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.
The first impression we get of a cosmetic product is with our eyes (especially on-line!). As Mr. Burns says, “You see with your eyes, not with your hands,” so a pretty product is one to which we’re attracted. I know consumers say they want green, organic, preservative free, and fragrance free products, but the main...
All this reading about things that might irritate, hurt, maim, or kill you, I’m feeling like I need a break from the maligned ingredients series. I need something wonderfully uplifting, so for me that means Christmas! And I realize this is early, but nothing annoys me more than to see holiday related tutorials showing up...
I get e-mails and comments all the time asking if something is better than something else (for instance, if one preservative is “better” than another) or if an ingredient is bad. I’m not really sure what those words mean any more, hence this very short series on maligned ingredients (which will continue in the near...
So what are phthalates? They are esters of phthalic acid (an aromatic dicarboxylic acid) used as plasticizers, emulsifiers, and lubricants. They have low water solubility, high oil solubility, and low volatility. They’re found in fragrances, nail polishes, and many other cosmetic ingredients. They are suspected of being endocrine disruptors, that is to say they “interfere...
Fragrances show up a lot in various reports about ingredients we should avoid in our cosmetics, and there are a few reasons why this might be. One of the main concerns is that not all the fragrances or components of a fragrance are listed (although in the EU it appears they list all the various...