Top pick
Often imitated but not yet duplicated, Lush bath bombs “explode” as soon as they hit the water, filling your tub with gorgeous color, long-lasting fragrance, and skin-soothing oils.
Truly, Lush makes the very best bath bombs, which come in a variety of shapes, colors, scents, and fizz options. Lush co-founder Mo Constantine is credited with inventing the bath bomb in 1989, inspired by Alka-Seltzer. Every facet of the Lush bath bomb experience is, well, lush, from the minimalist packaging to the instant and intense fizz explosion upon first water contact to the baby-soft feel of the skin afterward.
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¢).
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.
Whereas competitors come wrapped up in indistinguishable protective plastic, Lush’s bath bombs arrive “naked,” ensconced in biodegradable bags and packing peanuts. You can smell many Lush bath bombs even before you fully unbox them: Their fragrances are strong and long-lasting. For three months, the scent wafting from the no-longer available Bathosaurus Rex bath bomb perfumed my bedroom more intensely than many reed diffusers have.
To produce an especially colorful show in the water, most Lush bath bombs contain dyes. For a dye-free bath bomb experience, consider Lush’s Butterball, or any of the three dye-free varieties of our Old Whaling Co. bath bombs pick.
Although the Lush bath bomb experience is often imitated, by luxury and low-end competitors alike, no company we’ve considered has yet to duplicate Lush’s unique extravagance.
At nearly a pound (14.9 ounces), Lush’s Giant Intergalactic bath bomb is more than double the size of the company’s other offerings. However, it costs three times as much and, in our tests, fizzed for a fraction of the time (less than one minute compared to around three minutes for the 7-ounce version). Still, it delivers an impressive initial explosion and dissolves to reveal a glitter soap within.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
With even the least expensive Lush bath bombs priced at $6.50, and most bombs going for $1.07 to $2.43 per ounce (at least four times the cost per bomb of our budget pick), Lush bath bombs are among the most expensive available.
On top of that, if you’re unable to get to a Lush store, you’re stuck paying for shipping on orders under $70.
As with all bath bombs, tub and skin staining is a possibility, most notably with the black, hot pink, and glitter varieties.
