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.
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As I mentioned in the first gel post, carbomers and surfactants don’t tend to play well together. But we’re going to force them to be the bestest of friends by choosing our surfactants wisely and putting the ingredients together in the proper order. I made up this formula – the Gardener’s Hand Scrub – for...
I do love the shampoo bar for my very long, very tangly hair. I’m not sure exactly what it is that appeals to me so much, but I really love the idea of not messing with bottles and caps in the shower when I’m travelling. So what exactly is a shampoo bar? It’s a bar...
I touched on allantoin a little in the occlusion post…click here to find out about more occlusives! Allantoin, also called 5-ureidohydantoin or glyoxyldiureide, is a fantastic skin protectant that softens skin (it’s a keratolytic, meaning it causes the keratin to soften), causes rapid cell regeneration and proliferation, and is approved by the FDA to temporarily...
If you’d like to know more about humectants, check out the humectants section of the blog where I go into far more detail than you see in this one post! Everybody doesn’t like something, but everyone likes humectants – if they know what they are! Check out this lovely urea molecule – carbon (grey), nitrogen...
Reviewed and revised May 20, 2020. My favourite make-up remover is water based. I don’t wear waterproof mascara, so this is perfect for my needs. It leaves a nice slightly oily feeling on my skin but doesn’t leave that oily film on my eye lashes. The key ingredient in a water based remover is a...