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.
Consider the lotion bar. Easy to make, easy to tweak, and easy to carry around in your purse or pocket. We can make them as simple or as complicated as we wish. We can wrap them in foil or cellophane, package them in adorable tins, or put them in lip balm or deodorant containers. I...
Whipped butters are so impressive but so darned easy to make! They might seem all complicated with their whippiness, but they’re simple to make if you have a mixer with a whisk attachment. (I bought my Black & Decker 250 watt mixer for $20 from Canadian Tire with two whisk attachments! I’m sure you could...
I taught a craft group about a month ago where I taught my teens how to make a lotion. The recipe was one of the first recipes I tried myself, a body mousse with a six ingredients – water, humectant, oil, emulsifier, thickener, and preservative. It is absolutely lovely and a staple in my recipe...
If you’ve made an intense conditioner, you’re on the road to making a body butter! You’ve already made an emulsion using BTMS-50 as an emulsifier, and you’ve already done the heat and hold thing with your oil and water phases. You’ve learned how to add things in the cool down phase, and you’ve learned how...
I love solid scrub bars! They’re easy to make, they’re easy to take travelling, and they make great presents! They don’t require a lot of packaging, except for a lovely cellophane bag and possibly a ribbon, a label, a tag, or whatever cute things you can think of to make it special. We use cationic...