I love all of Lush Cosmetics’ bath products — bath bombs (make your own Lush-Inspired Bath Bombs), bubbleroons, and of course bubble bars! I’ve been a Lush customer for at least 5 years and I’ve posted all over about my favorite products, my Lush Hauls, the limited edition seasonal products, (hello, Valentine’s Day!) and more.
It’s no secret that I love a nice, long Lush bath — in fact, my go-to Lush favorite is the Comforter Bubble Bar. Love. Love. Love. So, when I recently went in to Lush, I was super sad to see that the price of the Comforter Bubble Bar had gone up again 🙁
I really love the Comforter, but the value for the price is getting kind of close for me. I cut it up into smaller pieces for my bath, but I thought it was pricey at $9.95, and now that it’s $11.95, I’ve started looking into other options for my bubble bath.
I found this Bubble Bar recipe on Hayley Williams’ YouTube and it was super fun to make. I made a ton of fun Bubble Bars and figured out a few tips for the next time I make these.
Here’s everything you’ll need to make your own Lush-inspired bubble bars:
Ingredients
- 1 cup SLSA
- 1 cup baking soda
- 1/3 cup corn starch
- 1/3 cup cream of tartar
- 1/3 cup glycerine
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or other oil (I used Josie Maran Argan Oil)
- Essential oil drops
- Food coloring
- parchment paper/ wax paper
- rolling pin
- mixing bowls
- surgical mask
- gloves
Combine all dry ingredients
Put on your mask and sift all of the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Tip: go slowly with the SLSA; it’s mega powdery and clouds of powder will come wafting up in your face.
Combine all wet ingredients
Measure out all of your wet ingredients and combine in a separate bowl. I used Josie Maran’s argan oil and it was the best decision ever. I also used bergamot oil as the fragrance since it’s listed as one of the Comforter’s ingredients!
Mix wet and dry ingredients together
Put on your gloves and combine the wet and dry ingredients. Tip: keep mixing and mixing. The texture is weird at first — kind of crumbly and “dry-seeming”, but keep mixing and it’ll be perfect. The consistency will always be slightly crumbly, but it’ll mold to the shape you want when it’s time to shape the bubble bars. Tip: don’t add extra wet ingredients beyond the recipe — your bubble bar “dough” will become sticky and/or take forever to dry (like weeks! it may even get moldy from being wet so long).
Add coloring
I was making a Comforter, so I split up my dough in half and added my pink coloring to one half & left the other half white. Tip: use liquid or gel food colorings for easier, more vibrant color — mica color powders can be difficult to fully combine into the bubble bar and can make the mixture more dry.
Roll out the bubble bar mixture
Next, lay out some parchment paper and place the color you want on the outer layer of the bubble bar. I chose to have the pink color be the outside of my bubble bar. Roll out your dough with the rolling pin. Tip: place another piece of the parchment paper on top of the dough to roll on without having the dough stick.
Layer different colors to get the “swirl” look
Layer on the second color of dough on top of the first, now flat piece. Gently roll out on top, so that both layers line up as close as possible. Tip: tuck in the side of the dough slightly so that it lines up evenly with both colors.
Press it all together
Now to roll your bubble bar! Use the parchment paper to slowly turn the dough over on itself, making a kind of sushi roll. Tip: go slowly. if your dough cracks, don’t worry — just gently press the crack back together and keep going. You’ll smooth everything together once it’s all rolled together.
Once your dough is all rolled up, squeeze in the sides toward the center to really pack it tightly, but gentle enough not to ruin your swirl design. Then use the parchment paper to continue to roll the dough into a smooth bubble bar loaf.
Cut the bubble bar into slices
Then slice your bubble bar into cute, swirly slices. I’m so happy with how these turned out! Let the bubble bars dry for at least 24 hours, but I waited three days before I used one, just to be sure that it had hardened.
Demo (so many bubbles!)
Check out all the bubbles I got from one little slice. Just crumble the bar under hot, running water and enjoy! The water is so silky, but i didn’t get much color pay off. I would probably use these with a Lush bath bomb (or you can make your own Lush-inspired Bath Bombs) and also use a different food coloring for the next time I make these.
Other bubble bars you can make
I also made a “Unicorn Horn” and then I just had fun with all of the colors I had left over. It was so fun. I was able to make over 25 bubble bars in two batches of this recipe. I had to buy a lot of stuff, but I also had a few things — all in all, it ended up being ~$3.5 per bubble bar. I can’t wait to make these again 🙂
Try out this recipe and tag me in your homemade Lush-inspired bubble bars! Check out my DIY Bath Bombs post for more LUSH inspired fun. @MuffinChanel on Instagram & Twitter!
More bubble bar DIY fun here —> DIY Rainbow Bubble Bar.
