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.
Beeswax is not an emulsifier. We can use it as a thickener in our products – in lotions, scrub bars, lotion bars, and so on – but it will not emulsify your lotions. I know I’ve mentioned this before – in the how can I tell if it’s a good recipe post – but the...
I mentioned the other day that I find moisturizers the hardest product to create, and I should start off by justifying this comment. They aren’t hard products to make – the process is the same as any lotion with the heated water phase, heated oil phase, heat and hold, cool down phase, and mixing –...
As a quick note, I’m really sick with a stomach flu, and I’m feeling worse than I have in years! If you’ve ordered one of the e-books or have written to me in the last few days, including today, I won’t be able to respond until Friday morning at the earliest. I’m sorry about this,...
Papi asked this question: I have a question, if we heat oils (like grapeseed) at 70˚C won’t it get rancid? And maybe we ruin some of its properties too (like evening primrose oil) or the 70˚C is the safe temperature? This is a good question because the last thing we want is to have rancid...
I’m asked all the time about using honey as a humectant in our products. Is it possible? Honey is a good humectant, which is why we want to use it in our products, but this is also where we run into problems. Honey is self-preserving – to a certain extent – when there’s no water...