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.
I love lotion bars. They’re super easy to make and you can customize them in so many ways! But what is a lotion bar, exactly? These are generally solid-ish, anhydrous products made with oils, butters, and waxes. The basic recipe is generally 1/3 butter, 1/3 oil, 1/3 wax, but you can make loads of modifications to...
It looks like Snapguide is no more so the visual tutorial that was here is gone forever. Please enjoy the guide on this Newbie Tuesday post on making a lotion for the first time. If you’re a complete newbie, I hope this helps you dive in and try it for the first time. If you’ve made...
ALTERING THE pH OF OUR PRODUCTSIn the Weekend Wonderings comment post, Liz asks: First off I have to say your blog is so informative- you are my bath and body hero! And I have a question for you, with summer coming up I wanted to make a sunless tanning lotion. I bought some Dihydroxyacetone and Erythrulose...
In this post on solid scrub bars, Julia asks: I love this scrub bar, but so far I have always made it without sodium lacate. Which is fine until it reaches about 27˚C, it starts getting soft and mushy. So I want to add the sodium lactate. Problem I’ve run into: It is 60% Salt to...
I mentioned in this post on Friday that cetyl alcohol isn’t an emulsifier. I want to mention it again. It really isn’t an emulsifier. It will not bring together water and oil. It is an oil, so if you mix it with a water soluble ingredient or into a water soluble product, it will eventually...