Bath Bomb Woes

[Tabitha]

OK, I don't like to make bath bombs. I have always struggled w/ them.
I had not made any in over a year so I decided to give it another go. Here is my recipe:

1c Baking Soda
1c Citric Acid
1tsp shea butter (melted)
3tsp sunflower oil
1tsp polysorbit
1tsp fo
8 spritz of witchhazel/alcohol blend

Then bombs set up really nice. I could pop them out of the mold in about 5 minutes & they were hard in 24 hours. Here is my problem. 2 of the 5 batches have black spots on them. I made:

1)Lime margaritta (Green) w/ 1 extra tsp of oil - lumpy texture & spotted
2)Lima margaritta (Green)-Looks great
3)White Tea & ginger (Peach)-Look great
4)Strawberries & Champagne (Pink)- Looks great
5)Coconut Grove (Blue)-Great texture but spotted

I know the lumps on the 1st batch of Lime are due to too much oil. I guess it began to activate the fizz & they puffed up.

What are the spots from? Could it be vanilla content? I have been using the lime for quite sometime & in many products w/o any discoloration. I did/ not think there was any vanilla content in them. I am just grasping at straws here.


Click on the photo for a larger view.

 

[CPSoaper]

I recently made bombs with a coconut scent and they did that as well. In fact, they turned darker all together. But, I had one to send to my son's girlfriend, and it never turned. It has been in a box since I made it and was not exposed to light. I do think it is the fragrance.

 

[Tabitha]

So why do 1 of my lime batches have spots but not the other? I am so baffled!

 

[CPSoaper]

The lumpy bumpy may be from too much moisture but as far as the brown spots, I think it is the fragrance with the lime as well. Of course, this is my guess since when I did the coconut batch, I did other scents as well and not one of them did it to me. All the scents I used came from the same master batch and the only difference was the fragrance. That day I made Moonlight Path, Relaxation from Tony's and Satsuma from AH. My coconut did this though and since then, the whole bath bomb has turned darker in color.

I also had this happen once when I made bubble bars. I used Pink Sugar and got brown spots which I thought were mildew. When I asked about it and posted pictures of it, I was told it was probably not mold but was the fragrance. I could not get past those brown spots and threw the whole batch away. I've never made those since.

 

[gbtreasures]

Tab.......... I had the same thing happen to a batch of mine, too. Mine developed spots after a couple of days. They started out small and not so dark, then turned into bigger brown spots. Looked like mold to me. Someone (who is alot wiser than I) said that it was caused from a fo that probably had vanilla in it. Vanilla can be strange, but how I love it's fragrance! Hope this helps!

 

[Lane]

I just had a batch of soap do this. It looks exact to your bombs....

In my soap, it was because of the FO. I have used the FO many times without it ever having a problem....But for so reason, the darn FO would not mix in!! Maybe because of the water in the alcohol the oils and other liquid didn't mix together well enough in those certain batches, but did in the bathes that turned out well?

 

[itsmeroro]

Hello

I just made my first bomb fizzies and they grew pimples! I think my mix was too wet and the spray bottle was not a great "fine mist" bottle. Otherwise, I took the left overs and made salt fizz... smells great.