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.
Sorry I haven’t shared much this week. I have been writing like crazy – answering some members’ Q&A, starting a huge series on the biology of our skin to get into how liposomes work and more on using ceramides, trying to figure out how to organize the series on surfactants and thickeners, writing up my...
I’ve been working on these posts about all the new surfactants and thickeners I have for almost a year, and every time I think I’m ready to share, I end up down a rabbit hole as I follow my curiosity for a few hours as it’s just such an interesting topic. I think I know...
It’s been weirdly arid where I live, but getting adequate moisturizing is a nearly impossible task! Sasja’s developed a taste for oils, butters, and lotions, and if I apply it before I go to sleep, she licks my hands all night. So I have to make a choice – a good night’s sleep or moisturizing...
As you may have read on the SwiftCraftyMonkey Facebook page, on March 29th I had to cancel my attendance at the 2018 conference in Atlanta due to these ongoing muscle spasms I’m enjoying so much. Because the Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild felt that cancelling with five weeks’ notice because I’m in agonizing pain was a “hardship...
I swear I shared this with you in another post, but I couldn’t find it, so please indulge me if you’ve heard it before. A few years ago, a cosmetic chemist contacted me and said he could always identify my formulas as I have a very strong signature, in this case that I use certain...