Welcome to the home of SwiftCraftyMonkey Formulating Inc.! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys)! Here you’ll find over 5,000 posts and formulas written over the past 16 years for everything from lotions, creams, and body butters to hair care products to fancy facial products filled with actives and cosmeceuticals! Enjoy the site without distractions – no ads, pop ups, sponsored posts, affiliate links, “one weird tricks” – all supported by readers like you.
Part of the problem in trying all new ingredients in a lotion is that it’s hard to figure out exactly what you like and what you don’t like. (I’m referring to the lotion I made on Thursday.) What I should have done is create a usual recipe then switch out one ingredient – say the...
So how do we alter this recipe for the other skin types? Here’s our recipe from yesterday for dry skin…EMULSIFIED SUGAR SCRUB FOR DRY SKIN10% emulsifying wax or Polawax10% cetyl alcohol10% cocoa, sal, illipe or kokum butter10% shea butter30% soy bean oil26% olive oil1% Vitamin E2% fragrance or essential oil1% phenonip preservativeOily skin: This may...
I’m declaring April the month to try something different (at least for me, but you’re welcome to play along). I made a lotion yesterday with all kinds of ingredients I’ve never used before, and today I thought I’d make a new whipped butter. (If you want to know more about babassu oil, click here!) WHIPPED...
Dry skin has some difficulty removing the top layer of cells through desquamation, leaving a white or grey look to the skin from those cells that refuse to move! We can help them along by creating a lovely occlusive, moisturizing, and exfoliating sugar scrub we can use in the shower or tub. Because we’re using...
I ended this body butter post by saying there aren’t many variations on lotions, which might seem like a bizarre statement considered the probably millions of recipes you see on suppliers’ sites, manufacturers’ sites, blogs, and forums (that should be fora, right?). The basics of every lotion are oil, water, emulsifier, and preservative, but it’s...