If you’re a patchouli lover, new Bramble Berry’s Karma Type Fragrance Oil is for you. Inspired by Lush’s original scent, it features top notes of juicy orange with base notes of patchouli, sandalwood, musk, and pine. This complex blend is perfect for bath products.
These Karma Bath Bombs are made with the new fragrance oil to create a relaxing bath experience. A bit of sweet almond oil helps give the bath bombs shape and adds a moisturizing element to the tub. Polysorbate 80 helps emulsify the water and oil so you avoid large pools of oil.
To color the mixture, we’ll use Cantaloupe La Bomb and Cornflower Blue La Bomb, layering them into the mold to create stripes. Unfamiliar with La Bomb colorants? They are specifically formulated for bath bombs – learn more about them here.
What You’ll Need:
10 Bath Bomb Mold & Packages
3 cups Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
1 1/2 cups Citric Acid
2 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
0.6 oz. Polysorbate 80
0.7 oz. Bramble Berry’s Karma Type Fragrance Oil
Cornflower Blue La Bomb
Cantaloupe La Bomb
Witch Hazel in Spray Bottle
Dropper
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ONE: In a large bowl, mix together the baking soda and citric acid. To get rid of clumps in the mixture, you can push the powders through a sifter or break them up with your fingers. Citric acid has a tendency to take off nail polish, so wear gloves to protect your manicure. Thoroughly stir the ingredients together.
TWO: In a separate fragrance oil-safe container, add the sweet almond oil, polysorbate 80, and Bramble Berry’s Karma Type Fragrance Oil. Mix thoroughly.
THREE: Add the oil mixture to the baking soda and citric acid. Use your hands to thoroughly mix the wet and dry ingredients.
FOUR: Split the mixture in half. Each container will weigh about 22 ounces. To one container, add drops of the Cornflower Blue La Bomb, and to the other add drops of the Cantaloupe La Bomb. A little La Bomb colorant goes a long way; about 4-5 drops of each achieves the colors shown here. Use your hands to break up the drops of color and disperse them throughout the mixture.
FIVE: Begin spritzing each container with witch hazel while mixing with your hands or a spatula. Continue spritzing until the mixture feels similar to wet sand and holds its shape when squeezed. This means that the mixture will hold its shape in the mold as well.
SIX: Once the bath bomb mixture has the correct texture, it’s time to start filling the molds. Working in one half of the mold, add some of the orange mixture and then some of the blue mixture. Once this half is full, press the mixture down to compress it and continue layering the colors.
SEVEN: Continue layering into the other half of the mold, compacting it as you go. Finally, add a little extra mixture into each half, but don’t press it down. Slightly overfilling with “loose” bath bomb mixture helps the two sides stick together. Clear off any excess powder in the seams of the mold, match up the eyelets, and press together. Apply pressure to the edges of the mold rather than the center to prevent dents. Allow them to harden for 24 hours. When you’re ready to use one, remove it from the mold, place in the tub, and enjoy!
- 10 Bath Bomb & Packages
- 3 cups Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
- 1½ cups Citric Acid
- 2 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
- 0.6 oz. Polysorbate 80
- .7 oz. Bramble Berry’s Karma Type Fragrance Oil
- Cornflower Blue La Bomb Colorant
- Cantaloupe La Bomb Colorant
- Witch Hazel in Spray Bottle
- In a large bowl, mix together the baking soda and citric acid. To get rid of clumps in the mixture, you can push the powders through a sifter or break them up with your fingers. Citric acid has a tendency to take off nail polish, so wear gloves to protect your manicure. Thoroughly stir the ingredients together.
- In a separate fragrance oil-safe container, add the sweet almond oil, polysorbate 80, and Bramble Berry's Karma Type Fragrance Oil. Mix thoroughly.
- Add the oil mixture to the baking soda and citric acid. Use your hands to thoroughly mix the wet and dry ingredients.
- Split the mixture in half. Each container will weigh about 22 ounces. To one container, add drops of the Cornflower Blue La Bomb, and to the other add drops of the Cantaloupe La Bomb. A little La Bomb colorant goes a long way; about 4-5 drops of each achieves the colors shown here. Use your hands to break up the drops of color and disperse them throughout the mixture.
- Begin spritzing each container with witch hazel while mixing with your hands or a spatula. Continue spritzing until the mixture feels similar to wet sand and holds its shape when squeezed. This means that the mixture will hold its shape in the mold as well.
- Once the bath bomb mixture has the correct texture, it’s time to start filling the molds. Working in one half of the mold, add some of the orange mixture and then some of the blue mixture. Once this half is full, press the mixture down to compress it and continue layering the colors.
- Continue layering into the other half of the mold, compacting it as you go. Finally, add a little extra mixture into each half, but don’t press it down. Slightly overfilling with “loose” bath bomb mixture helps the two sides stick together. Clear off any excess powder in the seams of the mold, match up the eyelets, and press together. Apply pressure to the edges of the mold rather than the center to prevent dents. Allow them to harden for 24 hours. When you're ready to use one, remove it from the mold, place in the tub, and enjoy!
My bath bombs won’t stay together, I get 2 halves not a whole.
Thanks,
Laurie
There are a few tricks to using the circle molds so the bath bombs stick together. First, pack the bath bombs in more loosely – they should be tight enough to hold the shape but still have a little give. Then, mound some powder in the center and press together firmly. That should help the halves stick together and release from the mold easily.
This video has more tips on working with circle molds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bjpsQXt6NU&t=14s
what is the polysorbate 80 used for? thanks! new to bathbombing!
It’s an emulsifier that helps the oil and color mix into the water rather than pooling on top. We love it because it helps prevent some of the color transfer to the tub.
Polysorbate 80: https://www.brambleberry.com/Polysorbate-80-P4438.aspx
Hi, My bath bombs are taking a week to dry, its soft till then, if I press hard, they break.. if I pack them, they are getting soft as and when people try to take and smell them. Its cold winter in Canada and even when I tried running a dehumidifier its not drying overnight. The same recipe worked perfect few months ago and my bath bombs use to dry overnight then. I’m really not able to understand what is happening. Please help. 🙁
I’m wondering if they may be too wet. What’s in your recipe? Also, what are you using to wet the bath bombs?
Hi Kelsey, You are right, its the wet ingredients. I had more of liquid oils (I use olive oil) and they where not drying out coz of that. I changed it, increased the Shea butter and reduced the water. Made a batch yesterday night and it already looks better. 🙂 Thank you.
Awesome, glad to hear that. Enjoy your fizzy bath bombs.
In one comment, Marie said to add more cornstarch to make the bath bomb more sturdy, yet I don’t see it in most of these bath fizzy recipes.
We don’t typically use cornstarch in our recipes because it can affect the fizz. For sturdiness, we recommend 1 tablespoon of kaolin clay per cup of fizzy mixture: https://www.brambleberry.com/Kaolin-Clay-P3235.aspx
If I wanted to add SLSA to this recipe how much would you advise?
Depending on how bubbly you want the bath bombs, you can add half as much as the citric acid or the same amount as the citric acid. Because you’re adding more powder, you may need more oil and witch hazel to wet the mixture. You want it to feel like wet sand and it should hold its shape when squeezed.
SLSA: https://www.brambleberry.com/Sodium-Lauryl-Sulfoacetate-SLSA-P5244.aspx
I was trying a small batch of bombs (the toilet bombs because they’re the smallest amount I saw. I’d question there but there’s no comment option). The mix still looked a bit too dry, so I spritzed with witch hazel (found at drug store) and it made it fizz where it hit the mix. Since all the tutorials say “won’t react” I don’t know if that means “will not react at all” or “will just barely fizz, but be ok”.
I used fragrance oil (tangerine) which had the added bonus of tinting the mix a soft yellow without colorants.
They’re drying now, but I’m getting a few tiny warts on them. Does that mean they reacted too much with the witch hazel, or did I just go from ‘not quite enough’ to ‘a little too much’ for liquid?
Is the witch hazel mixed with water? If so, that’s what caused that reaction. We recommend witch hazel mixed with alcohol to prevent that reaction: https://www.brambleberry.com/witch-hazel-p4212.aspx
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
86% witch hazel/14% alcohol by volume according to package ingredients. No water listed.
Oh good, that’s the witch hazel you want to use. When you introduce liquid, the bath bombs may start to fizz slightly. It helps to use one hand to spritz and one hand to mix, that way the mixture is getting coated with the liquid and has less chance to react. Then, once it’s the consistency of wet sand and holds its shape when squeezed, you can start molding.
It also helps to sift your powders – if there are clumps of baking soda or citric acid they can form warts in the finished product.
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I did that… maybe it was just a little too damp and it fizzed more than I planned. I’m still new to the bombs. We don’t use the tubs much at my house so I don’t make much I can’t test out on my own. I’ll play around and see what I can do. Thanks for helping out, Kelsey. Always a pleasure getting advice from you and the others.
You’re welcome. Let me know how your next batch goes.
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Can you tell me why all the ingredients in the recipe are by weight except the baking soda and citric acid? Should the ratio for those ingredients always be measured by volume instead of weight in bath bombs? Looking forward to trying these out! 🙂
We find volume is a bit easier when it comes to the citric acid and baking soda, as neither are very dense. If you like you can use weight measurements, just make sure the ratio stays 2:1 baking soda to citric acid. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
We’re trying to make 70 bath bombs for an event, but I’m not sure how much to buy of the ingredients in pounds. Is there a table that shows how many cups is in each pound of baking soda or citric acid? I don’t want to over- or under-order.
Of, if you could tell me how many ounces of baking soda / citric acid were used in this recipe, I can use that info to calculate how much I’d need to buy. Thanks so much! 🙂
The 1 pound size of baking soda is just under two cups. That’s roughly the same as the citric acid. This recipe makes about 10 bath bombs, so you can multiply it by 7 to get about 70 bath bombs. Once you find that amount, I would recommend buying a few more pounds just in case. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
my bath bombs will not keep it’s shape, it’s like they are deflating? I determined that placing them in the freezer got them hard but I only left in there for maybe 45 mins. when I took them out moments later the got flat. I need help with keeping my bombs in the ball shape.
Mine never held their shape either. I switched to coconut oil and that always works for me. Not sure why, maybe because when coconut oil gets cold it turns solid. Not sure but it’s worth trying!
Room temperature is best when it comes to bath bombs. When they’re taken out of the freezer to room temperature, they form condensation. That makes them react or makes them wet, which then causes them to lose their shape.
When making the bath bombs, it helps to use just enough witch hazel (not water) so they hold their shape when squeezed. Oil is a good idea as well because it wets them without causing a reaction. If you live in a pretty humid climate, you may not need much witch hazel at all. Then, let the bath bombs sit in the mold for an hour or so before placing them on a soft surface like a towel or egg carton foam. While they’re drying, run a fan over them or use a dehumidifier. The soft surface, plus a cool and dry room temperature, should help them hold their shape.
Get more bath bomb tips here: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/bath-bomb-questions-answers/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I absolutely love the recipe and the plastic molds, but I am having a lot of trouble getting the product out of the molds. Is there a way I can fix this?
There are a few tricks to help those bath bombs release easily from the molds. You can add a few drops of cyclomethicone to the molds beforehand, swirl it around, and drain on paper towels. Then, when you’re adding the bath bomb mixture, don’t pack it too tightly. As you push the two halves together it will compress the bath bomb mixture – that creates the shape and gives it some room to release.
Cyclomethicone: https://www.brambleberry.com/Cyclomethicone-P4560.aspx
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I said this FO was going straight on my list for my next Brambleberry order & it did. The Karma FO & a some other items I got while on sale are on their way to me right now. Already have lots of plans for this new FO!
That’s awesome, thank you for your order! What are you most excited to try this fragrance in? 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I love this scent! Just received with my last order. Do you still carry the essential oil blend? Even though it wasn’t exactly like this, I enjoyed the smell.
We have a new system in place that examines factors like sales, storage, product performance, the current market, and the needs of our customers. After careful examination we decided to discontinue the essential oil blend. Glad to hear you’re loving the new scent though. It works great in handmade products. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Ok, this new Karma FO is going straight on my wishlist for my next order. I’m suppose to be receiving my most recent Brambleberry order tomorrow 😊👏
I think you’ll really like the fragrance Maggie, it smells fantastic. Also, thanks for your order. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I am hoping you can answer a question that has come up about poly80, since it keeps oils and micas from sticking to the sides of the tub and helps disperse them through the water, does it also interfere with the ability for the skin to absorb and get the benefits of the oils and butters we put in our bath bombs? In other words, it keeps the oils and butters from sticking to the tub does it also keep the oils and butters from “sticking to the skin”
It doesn’t prevent the oil and butter from sticking. If the recipe has oil, it will still moisturize the skin with and without polysorbate 80. It helps to think of it like a body butter, which is just butter and oils, and a lotion made with water and emulsifier. Both still moisturize the skin, it’s just that the lotion absorbs more quickly and doesn’t feel as heavy as the body butter.
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
OK thanks that helps 🙂
good
Glad you enjoyed the tutorial!
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I have added them to my wet ingredients before and they disperse easier that way. Mix the color into the wet really well. When pouring the wet make sure you pour in different spots. Much easier, in my opinion
Thank you Natalie those are both great ideas! I have tried mixing micas in with my wet ingredients before, but for some reason I never thought to do that with the LaBomb colorants.
What a great idea Natalie, we’ll have to give that a try. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
How do you get the LaBomb colarants to be so vibrant? I tried them in a much smaller batch (it filled about 5 of the “bath bomb and packaging” molds) and I had to add about 18 drops of each colorant. Every time I have tried using them I split the mixture in half to try to get a two toned bomb, so theoretically that would be about 1/4 of your recipe here, and 4 drops of each color would have been more than enough right? I must not be doing something correctly. I put the mixture in between my hands and rubbed them together (like I saw in another soap queen tutorial), I mixed by hand for at least 5-10 minutes, and I still only wound up with an extremely faint (basically non existent) color. I have tried the Coral, Adobe Brick, Irish Green, and Gurlie Pink colorants all with the same results. I want to love them, but so far I’m not having any luck. I would love any advice or tips that you might be able to give me. Thank you so much in advance!
Kathrine
Another tip… I warm them up in a cup of warm water prior to use
Natalie has a great tip – it helps to put the La Bomb Colorants in a cup of warm water and shake really well before use. Some of the colorants can settle, so warming and shaking them should give you a more even distribution and more concentrated colors in your bath bombs.
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry