some even in hotel rooms! I would keep them in a draft free place away from air conditioning, swamp coolers and open windows.
When and how do I incorporate color to the fizzies and have a consistent color? I add liquid color to liquid ingredients and powder colorants to the dry powder ingredients.
Packaging for outdoor markets in high humidity areas I would shrink wrap them only after they are completely dry. If not they will hold moisture and will end up soft over time.
Now to the fun part…let’s make some fizzies!
All the rage right now is bath fizzies that shoot out a rainbow of colors. I will show you how to make a bath bomb with a surprise color inside. These can be called mystery bath bombs. You never know what you will get until it hits the water and the center color is revealed. Kids love them and think its magical.
You will make this recipe 2 times; once to make the center mini fizzies and once to make the big outer one. Please note you will make lots of small fizzies for multiple batches; You will not use all of them in making these. You want the inside mini fizzy hard so it will keep its shape inside the big one.
Rainbow Sherbet Surprise Bath Fizzies
(Recipe for both small and large bath bombs)
3 Cups Baking Soda
1 ½ cups Arrowroot Powder
1 ½ cups Citric Acid
2 oz. Shea Butter
1.6 oz. Jojoba Oil
3 Tbsp. Energy Fragrance Oil
.05 oz. distilled water
.05 oz. 99% alcohol
Irish Green La Bomb Color
Coral Orange La Bomb Color
Adobe Brick La Bomb Color
Stainless Steel Bath Bomb Mold
Mini meat baller (found at kitchen stores)
Make the Mini Bath Fizzies:
ONE: Mix all the dry ingredients (baking soda, citric acid, arrowroot powder) together in a small mixing bowl. Blend well to break down any chunks and set aside.
TWO: Mix the shea butter and jojoba oil and melt in a double boiler or microwave until completely melted and set aside. Next mix water, alcohol and fragrance oil in a small bowl. When the butter and oil have cooled slightly, combine the water mixture and oil mixture together. Add 2-3 tsp of the Adobe Brick La Bomb color to the liquid and stir.
THREE: Using a hand or stand mixer, pour the oils into the dry mixture and increase speed slightly (one notch), making sure to mix well. Turn mixer down to low, mixing for an additional 1-2 minutes. Test the mix by squeezing it to ensure it can hold its shape. Now you are ready to ball!
FOUR: You can find a mini meat baller at most kitchen stores. Scoop up the mixture into the meat baller until overly full. Firmly squeeze the meat baller together and release. Gently remove the bath bomb and set aside to fully dry for 24 hours.
FIVE: Repeat steps one and two. Add less of the La Bomb colorant for contrast, or leave it white. I often like to leave my outer layer white because it tricks the kids 🙂 In the photos shown, I used half Irish Green La Bomb, and half Coral Orange La Bomb.
SIX: You’re now ready to mold together the larger and smaller layers. Fill one side of the Stainless Steel Bath Bomb Mold and gently place the mini fizzy inside. Next, mound the bath fizzy mixture on top of the mini bath bomb by mounding up the fizzy mixture like a snow cone. Place the other half of mold on top and press the two sides together until they touch.
SEVEN: Turn over in your other hand and gently squeeze the flat spot on mold and lift up. Turn the bath bomb into the other hand and gently squeeze the flat spot on mold and lift!
EIGHT: Place the fizzies on bubble wrap pieces to keep the bottoms from becoming flat. Allow the fizzies to fully dry for 24 hours. Package, and enjoy!
Do you have any awesome bath bomb making tips? I would love to hear them!
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Guest Post: Sherbet Surprise Bath Fizzies
Ingredients
- 3 Cups Baking Soda
- 1 ½ cups Arrowroot Powder
- 1 ½ cups Citric Acid
- 2 oz. Shea Butter
- 1.6 oz. Jojoba Oil
- 3 Tbsp. Energy Fragrance Oil
- .05 oz. distilled water
- .05 oz. 99% alcohol
- Irish Green La Bomb Color
- Coral Orange La Bomb Color
- Adobe Brick La Bomb Color
- Stainless Steel Bath Bomb Mold
- Mini meat baller found at kitchen stores
Instructions
- Mix all the dry ingredients (baking soda, citric acid, arrowroot powder) together in a small mixing bowl. Blend well to break down any chunks and set aside.
- Mix the shea butter and jojoba oil and melt in a double boiler or microwave until completely melted and set aside. Next mix water, alcohol and scent in a small bowl. When butters and oils have cooled slightly combine the water mixture and oil mixture together. Add 2-3 tsp of the Adobe Brick La Bomb color to the liquid and stir.
- Using a hand or stand mixer, pour the oils into the dry mixture and increase speed slightly (one notch), making sure to mix well. Turn mixer down to low, mixing for an additional 1-2 minutes. Test the mix by squeezing it to ensure it can hold its shape. Now you are ready to ball!
- You can find a mini meat baller at most kitchen stores. Scoop up the mixture into the meat baller until overly full. Firmly squeeze the meat baller together and release. Gently remove the bath bomb and set aside to fully dry for 24 hours.
- Repeat steps one and two. Add less of the La Bomb colorant for contrast, or leave it white. I often like to leave my outer layer white because it tricks the kids 🙂 In the photos shown, I used half Irish Green La Bomb, and half Coral Orange La Bomb.
- You’re now ready to mold together the larger and smaller layers. Fill one side of the Stainless Steel Bath Bomb Mold and gently place the mini fizzy inside. Next, mound the bath fizzy mixture on top of the mini bath bomb by mounding up the fizzy mixture like a snow cone. Place the other half of mold on top and press the two sides together until they touch.
- Turn over in your other hand and gently squeeze the flat spot on mold and lift up. Turn the bath bomb into the other hand and gently squeeze the flat spot on mold and lift!
- Place the fizzies on bubble wrap pieces to keep the bottoms from becoming flat. Allow the fizzies to fully dry for 24 hours. Package, and enjoy!
