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.
This is a question that’s been asked for longer than I’ve been formulating: When we combine the heated phases when making lotions, do we pour the water into the oil or the oil into the water? How fast should we add one phase to the other? And why does any of this matter? The short...
Welcome to part four of the Formulating Friday series in which we’ll be modifying the lotions we made in the Newbie Tuesday beginners’ part of this lotion series/course. Our emulsifier for the month of September and slightly into October are these ones – Polawax, Natragem EW, e-wax NF, or Phytomulse (almond, amaranth, chlorella, or coconut) –...
Let’s say hello to a new solid foamy, bubbly, lathery™ surfactant in my workshop – sodium cocoyl methyl isethionate (SCMI)! It’s an anionic (negatively charged), ester based, solid surfactant in flake form. (You might find it as Pureact SCMI-85 or Iselux SCMI.) It’s considered gentle to mild, and offers thick, dense, creamy, luxurious foam and...
So many of this month’s comments ended up in the spam filter, so I apologize for those of you waiting for an answer who didn’t get one. I should be caught up by now (she said with hope). I do my best to answer all the comments I can, but if I’m running out of...
In this month’s Q&A post, Laura asked, I’m a beginner and I’m really excited to have found this blog. Just wanted to know what should you consider when deciding to make either an anhydrous whipped body butter or one with water (using mainly natural ingredients) Which do you think is better? Thank you! Welcome, Laura! I’m sorry...