DIY Rose Bath Truffles with Essential Oil

Soothe away in the tub with luxurious and skin softening DIY rose bath truffles! Melting in a warm bath, this homemade beauty product infuses the water with nourishing oils and butters that moisturize your skin while you relax in the tub.

The DIY beauty recipe is formulated with rosehip oil, which is rich in vitamins and antioxidants and has many skin care benefits. Rose otto essential oil and dried rose buds give the bath truffles a fragrance reminiscent of a summer rose garden in full bloom. These bath melts are a relaxing addition to your bath time and thoughtful gift for natural beauty lovers!

DIY Rose Bath Melts

Last week I shared a natural beauty recipe for floral bath creamers, and you seem to love it! Since I had also ordered dried rose buds together with the dried flower petals, I thought to create another handmade bath product: DIY rose bath truffles! I suppose you can call these DIY rose bath melts, too, as the formula is similar to bath melt recipes. To me they look like little sweet treats, so I thought bath truffle was a fitting name.

The truffles are vegan and made with a blend of skin-loving, plant-based oils and butters, completely free of any artificial or toxic ingredients. And as you unwind in the water, enjoy the soothing scent created by rose essential oil and dried rose buds. A true treat for your skin and mind!

Ingredients for homemade rose bath truffles

These all-natural bath truffles are packed with moisturising, plant-based materials that your skin will love. Only 6 ingredients are needed for this beauty DIY, so let’s have a look at the ingredients list:

Oils & Butters

Cocoa butter and shea butter will make the bath water feel silky smooth and luxurious. Both kinds of butter contain many natural vitamins and fatty acids that provide nourishment and moisture for the skin.

Cocoa butter is rich in antioxidants and an excellent emollient, meaning it helps the skin absorb moisture. Furthermore, shea butter has anti-inflammatory properties that help to reduce skin inflammation, prevents drying, and softens the skin.

Instead of cocoa butter, you could also use another hard butter such as mango butter or kokum butter. Shea butter can be replaced with soft butters, for example, avocado butter or coffee butter.

Rosehip oil or rosehip seed oil is loaded with essential, polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamins C, E and A, that are all antioxidants which help fight free radicals. While rose essential oil comes from rose petals, rosehip oil is made from the seeds of the rose hips.

This oil can penetrate into deeper levels of the skin and provides excellent moisturisation, reduces skin inflammation, and has good anti-ageing properties. When buying this oil, make sure it’s cold-pressed and virgin.

Rose Essential Oil

Rose essential oil smells wonderfully fragrant. But did you know this essential oil also has many aromatherapeutic benefits? For one the rose smell is very uplifting and said to improve stress, depression, and anxiety. The oil also has strong antibacterial properties, that can help to better acne. It also increases the skin’s permeability, meaning it helps the skin to absorb more of the moisturising oils and butters.

When it comes to buying rose oil, you have the choice between rose otto essential or rose absolute. Rose otto is steam distilled and the purest form of rose essential oil, while rose absolute is solvent extracted and has a strong rose fragrance. Although rose oils can be quite expensive, I found that this rose otto oil is a great choice to make the rose bath melts. Alternatively, try this rose otto and jojoba oil blend.

Emulsifier

I made a test batch of the truffles without an emulsifying agent what caused the oils not mixing with the water rather than pooling on top. To enjoy the full skincare benefits, I, therefore, recommend using emulsifying wax, which helps the oils and butters disperse into the bath water. Emulsifying wax is refined from palms and bind oils to water. It’s very easy to use and can be used for many other DIY skincare products such as lotions and creams.

Instead of emulsifying wax, the recipe can also be prepared with 15 g (0.52 oz) Polysorbate 80, which is  liquid and water-soluble. As cocoa and shea butters are heavier carrier oils, it’s best to use polysorbate 80 instead of polysorbate 20. You can use the leftover for many other cosmetic products such as bath bombs or lotions.

And in case you are wondering, Polysorbate is a synthetic material. Since it’s a very forgiving, easy to use, widely available and inexpensive ingredient, I prefer it over natural solubisers, which are more costly, rare on the market and trickier to work with.

Dried Rose Buds

Dried rose buds look gorgeous and will steep in the bath water, adding to the benefits of the rosehip oil and rose essential oil. I was delighted how fragrant the rosebuds are. While dried rose petals sometimes only have a faint rose smell, the dried buds throw of a strong floral scent.

Tips for making the floral bath truffles

The recipe is easy and straightforward. Slowly melt the butters and emulsifying wax in a double boiler, add the rosehip oil and essential oil and pour into a mould.

You can either use a silicone mold, a mini muffin or cupcake tray (pan), or an ice cube tray to form the truffles. If you use a cupcake tray (pan), line the cavities with small paper cupcake liners so you can remove the truffles easily from the mold. I also recommend placing soft silicone molds on a tray or cutting board so you can lift and handle them easily.

After pouring the truffles, put the mold in the freezer. After 10 to 15 minutes, the truffle mixture begins to harden. Visual cue: the truffles aren’t clear anymore but become opaque. Once that happens, take the mold out of the freezer and insert the dried roses. Then return to the freezer for another 20 minutes.

Since the temperature varies from freezer to freezer, it’s difficult to say when the truffles have solidified enough decorate them with roses. My best tip is to check every 5 minutes to see if the mixture is ready. And don’t fret in case the mixture becomes too hard. Simply rewarm in the microwave (low setting, silicone molds only!) or in the oven (lowest setting, metal baking trays/pans).

Gift the bath melts

DIY rose bath truffles are lovely gifts for many occasions, such as birthdays, Mother’s Day, hostess gifts, or wedding favours. I placed the truffles in small paper cupcake liners (cases), which looks pretty and also makes it easier to handle as the truffles are a bit oily to the touch. Cyna came up with lovely printable gift tags, which you can download at the end of the post.