Making your own skincare and bath products is surprisingly easy and hugely rewarding. There’s a sense of alchemy in mixing together potions and lotions and inhaling in the intense scents of essential oils and the powdery soft aroma of dried petals. In this post I’m sharing a bath tea that will balance the skin and the heart as well as creating more of a ritual to your usual bath time routine.

Personally I think there’s nothing better than a scented, warm bath at the end of the day. It’s a beautiful way of creating a bit of self-care and letting go of the days to-do lists and inboxes.

This rose bath tea is an easy but beautiful way to amplify the therapeutic affects of a long soak. It contains Epsom salts which are said to help sore muscles, as well as a rose petal tea and some gorgeous essential oils.

Rose is not only a beautiful plant but a wonderful one for dry and mature skin too. It has a lovely healing effect on it and soothes redness, repairs stretch marks and maintains skin elasticity and cell regeneration. The scent of rose has many therapeutic effects supposedly including reducing stress and healing a broken heart.

If you wish to try another herb you could do this with lavender, calendula or even try a more savoury herb like Rosemary!

To make this recipe you’ll need:

2 tbsp dried rose petals

1 tsp dried rosehips

Approx 500ml just boiled water

8 drops rose essential oil

2 drops geranium essential oil

1 tbsp Epsom salts

First of all make the tea for your bath with the rose petals. Place the rose petals in a tea-pot of boiling water and leave to brew for a good 10 minutes. Strain out the rose petals and discard. Add the salt and the essential oils to the rose scented tea. Add into the bath. Enjoy!

Becky Cole is a farmer’s wife and blogger based on an ethical farm in Northern Ireland. She shares seasonal recipes and natural living tips over on her blog and you can sign up for her Nourish Newsletter and free seasonal eat sheet over on www.beckyocole.com

Image: Katharina Geissler-Evans, heiter magazine