Homemade : Bath Bombs

One of the things I'll be giving my Mum this mothers day is some homemade bath items, well some bath bombs and soaps at least.

Today I'm making the bath bombs!

So, here's what you'll need to make a Bath Bomb!

(Oh! before I begin, you can probably get these items cheaper elsewhere but I was pressed for time and wentfor I went for convenience, though I didn't think most of these things were poorly priced at all!)

1. Bicarbonate of Soda - Wilkinson's, £1 for 500g

2. Citric Acid - Wilkinson's, £1 for 50g

3. Fragrance - Hobby Craft, Rose Fragrance £3.86 for 25ml

4. Essential oil - Wilkinson's, Lavender Oil  £1.25 10ml

5. Decoration (optional) - Hobby Craft, Rose Buds £2.96 per pack

6. 1 or 2 mixing bowls

7. Measuring scales

8. Spoon for mixing (optional)

9. Water, preferably in a spray bottle

10. Colouring (optional) - eBay, Rosebud Pink mineral pigment powder 

£2.50 for 5g

11. Bath bomb mould - eBay  £3.99 for a 6cm round mould

The mineral colouring powder hasn't arrived yet so today I'm just making white rose scented bath bombs with lavender oil.

• So first, measure out about 75g of the bicarbonate of soda and sift into a bowl, then add about 35g of citric acid and mix using your fingers or a spoon until fully combined.

• Next,you can either split the mixture in half and add about 2g of colourant to one half, OR you could colour the whole mixture, OR like me leave it white.

• Then, add about 2ml of your rose fragrance, I just squirted a little bit into the mixture until I thought the fragrance was a nice 'strength'. Also add a similar amount of your essential oil, in my case I used lavender to make a really floral scented bath bomb, which relaxing tones.

• Here's the tricky bit, you use your spray bottle to add water, little at a time until the mix becomes damp. If you make it too wet the mixture will start to fizz and effervesce, I did this on my first attempt, it was super messy and didn't work. So you want the mix to start to stick together, it will sort of look and feel like fake snow.

• Now fill one half of your mould with your mixture. You can alternate your coloured mixes to make a stripey pattern if you want, but as mine is all white I just filled the half fully pressing in down so there are no air spaces. Leave a little mound of mix at the top of the half so when you press the two halves together they'll merge. 

• I then did pretty much the same to the other half of the mould but before putting the mix in, at the bottom I put about 5 rose buds, so they'll poke out of the bath bomb once complete. Then I joined the two halves together with a little force so they'd set together.

• I left the filled mould for about 10 minutes so the mix would set (but I leave them overnight before properly handling them). To remove carefully take one half of the mould away, your bath bomb should have formed so only the mould is removed. Then cup the non-mould half of the bath bomb in your hand and carefully lift of the other side of the mould. Your bath bomb is complete!

I really enjoyed making these, they were super quick and easy to make. I know my Mum will love them!

On Thursday I'll make a homemade soap post!

What do you think? Will you give these a try?

Have you ever made your own bath bombs before?

Thanks for Reading!

Birds in Blossom x

Lush Easter Collection!

 

Okay so by now you've probably realized I am a HUGE Lush fan, and when I saw their Easter/Mother's Day collection I fell in love, it's all so CUTE! You may also have noticed that this collection came out a few weeks ago so I'm slow of the mark with this post, but I did take these photos literally the day after the line was released, but university has been swallowing up all of my free time so this is the first time I've had an hour (I'm having a break from revision) to write a post. 

When I walked into the Lush shop it truly felt like spring had arrived with gorgeous floral bubble bars and a variety of egg shaped bath bombs. Some of my favourite aesthetic products are the 'Mum Tulip' because my favourite flower is the Tulip and I think the 'Bunch of Carrots' are super cute. 

As for the ones I actually purchased, I chose 'Brightside Bubble Bar' (£4.50 each), it has a lovely citrus-y scent, which is more tangerine/orange rather than lemon or anything, and it turns your bath really bright orange (here's an instagram vid of when I used it). I also bought the 'Golden Egg' (£3.50 each) I got this one purely because of its smell, it's SO delicious, it smells of chocolate, honeycomb, toffee and all that yumminess, very reminiscent of a crunchie bar! 

However I have yet to use it because I'm scared of how glittery myself and the bath tub is going to be, and I've mentioned in a few of my reviews how much I detest glitter... so buying this one may have not been the best idea, but I'll have to wait and see once I've used it. I'll probably say how I felt about it on twitter and then post a video on twitter of what it looks like in the bath, so if you're interested keep an eye out for that!

That's all for now, my breaks up and I have to get back to work. Hope you enjoyed this post!

Keep smiling!

Birds in Blossom x

REVIEW | LUSH Butterball

This is the Butterball (£2.50), if you read my last LUSH review you'll know that I got this particular bath bomb in the 'Baby Frosty' Christmas set, but I have bought this on its own before. You wouldn't notice it for it's smell or it's looks but if you've used this, you would know that it does amazing things for your skin. 

It's full of cocoa butter and moisturiser, so it's super good for dry skin. There's not much more to comment on with this bath bomb, it doesn't transform your bath like other ones do (just see the pictures below, it's hard to tell which is the before and which is the after), though when it first dissolves the cocoa butter melts and looks like actual melted butter on top of your water, which is weird the first time you use it, but you soon become accustomed to it.

So obviously I recommend this one, especially if you have dry skin, it's a great addition to a pamper session, leaves your skin feeling moisturised and refreshed.

If there's a particular product you would like me to review from lush or anywhere else, leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do!

Keep smiling,

BirdsinBlossom x

REVIEW | LUSH Shoot for the Stars

Before I review the bath bomb itself, I want to comment on the gift set it came in, the 'Baby Frosty' (Original price £9.75, sale price around £4.90) this is a Christmas exclusive (no shocker there) and I bought it in the sales for half price. There are two bath bombs in the set, Shoot for the Stars (Also a Christmas exclusive) and Butterball (Available all year round, I think). I would never buy this at full price as one bath bomb is £3.25 and the other is £2.50, so you're paying £4 for a cloth to go over them, and though it is adorable, unlike some of the other cloth wrappings you get at lush, it isn't something you could use again (unless wrapping bath bombs for a Christmas present of course) and as it wasn't a gift, but for myself I don't really care about the wrappings. However the sale price was reasonable, so I thought I'd try it out. 

Anyway to the first bath bomb in this set...

So this one is obviously Shoot for the Stars (£3.25 each) it's a super cute bath bomb that's only available around Christmas. I didn't pick this one out for it's looks or scent as it was in the set but when I opened the cloth up I immediately recognised a very subtle 'Honey I washed the kids' scent coming from this bath bomb (which is a honey-caramel kind of smell), but it does smells a little fruitier than the soap to me.

Like always I just popped it in my bath and waited for the show to unfold, and it didn't fail to deliver! Straight away there were bright blue and yellow streaks fizzing out, and as it span around vibrant pink bubbles also started to come out of the bath bomb in all directions. It left the water a very beautiful dark indigo colour.

I must say, once the bath bomb had fully dissolved I was disappointed to find that there was virtually no scent coming from the bath, which is not what I have come to expect from LUSH products. Then,when I was finished and out of the bath I noticed my skin was covered in glitter, which usually I am not a fan of, but they weren't particularly large pieces of glitter so it wasn't too bad and I suppose if I was going on a night out it does leave a nice shimmer.

Overall I've decided that I wouldn't purchase this particular bath bomb again. I like ones that are greatly fragranced and leave your skin smelling lovely afterwards but Shoot for the Stars didn't do that in the slightest, also I  personally don't like having glitter in my bath and it didn't really leave me feeling like it benefited my skin like other LUSH products do.

I'll review the second bath bomb in this set, butterball, next and then I'll comment about the set on a whole.

If there's a particular product you would like me to review from lush or anywhere else, leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do!

Keep smiling,

BirdsinBlossom x

REVIEW | LUSH Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment

This one, the Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment (£3.95 each) literally smells like you've walked into a sweet shop, you're almost tempted to take a bite out of it! Though it isn't a bath bomb but a bath melt, however you still use it in the same way (by just popping it into your bath when it's ready). 

Marshmallow moment creates a sort of foam on the top of the water which is more like lathered soap than normal bubbles so I actually use it to clean my skin, it also contains cocoa butter which is really good for dry skin and I definitely find that it moisturises my skin really well.

Most of the times I have used this product the water has turned a soft pink colour but this time (I don't know how well it comes through the pictures) it was more lilac than pink, it still smelled the same so I figure it may have just been the lighting in the room or something.

I highly recommend this bath bomb if you love sweet smelling things and due to it's scent it would be great for children, I've given a few as gifts to younger relatives and they've gone down a treat (and according to the website it's perfect for young skin).

If there's a particular product you would like me to review from lush or anywhere else, leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do!

Keep smiling,

BirdsinBlossom x

REVIEW | LUSH Dragon's Egg

I had never used the Dragon's Egg (£3.25 each) before but I bought it as it smelled so fresh and lemony, though the exterior didn't really look like much, except for a few bits of confetti poking out, but you can never judge a book by the cover (lame cliche, I know) so I thought I'd give it a go!

So I put it in my bath not expecting much but I was actually pleasantly surprised, it fizzed white at first and released a few bits of confetti, which was what I was expecting, but then a glittery golden core emerged (go look at the website images to really see what I mean), but I will add it doesn't make your skin glittery or anything, which is something I am definitely glad about. 

After a while I kept hearing crackling and I thought the tap was just dripping or something, but I soon realised it was the bath bomb, it has a sort of popping candy in it, a unusual but cool touch!

The pictures below showing the colour change of the bath don't really do this bath bomb any justice, it is a much more vibrant gold in reality. I will definitely be purchasing this one again, the citrus fragrance was enticing and for some reason I always feel even cleaner with lemon scented soaps and shampoos etc., probably due to years of using citrus kitchen cleaning products!

I would definitely recommend this one if you aren't really into sweet or floral scents, I have a friend who doesn't like those kind of scents and she absolutely loves this bath bomb!

If there's a particular product you would like me to review from lush or anywhere else, leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do!

Keep smiling,

BirdsinBlossom x

REVIEW | LUSH Twilight

Okay, I did say that I was going to do one huge LUSH products review, but I realised it would be a REALLY long post and take a while to complete as I have to use all the products first, so I've decided to do a mini review for each product separately. I hope that's okay (well, it kinda has to be because that's what I'm doing).

Also in each of the LUSH reviews I will make the names of the products a link to the website page.

This is the Twilight Bath Bomb (£3.25 each) and it's definitely up there as one of my favourite bath bombs from LUSH, as it just smells so pretty! It's actually a lavender fragrance but it's a lot sweeter than a usual lavender smell, it's like a cross between lavender and parma violets in my opinion, which for me is a big plus!

If you haven't used a bath bomb before you simply run your bath to your ideal temperature and then pop the whole thing in and watch your bath transform! Though you could half your bath bomb if you wanted, I always use the whole thing with bath bombs as my tub is really quite large and holds a lot of water so they do get diluted quite a bit and LUSH employees often say you don't get the full benefit if you only use a portion.

When you first put this particular bath bomb into your bath it fizzes and gives off a pale pink colour, but when that outer layer breaks down you will reach the blue core and then colours will start to swirl around mixing into one another, it's quite the treat to watch.

As you can see from the photos Twilight actually turns your bath into a pretty shade of lavender that matches it's scent! I highly recommend you give this one a go, if you like sweeter scents that is, as it leaves your skin and hair smelling lovely all day long!

If there's a particular product you would like me to review from lush or anywhere else, leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do!

Keep smiling,

BirdsinBlossom x