The Best Bath Bombs Are Lush Bath Bombs

A bath bomb is a palm-size ball or disc, generally made of baking soda, citric acid, oils, and dyes that dissolve in water. And it can transform a simple soak into the highlight of one’s day, calming nerves and softening skin while entertaining bathers with fantastic fizz, soothing scents, and captivating colors.

After soaking in data from 49 on-the-record baths involving bath bombs from 16 different brands, we’re certain that Lush makes the most luxurious bath bombs—they provide multisensory pleasure and effectively moisturize skin.

Like a lovely cloth napkin or the perfect pen, a bath bomb can elevate an everyday experience—here, a soak in the tub—into one that’s sublime. Although they differ from brand to brand, most bath bombs imbue bathwater with fizz, fragrance, and fun colors. Some also introduce bubbles, dried flowers, or flecks of biodegradable glitter.

As people slog away at their endless mountains of professional and personal tasks, taking the time to draw a bath instead of hopping into the shower may already feel like a radical act. For a few exhilarating moments, soaking with a good bath bomb serves as a metaphoric middle finger to time and responsibility, a personal fireworks display declaring victory in the name of self-care.

While most bath bombs are enjoyable, they’re not all created equal. Some contain ingredients that can trigger reactions in people with allergies or sensitivities, while others can stain skin and tubs. (Nearly every bath bomb available contains sodium bicarbonate, so if you have a known reaction to baking soda, consider relaxing with a nice bubble bath or bath oil instead.)

Bath bombs might not be for you if you can’t risk damaging your tub or skin, as staining is an uncommon worst-case scenario to consider, especially with highly pigmented or darker-hued bombs. All of our picks, including Lush bath bombs, have some online reviews in which buyers have posted complaints about skin and bathtub staining. Black bath bombs are almost guaranteed to stain something, whether it’s a tub or a manicure.

Although most tub stains are actually the result of colorants adhering to soap scum and grime (not to the tub itself), some bath bombs can leave stubborn stains that take time to fade. If you want to use a colorful bath bomb but can’t risk damaging your tub, or if you’re in a shared-tub situation and you don’t want to undo your stress reduction by having to scrub immediately post-soak, consider using a disposable tub liner for protection and quick cleanup.

Once I had our finalists in hand, my kids and I bathed for weeks on end, subjectively evaluating fizz, scent, and color strength, plus timing how long the bath bomb took to fully dissolve. (Our bath bomb testing also provided a home-schooling math lesson, as my kids and I had fun calculating the fizz-price-per-minute for each bath bomb we tried.)

They provide a multisensory experience. Unlike other bath bombs, which take a while to get going in the water, Lush bath bombs practically detonate once submerged. They fizz aggressively and are mesmerizing to watch as they fill the tub with color, perfume, and a skin-softening blend of oils. On average they fizz for three minutes, for an exorbitant fizz-price-per-minute of $2 to $4 (in contrast to our budget pick’s per-minute cost of roughly 20¢).

As soon as they hit the water, Lush bath bombs practically explode with fizz. Pictured is Groovy Kind of Love. Video: Sarah Kobos

There are tons of colors and scents. Choosing which Lush bath bomb to soak in can seem as impossible as picking a single piece of chocolate from a box: The beautiful bathing baubles come in dozens of shapes and scents with silly names. Many people find it near impossible to buy just one or even to have a single favorite, a delightful conundrum that fuels the brand’s cultish fans, some of whom curate their Lush collections and rate their bathing experiences with more detail and gusto than top oenophiles ever exhibit. Like a quality wine, a Lush bath bomb is a pricey, fleeting treat that is physically savored for just a moment but sensually recalled fondly for some time.

Although the Lush bath bomb experience is often imitated, by luxury and low-end competitors alike, no company has yet to duplicate Lush’s unique extravagance.

On top of that, if you’re unable to get to a Lush store, you’re stuck paying for shipping on orders under $70.

They are nearly as impressive as Lush bath bombs. Bath bombs from Old Whaling Co. have plenty of effervescence (fizzing for upwards of three minutes). The scented versions smell incredible, while the dyed ones tint the tub water in gorgeous hues. The dye- and fragrance-free versions afford a subdued, more elegant bathing experience; once plopped in the tub, they fizz more like good Champagne. Comparatively, the Lush bombs we’ve tested explode more aggressively, like popcorn kernels.

At $8 apiece (approximately $1 per ounce), they are more expensive but larger (and thus less per ounce) than most options from our top pick.

As with any bath bombs made from solid ingredients, with these there is a possibility of some post-soak flecks of oatmeal or spearmint leaves (in our experience, any debris is easily wiped away).

They can’t be bought individually. These bath bombs come only in mixed sets, so if you find a scent that you especially like, you can’t purchase it individually.

As with all bath bombs, tub and skin staining is a possibility, most frequently with the Black Tea bath bomb in this set.

Although the Two Sisters bath bombs don’t quite match the Lush level of fizz, they do produce a large amount of foam and bubbles. Video: Sarah Kobos

The bath bombs themselves provide a fun experience. The fizz factor of these bath bombs is top-notch, and the smells are sweetly childish without being saccharine. Like our budget pick, these bath bombs dissolve for a generous five minutes on average.

And our kid testers were very pleased with the small toys inside. Although the squishy plaything inside is no more than a garden-variety gumball-machine toy, the surprise element is super fun, especially for young children. The post-bath skin feel and smell are pleasant and last for a few hours.

They can only be bought in a set. You can’t buy these bath bombs individually, so you’ll have to plunk down $30 or so for a set of six. At 5 ounces, each bomb is double the size but five times the price of our budget pick, and it offers basically the same experience but with different scents and one of 71 “collectible” cheap squishy surprises inside. If you’re not motivated by the toy, our main pick or budget pick is a better choice.

Each bath bomb is wrapped in plastic. There’s also plastic inside to open—and toss. It’s near impossible for slippery little hands to open the plastic ball that contains the squishy surprise, so stay close by or tell your child to holler for you once it’s time to open the container, lest you find yourself like me, mopping up a path of foot puddles between your location and the tub.

As with all bath bombs, tub and skin staining is a possibility.

It’s hard to call a bath bomb that doesn’t irritate skin or stain the tub bad, but the LOL Surprise Bath Bombs come close to deserving that label. These bombs totally bomb, sinking straight to the bottom of the tub, ejecting a fizzless stream of color for a snooze-worthy three minutes.

Although they contain baking soda and citric acid, the 1-inch diameter Kate McLeod Breathe Pebble bath bombs don’t produce the same effervescent effects as our picks. (In various test baths, we used two or three of these “pebble”-size bombs, which fizzed minimally.) The combination of oils effectively moisturized our skin, and the strong eucalyptus scent was especially appealing to a tester who used these while recovering from a cold. Still, at just under $2 per bomb (costing $4 to $6 per bath), for the price we think most people will prefer the as-luxurious Lush bath bomb experience.

The following bombs simply didn’t hold up against our top and budget picks due to comparatively underwhelming fizz and muted colors: Bodycology Cherry Blossom Bath Fizzies (bag of eight), Da Bomb Bath Fizzers, Dove Milk Swirls Bath Bomb Rosewater & White Chocolate (set of two), Dr. Teal’s Replenishing Pink Himalayan Ultra Moisturizing Bath Bombs (bag of four or five, currently available only in coconut, eucalyptus, or lavender) and Deep Sea Lavender Scented Bath Bombs (bag of five), Fizz & Bubble Unicorn Swirl Bath Fizzy, Hempz Triple Moisture Bath Fizzer, Love Beauty & Planet Argan Oil & Lavender Bath Bomb (set of two), Suave Flavor Factory Sweet Treats Bath Bombs (bag of five), and Two Sisters Eucalyptus Spearmint Bubble Bomb (currently unavailable). We previously dismissed two no-longer-available bath bombs from Ulta Beauty and Village Naturals.

This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.