Teach Soap

Hi everyone! I am really confused about colorants to use in bath bombs and I’m hoping you all can help me.

First, I ordered the bath bomb powders from WSP, which are FD&C Lakes. They are listed as oil dispersible. I really love the way these behave in my bath bombs. They are a bright color, leave no ring in the tub, and incorporate really easily into my bath bomb mixture. My biggest problem with these is they come in 4 colors: blue, red, yellow, and orange. I have tried to mix them into secondary colors with little to no success. Specifically, when trying to make purple, it always comes out grey and ugly. I’ve tried mixing them together dry, diluting them in oil first (they don’t dilute 100%, there’s always a few grains that don’t mix in) and then mixing them together – all to no avail. I hate spending a ton of time trying to get these right, so for my next step…

I bought the La Bomb colorants from BrambleBerry. In all my notes from every batch I make with the La Bomb colors, I have noted, “I hate working with the La Bomb colorants”. I always think if I tweak some other little thing they will work, but they never ever turn out nice. First, they are too pastel for what I want. Second, they ALWAYS come out speckled, no matter how much I mix and kneed. Third, they are too thick. I use a graduated dropper and they are so viscous that half of the drops stay stuck in the dropper and I hate feeling like those drops are wasted. And finally (and really what I think is the biggest problem with them), I have come to believe the glycerin in them draws moisture into my bombs from the air and causes warts.

So, what’s a girl to do? In my perfect world, I’d like exactly what WSP has, but premixed in a rainbow of colors. Is there a way to mix those powders together that I’m missing? Or is there another colorant out there that I don’t know about? I was thinking about trying the Da Bomb colorants from NGC, wondering if they combine better since they are already liquid, but I fear that they will behave the same way La Bomb does.

I'd really appreciate any advice you can give. Thank you!

Hey there hun! I, too, have battled the bath bomb lol. I started making bath & body products almost a year ago (in late February), and I just opened on online store in October and it's doing great! Right now my two main things are bath bombs and bubble bars, I also have other stuff and I'm sure it'll continue to grow (*fingers crossed*!)....but...back to the bath bomb. I swore I was going crazy lol. I ALSO live in a rain forest climate, so imagine that! I ended up having to create a temp controlled studio. I wanted mine to float and do cool things and be colorful and double and even triple layered (they now do!) I know EXACTLY what you're talking about when trying to make purple...AND I was also displeased with the laBomb colorants (like an idiot, I bought the whole set at once!) I still have most of them lol. I love BB but sometimes you have to go elsewhere, so that's what I did. I eventually settled (now, these are a bit pricey, but just build overtime hun...they WORK)...go to The Personal Formulator. And if you'd like to see the proof that these are good colorants, you can check out my site if you like! www.bombdiggybath.com....everything you see on there is extremely bright in the tub, I've had NO complaints yet, and trust me, I feel your pain! Please let me know what you think, and if you have any more questions, please feel free to pm me! Lots of luck, I hope I helped even a tiny bit! try not to go gray over the bath bomb...they are finnicky little suckers LOL.

Thank you so much for your reply! I'll definitely check out The Personal Formulator.

You've hit on another one of my big questions - how do you get them to float??

The recipe I use is:
1 C Baking soda (260 g)
3/4 C Citric Acid (150 g)
1 T Kaolin Clay (10 g)
5 ml Fragrance
Spritz with witch hazel

Usually I get 2 big bath bombs with this and they are about 7.3 oz each. They always sink and fizz out in about 2 minutes. Any tips for me to get them to float and last longer?

I'll be pm'ing you hun....

Thanks!

Hey guys hoping you can help me. If this has already been addressed forgive me, I'm new! I'm looking for very vibrant colorant for my bath bombs. I've used micas but they really do a number on the bath tub, and don't get the intense colors I'm looking for. (Kinda like *ush) I've never used lakes and not sure how they come ie. Powder/liquid. Can someone point me in the right direction? Many thanks in advance.