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.
SwiftCraftyMonkey 
Hi everyone! Just wanted to write a quick post to let you know that I won’t be able to do the zoom workshop on Sunday, January 16, as I had hoped. I’ve been doing a lot of different therapies for my arms over the last couple of weeks, and sometimes they leave me in a … Read more
Welcome to part two of this five part series on making a lovely facial moisturizer for the winter months using Olivem 1000! In part one, we reviewed the original formula we made in the Newbie Tuesday series in 2021. Today, let’s look at how we’ll modify the formula by altering the thickeners, butters, and oils!...
I’m not sure why I didn’t get last year’s Newbie Tuesday/Formulating Friday series using Olivem 1000 done last year – I think pandemic malaise and the ongoing pain in my arms and hands were just too much to overcome – but I really wanted to finish it now by making a protective, occlusive, moisturizing, and...
Hello, everyone! I hope January 2022 is treating you well! My arms and hands are doing better, so I’m putting together my list of formulas to make over the next few weeks and wanted to know which ingredients that go into facial products interest you! I’m looking for everything – actives, vitamins, cosmeceuticals, emollients, humectants,...
Welcome back to this series in which we’re learning more about specific density of our ingredients and why it matters. In part one, we talked about what specific gravity (relative density or specific density) meant, then we took a look at how we might make an anhydrous facial serum using these concepts. In part two, we looked...