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.
Since my first experiments with cetyl alcohol and stearic acid were a bust, I thought I’d turn to another fatty alcohol – cetearyl alcohol! (And you’ve seen how well the other two ingredients worked out!) Cetearyl alcohol (also known as cetostearyl alcohol and cetylstearyl alcohol) is a blend of cetyl and stearyl alcohols that we can use...
In response to the post How does Lush use fresh fruit in their products? p writes: I just stumbled upon Lush’s youtube channel, and I found a video you might find really interesting. It’s on how they make their Avobath Bath Bomb (a citric acid – baking soda bath bomb with fresh avocado). The video shows them cutting...
For the second experiment, I’m using 10% stearic acid and 90% rice bran oil (I’m running out of shea oil and it’s not cheap stuff!), hence the slightly yellowy cast of the picture to the left. Stearic acid is a great thickener, although it will make my creation feel more draggy than cetyl alcohol. And...
For the whipped shea without butter experiment, I know I need some shea oil and a thickener. Today I’m experimenting with cetyl alcohol… For my first experiment, I used 90% shea oil and 10% cetyl alcohol. I weighed both together in a Pyrex jug, then put it into the double boiler. It melted relatively quickly...
I’ve been talking to Randi from Creations from Eden (Edmonton) about getting some ingredients we Canadians would normally have to get over the border, and I thought I’d write a post to gauge the interest in those products. Right now she’s considering sodium stearate, cetrimonium chloride, and SCI with stearic acid. What do you think? Are...