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 
In this month’s Q&A, Dalel asked, I am making solid conditioners. I use panthenol powder and I think it might be the culprit in the issue I’m having. It is very difficult to dissolve it or melt it. The temperature of the mixture when I put it in is always above 60°C (140˚F) (sometimes up to...
In last month’s Q&A, Jaime asked, Can I make a gel without Siligel or one of the other gel makers by combining a hyaluronic gel and an aloe gel and adding biotin, caffeine and ginger extract? If so, what natural approved preservative would work? Any pH issues? The short answer is kinda, maybe, sort of –...
We met this ester in Shiny Things, volume 2!, in which we made a facial serum, vitamin packed facial serum, creamy chamomile & aloe facial cleansing milk, and a silicone cream formula with Sepigel 305. Let’s take another look at this interesting ester! You can find the home page for this ester series by clicking this...
I was gifted this really cool ximenia seed oil (INCI: Ximenia Americana Seed Oil) by Valerie of Simply Ingredients after a lovely afternoon we spent on her Instagram Live talking about our favourite ingredients. Ximenia seed oil (INCI: Ximenia Americana Seed Oil) is an oil derived from the sour plum fruit, also known as “monkey...
Hi everyone! Thanks for joining me here on the blog for September 2021, and thanks for your patience while my hands and arms stopped being so much in spasm, which was interfering with my ability to write or type. I have to admit, it wasn’t an exciting time – I did a lot of doomscrolling … Read more