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DIY Rose Petal Vanilla Bath Bombs

Learn how to make fragrant, all-natural DIY rose petal bath bombs. They’re made with vanilla essential oil, coconut oil and organic rose petals for a beautiful natural fragrance. Not only are these bath bombs beautiful to look at, but they’re also free of chemicals, synthetic dyes and other toxic ingredients. Read on to learn how to make these lovely, skin-softening homemade rose vanilla bath bombs!

Homemade rose bath bombs with rose petals

Who doesn’t love a soaking in a warm bath with a good book and a glass of something delicious? Added bonus if you add a fragrant, fizzy bath bomb to your bath water.

Unfortunately, far too often, store-bought rose bath bombs smell like you overdid it in the perfume aisle. Not ideal for the scent sensitive folks, or for those who want to avoid synthetic fragrances.

Store-bought rose bath bombs can also contain toxic dyes which have been linked to UTI’s and yeast infections. And at $8 or more a pop, they’re far from economical.

While there are natural non-toxic bath bombs on the market, they tend to be expensive and hard to source.

So since bath bombs are definitely a product one might use more often if they were more affordable, these rose bath bombs with rose petals are a great money-saver, while also having the benefit of being non-toxic and good for your skin.

DIY rose bath bombs with rose petals
Plate with rose bath bombs

How to Package Rose Bath Bombs

Bath bombs are also one of those homemade gifts that don’t look homemade if executed correctly. Translation – they’re not dry, cracked and falling apart. This means you have to measure the ingredients carefully!

For gifting, we suggest placing your finished bath bombs in a lovely cotton muslin bag, complete with a handmade tag – the perfect Valentine’s Day, birthday or Christmas gift for the bath lover in your life.

And since these bath bombs are also fairly easy to make, they’re a fun project to do with kids. Plus, what kid doesn’t love watching a bath bomb fizz and shoot rose petals into their bath water!

Close up of DIY rose bath bomb
DIY rose bath bombs with gift bag

Ingredients for DIY Rose Bath Bombs

Admittedly, there are a lot of rose bath bomb recipes floating around the internet (pun unintended!).

That said, we still wanted to create our own recipe using the common DIY bath bomb ingredients of citric acid, baking soda, corn starch and Epsom salts, all in an effort find the perfect combination.

Ingredients for homemade bath bombs with rose petals

We used organic coconut oil in this bath bomb recipe, which is a saturated fat and therefore resilient to light and heat. Coconut oil is also incredibly skin softening, and wonderful for locking hydration into the skin. It also possesses antibacterial and anti-fungal properties.

On the other hand, the less stable, polyunsaturated oils in some bath bomb recipes – like sunflower, safflower or sweet almond – will oxidize in hot bathwater and become rancid. Not only does bathing in rancid oil sound very unappealing, but it’s not good for your skin, either.

Essential Oils for Rose Petal Bath Bombs

As for the rose essential oil blend in this recipe, you have a few choices for scenting these bath bombs. While using real Bulgarian rose otto would create the most heavenly rose bath bombs, a rose oil dilution is far easier on your wallet.

You can also use cost-effective rose geranium oil, whose rosy fragrance is frequently used to mimic real rose essential oil.

When it comes to vanilla, options include vanilla oleoresin or a vanilla substitute, because with the global vanilla bean shortage, real vanilla essential oil is not always easily accessible.

We also like Simply Earth’s Vanilla Woods blend, which smells like sweet vanilla without the high price tag.

Oh, and we accidentally bought 2lbs of organic dried rose petals. Apparently, a 1lb bag of rose petals looks a lot smaller online than it does in person!

So, while we got more than we bargained for, the rose petals will definitely be put to good use in other DIY’s, like this rose soap, rose chocolate tub tea or floral bath soak. Plus, our newest bath bomb recipe are these decadent chocolate rose bath bombs, glazed with a moisturizing cocoa butter shell and rose petals!

Homemade bath bombs with rose petals

Tips for Making Rose Bath Bombs

The process of making these bath bombs was incredibly simple and rather fun. Again, a really good project to do with kids or young teens. And the results of course, are equally as enjoyable.

Here’s a few tips for making the best rose petal bath bombs:

  • When possible, be sure to use food-grade organic dried rose petals to avoid pesticides.
  • Rose petals are lovely in a bath, but please remember to remove them from your tub after bathing. You definitely don’t want to deal with dried flowers clogging your drain.
  • We chose stainless steel bath bomb molds instead of the typical aluminum molds, which are far more durable.
  • We also recommend not using plastic bath bomb molds when possible, as they’re easily cracked and not very eco-friendly.
  • These rose bath bombs will turn your bathwater a lovely shade of pink. We achieved this using beet powder, but for an even more potent rose aroma, you can also use rose petal powder. Rose clay is another option for a natural pink bath bomb colorant.
  • While not completely natural, you can grease your molds with a small amount of mineral oil to make the bath bombs easier to remove. Unfortunately, using natural oils like coconut oil in to grease the molds tends to leave oil spots on the finished bath bombs.
  • For a moisturizing rose petal milk bath bomb, you can also replace the corn starch with whole milk powder.

Let’s get started. Gather your supplies.

By the way, if you’re pressed for time or not the DIY type, but love a non-toxic bath bomb, we recommend only using bath bombs with natural ingredients. There are a variety of rose petal bath bombs on Etsy, a great place for sourcing handmade, non-toxic bath and body products.

Homemade pink rose petal bath bombs

DIY Rose Bath Bombs Recipe

Dry Ingredients

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup citric acid powder
1/2 cup Epsom salt
3-4 tsp beet powder or rose petal powder (depending on your desired colour)
1/2 cup organic dried rose petals for decoration

Wet Ingredients

3 tsp high-proof alcohol
3 tsp melted coconut oil
20 drops rose otto essential oil or rose geranium essential oil
20 drops vanilla oleoresin or vanilla essential oil blend

Equipment

Stainless steel bath bomb mold
Sieve to sift ingredients
Wooden spoon for mixing
Spoon for rose petals
Nitrile gloves for kneading
Cotton muslin bag for gifting

How to make rose bath bombs

Using a sieve over a large bowl, sift all the dry bath bomb ingredients, including the beet powder. Using a sieve helps avoid clumps in your mixture, ensuring a uniform final texture. After sifting, mix well with a large spoon.

Stirring bowl of DIY bath bomb ingredients

Heat the coconut oil in a small saucepan on low heat until just melted. Promptly remove from heat.

Add the essential oils to the coconut oil, then add the fragrance mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix well to combine. You can use a wooden spoon, or knead with your gloved hands.

Very slowly, begin to drizzle the alcohol into the bath bomb mixture, mixing immediately to incorporate. It’s important to stir quickly to avoid as much fizzing as possible. If you notice a bit too much fizzing of the dry ingredients, add the alcohol even slower. Mix or knead until everything is fully incorporated.

Once the mixture is ready, scoop approximately 1 tablespoon of the dried rose petals into one half of your bath bomb mold.

Placing roses in bath bomb mold

Then, add the bath bomb mixture. Firmly pat the mixture to conform to your mold, slightly overfilling it. Do the same with the other half of the mold, omitting the petals on the bottom portion.

Put the two sides of each mold together and press firmly over the mixing bowl, allowing the excess mixture to fall back into the bowl.

Place your rose petal bath bombs on a cookie sheet or cutting board to set. Don’t leave the bombs in the mold too long or they will be harder to remove (we learned this the hard way). We determined that 3 hours of curing time is about right.

After a few hours, the bath bombs should be set enough to be carefully handled. Very gently release each bath bomb from the mold, one half at a time. You may need to twist gently, or even hit the molds against a countertop to fully loosen each bath bomb.

Once you’ve removed the molds, carefully place each bath bomb back into the bottom half of the mold. This helps avoid flat bottoms as they dry.

Leave your bath bombs in an area where they will not be disturbed for at least 24 hours to dry out fully.

Once your bath bombs are completely dry, wrap them in plastic wrap to protect them from moisture before placing them into a cotton muslin bag. Store in a cool, dry place.

DIY rose bath bomb with rose petals
Yield: 4 bath bombs

DIY Rose Bath Bombs with Rose Petals

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Additional Time: 1 day
Total Time: 1 day 3 hours 20 minutes

Learn to make fragrant, all-natural DIY rose bath bombs with this easy recipe. No synthetic fragrances necessary! Instead, these rose petal bath bombs are scented with essential oils and real rose petals for a lush fragrance. You can feel good knowing that your bathwater will be free of artificial dyes and other harmful ingredients.

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

Equipment

Instructions

  1. Using a sieve over a large bowl, sift all the dry bath bomb ingredients, including the beet powder. Using a sieve helps avoid clumps in your mixture, ensuring a uniform final texture. After sifting, mix well with a large spoon.Stirring bowl of DIY bath bomb ingredients
  2. Heat the coconut oil in a small saucepan on low heat until just melted. Promptly remove from heat.
  3. Add the essential oils to the coconut oil, then add the fragrance mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix well to combine. You can use a wooden spoon, or knead with your gloved hands.
  4. Very slowly, begin to drizzle the alcohol into the bath bomb mixture, mixing immediately to incorporate. It's important to stir quickly to avoid as much fizzing as possible. If you notice a bit too much fizzing of the dry ingredients, add the alcohol even slower. Mix or knead until everything is fully incorporated.
  5. Once the mixture is ready, scoop approximately 1 tablespoon of the dried rose petals into one half of your bath bomb mold.Spooning rose petals into DIY bath bomb mold
  6. Then, add the bath bomb mixture. Firmly pat the mixture to conform to your mold, slightly overfilling it. Do the same with the other half of the mold, omitting the petals on the bottom portion.
  7. Put the two sides of each mold together and press firmly over the mixing bowl, allowing the excess mixture to fall back into the bowl.
  8. Place your rose petal bath bombs on a cookie sheet or cutting board to set. Don’t leave the bombs in the mold too long or they will be harder to remove (we learned this the hard way). We determined that 3 hours of curing time is about right.
  9. After a few hours, the bath bombs should be set enough to be carefully handled. Very gently release each bath bomb from the mold, one half at a time. You may need to twist gently, or even hit the molds against a countertop to fully loosen each bath bomb.
  10. Once you've removed the molds, carefully place each bath bomb back into the bottom half of the mold. This helps avoid flat bottoms as they dry.
  11. Leave your bath bombs in an area where they will not be disturbed for at least 24 hours to dry out fully.
  12. Once your bath bombs are completely dry, wrap them in plastic wrap to protect them from moisture before placing them into a cotton muslin bag. Store in a cool, dry place.

Notes

  • When possible, be sure to use food-grade organic dried rose petals to avoid pesticides.
  • Rose petals are lovely in a bath, but please remember that you will have to remove them from your tub after bathing. You definitely don’t want to deal with dried flowers clogging your drain.
  • We chose stainless steel bath bomb molds instead of the typical aluminum molds, which are far more durable.
    We also recommend not using plastic molds, which are easily cracked and not very eco-friendly.
  • These homemade bath bombs will turn your bathwater a lovely shade of pink. We achieved this using beet powder, but for an even more potent rose aroma, you can also use rose petal powder. Rose clay is another option for a natural pink bath bomb colorant.
  • While not completely natural, you can grease your molds with a small amount of mineral oil to make the each bath bombs easier to remove. Unfortunately, natural oils like coconut oil tend to leave oil spots.
  • For a moisturizing rose milk bath bomb, you can also replace the corn starch with whole milk powder.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

More DIY Bath and Body Recipes with Roses

Have you ever made your own homemade bath bombs? We love the combination of rose and vanilla, but what are your favourite essential oil blends for bath bombs? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this DIY rose petal bath bomb recipe, you might also enjoy the following rose skincare recipes:

For even more natural bath and body recipes, follow us on Pinterest! You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Kristy, Life-n-Reflection

Tuesday 12th of June 2018

These are lovely and your photography is stunning!

Kyla

Tuesday 12th of June 2018

Thank you, Kristy! Likewise -- we love your photography. :)

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