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! Hope you’re doing well! I don’t have Chemistry Thursday or Formulating Friday posts this week as I’m still having a hard time with my health and didn’t get time to finish what I wanted to share. My arms are doing better – yay! – but I’m just so fatigued. The October e-book is … Read more
Welcome back to this introduction to cosmetic chemistry course! Let’s continue our investigation into triglycerides with part 40 by looking a bit more at iodine values and what we can learn from them, then we’ll create some reference charts based on all the things we’ve learned so far. An important note about this series –...
I’ve shared formulas here on the site – like emulsified sugar scrubs or anhydrous whipped butters – in which I tell you to melt the ingredients to above 70°C (158°F) or to liquid, then pop it in the freezer to solidify before mixing. And I’m here to warn you away from using Pyrex jugs we’d...
Welcome to November! I know Halloween was yesterday, but I had to share this photo of Sasja’s friends at day care in their costumes. (Sasja is the middle left in her orange pumpkin shirt.) Aren’t they adorable? Oh my gosh, I think broke an another record for how many words I published last month – … Read more
Welcome to part six of this series/course – Formulating Friday cold process emulsifier series – in which we’ll look at how to increase the viscosity of the formula by increasing the emulsifier and making different emollient choices (part 6 with formulas) Are you playing along? Have you made anything yet? What did you think? What...