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.
If you’re in North America, you know Mother’s Day is this Sunday! I love holidays like this. Much like birthdays, it’s a chance to celebrate someone you love by offering up presents and good food and spend a little time together. So what are you making for your mom or maternal figure this week? My...
Let’s take a look at a facial cleanser intended for acne prone skin, Neutrogena’s Oil-Free Cream Cleanser with Salicylic Acid (2%). Water: Necessary and welcome. Our solvent. Sodium C14-16 olefin sulfonate: We know this is a great surfactant for oily skin. Cocamidopropyl betaine: The amphoteric surfactant that increases mildness and viscosity. Cetearyl alcohol & stearyl...
Yep, us normal to oily types can use a cream cleanser with some modifications. If you have normal skin, I’d leave out the stearic acid and avoid the SCI containing stearic acid as it really is too moisturizing for your skin type. You can choose from a variety of surfactants – SMC or SMO taurate...
I found this little video on Cosmeticsinfo.org and thought I would share it with you! (Click on the “Importance of Preservatives” video on the right hand side.) Even though the mould appears in splotches on day 8, there’s a lot of contamination going on that we can’t see in the days beforehand. Yes, I know...
I like cream cleansers. They feel really nice on our skin going on and we don’t generally get that annoying tightness after rinsing. But they don’t tend to play nicely with oily skin because of all those wonderful re-fatteners and oil based moisturizers. If you have dry skin, you’re in luck, though! If you have...