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.
Mixers! Join me on a short tour of my workshop to take a look at how to use a magnetic stirrer and overhead mixer. We’ll wet, disperse, and hydrate some natural gums, starches, and gels, then use them in a product or two. If my ingredients arrive in time, I’m thinking I can show you...
In my formulas, you might see me say something like – use 10% hydrosol in place of 10% distilled water – or – use 0.5% powdered extract in the cool down phase, remove 0.5% distilled water – and I thought maybe I should explain that a bit? Our formulas should always total 100%. There are...
Welcome back to part two! We’re making foaming facial cleansers using Plantapon® TF (INCI: Decyl Glucoside (and) Polyglyceryl-10 Caprylate/Caprate (and) Coco Glucoside (and) Glyceryl Oleate, a blend of gentle to mild, non-ionic foamy, bubbly, lathery surfactants and non-ionic thickeners and emollients that can create tear-free cleansers with a skin friendly pH of 4.5 to 5.5,...
Quick note: The picture above is of the bubble baths we made in our live Zoom meeting on May 2nd, the formulas for which you can find as a post and as a PDF by clicking this post. This formula doesn’t contain the surfactants I mention in this post: I chose this shot because I...
Plantapon® TF (INCI: Decyl Glucoside (and) Polyglyceryl-10 Caprylate/Caprate (and) Coco Glucoside (and) Glyceryl Oleate) It’s a blend of gentle to mild, non-ionic foamy, bubbly, lathery surfactants and non-ionic thickeners and emollients that can create tear-free cleansers with a skin friendly pH of 4.5 to 5.5, used at around 20%. It’s a wonderful cleanser for all...