Anti-depression essential oil soap and glittery bath bombs, recipe

I have had a blast!

This afternoon I made my first cold process soap...to have its own thread when its ready for its close-up

but ages ago I found an unused melt and pour soap craft kit in a thrift store, so while I was soaping I decided to try that too

and I made MareMares bath bombs from the tutorial list.

the results were brilliant. I use a lot of aromatherapy oils, I like the effects and I hate synthetic oils, so I always have a lot of different oils to hand. I also have Valerie Worwoods brilliant books on essential oils. She has one on the emotional effects of the oils and I got this recipe for a blend which she says can help with depression.

It is 10 Drops of Benzoin, 5 drops of black pepper and 15 drops of geranium. I added twice that amount to enough coconut soap to make 5 regular size bars (no idea what it weighed) also added some yellow soap colourant into it. Colour as we know also has an effect on mood. The resulting blend smells fantastic, floral and sorta citrusy, the pepper is largely imperceptible but there is a grounded warm note to it too. The bars are plain and look like this.

The mould that came with the kit was enough for 4 bars, but I had some left over so I made a little mould out of a cling film lined lid, to this I added about a dessertspoon of ground almonds and some rose hip oil. The bar looks rough, but I have just washed my hands with it and it feels nice, not very lathery, but good. #

Since I was having so much fun I used MareMares recipe for bath bombs,
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=203285.0 I bought citric acid ages ago with the intention of making them, because the price of them in the shops!! you'd swear they were using gold dust. The recipe is brilliant and it worked great. I dyed them with blue soap colour and added a small tube of red glitter...because I love glitter!....and added lots of lavender essential oils.

I have a silicone ice-cube tray and so I made 18 small bombs, with the stuff left over, I packed it into a little plastic scoop and tapped them gently on the palm of my hand and they demoulded OK, a little crumbly, but they look good and smell delicious..

this is not a great pic, too dark, but all the little black speckles are glitter, I am going out tonight and will have a glittery bomby bath first!

The rest of the soap, the cold process stuff (heart and loaf tin shaped, pink with a different gorgeous essential oil blend and dried calendula petals) is in the oven and I am resisting the temptation to peek.

no-one told me the worst part of soap making...that you need patience before you can get to the end result....its agony