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.
Cromollient SCE is a great inclusion in water based products and you can use it as you would use PEG-7 olivate or other water soluble esters (click here to see those recipes – use Cromollient SCE at 3% in the recipes in place of the PEG-7 olivate). I like to use it in my toners...
We took a look at making an opaque moisturizing body wash yesterday. Today, let’s take a look at how to make a clear moisturizing body wash! Although I do think the opacity works to make the user feel as if it is more moisturizing, there’s no reason we can’t make a clear one that feels just...
All materials reflect and refract light, which is to say all materials alter the angle of light. The refractive index is a ratio defined as the speed of light in a vacuum (which equals 1) over the speed of light in the material. Light slows down when it enters a substance, so every refractive index...
It seems to me that everyone is on a quest to make a moisturizing body wash. There are a few ways to make a body wash more moisturizing – follow the guidelines for increasing mildness in surfactant based products by reducing the concentration of the surfactants, choosing milder surfactants, and adding irritation mitigators like conditioning...
What’s the difference if an ingredient says it is soluble or dispersible? When something is soluble, it means it will dissolve in the solvent and becomes part of a homogeneous solution. Think of it like salt dissolving in water. If you’ve dissolved it correctly, you can’t see the flecks of salt floating in the water. (The salt is...