The wintertime DIY: Bath melts.

So in the previous blogpost I mentioned how I got inspired to do this DIY whilst I was bathing. I usually shower, but when I do bathe I often take a glass of milk with a few drops of some essential oil with me. The milk helps to spread the oil in the water and conditions the skin. But on Saturday I added a bit of coconut oil to the mix for extra soft skin, and it worked like a charm! I'd seen bath melt DIY's before, and I came up with my very own recipe! So I made a small batch of bath melts, tested one and love them!

You will need

Ingredients

powdered milk

cocoa butter

coconut oil

Other required equipment

heat resistant bigger bowl or container

silicone baking cups

 two tablespoons

ceramic bowl

hot pad

kettle

water

plate

Optional extras are essential oils for scent (I recommend 2-3 drops per bath) and dried flowers to make the bath melt look more interesting. You could also add food colouring or chuck some glitter in if you like. 

How to make
I wanted each piece to contain an equivalent of 125 ml of milk, and the pack of powdered milk said one sachet  made 1/2 l of milk. Hence I made 4 pieces with one sachet. I started by laying out 4 baking cups on the plate.

Then I estimated how much cacao butter I thought I'd need to fill the bottoms of these cups and put that in the ceramic bowl. If you prefer numbers: it was about 1/4 of the jar of cacao butter, meaning it was about 37.5g

Then I added about the same volume of coconut oil and melted them together bain-marie. So put the kettle on and stack the hot pad, heat resistant container and ceramic bowl. Then pour the boiling water in the container. Make sure no water gets inside the bowl and stir well with a spoon until the butter and oil are melted. You'll need some patience for this, and it should look like clear, melted butter once it's all melted and blended.

At this point, grab the powdered milk and add this in using the clean spoon. Bit by bit, add milk powder and mix until all lumps are gone. The ingredients mix easily, so within a few minutes you'll end up with a batter-like consistency. The mix won't be so hot any more because the milk powder was at room temperature.

If you want to add any of the extra ingredients, this is the time to do so! I left my 'batter' as it was. It certainly smelled nice enough already because of the cacao butter and coconut oil. Now scoop the mix in the cups and let them cool down. If you use glitter or dried flower, you can mix it in with the batter, but you can also sprinkle it on top and press it in very gently. Doing both mixing ans sprinkling is possible too of course!

Next, I cleaned up the little mess I'd made and that went easier than expected! When that was done I transferred the plate with cups into the fridge so they'd set faster. A few hours later I took the bath melts out of their molds. I think the powder sank a bit, giving the hearts a layered look. 

I ended up with four little hearts that look suspiciously similar to white chocolate! They smell like white chocolate too, which should come as no surprise since the hearts and white chocolate share an ingredient.

Tried and tested
Naturally I was keen on testing my own creation! So on Monday I took another post-run bath and dropped one of these in the tub. The verdict: I absolutely love it, I love it more than I expected to! It didn't melt too fast - it's no fun if it's gone within a few seconds - and turned the water a bit milky. It made the bathroom and my skin smell like white chocolate, and most importantly: it left my skin soft and moisturised! I felt as though I'd indulged in luxury! So actually 100% of the people who tested this product love it! (Small sample size though...)

If you do try this, let me know if you liked it too and be sure to clean your bath properly as the butter and oil can make for a slippery surface!
Sincerely,
R.

P.S.: Fun fact: All three ingredients are edible, and so are these bath melts! Not sure whether it'd taste any good though...