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.
So what the heck are terpenes? We see them mentioned a lot in information about essential oils, but what are they and do they benefit us as bath and body formulators in any way? Terpenes are organic compounds, the major building blocks within nearly every living creature. For instance, steroids are derivatives of the triterpene...
Sorry, I didn’t get around to formulating with the emu oil as I’ve been running around testing everything with my pH meter, and got into the surfactants bin in the workshop! I’ll have some posts on emu oil shortly! My husband has started calling me “magpie” because I’m easily distracted by shiny things! Now that...
Voyageur has recently started carrying emu oil (INCI Emu Oil), so I thought I’d try it out. So what’s the big deal with this oil? It’s reported to be a good anti-inflammatory, skin cell regenerator, anti-bacterial, and non-comedogenic oil. Are these claims all true? Interestingly enough, there haven’t been a ton of studies on this oil...
Someone asks: Say you have a cream that came out too thick and you have to thin it. You measure out the water and just add? THEN how do you refigure the % of your original formula? You cannot thin out a thick lotion once you’ve made it. If you add water to it, you’ll mess up...
As I mentioned, my lovely husband and mother bought me a pH meter for Christmas. It’s a Jenco Vision Plus and it’s quite fancy as it can store up to 50 readings, take temperatures, and many more features I have yet to try! It even comes with a handy dandy belt hook so I can...