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.
I’m always fascinated by what we don’t know about stuff. We can put a man on the moon and create robots and describe in minute detail how someone dies of a heart attack, but we do not know the complete breakdown of all the chemical compounds found in garlic or what makes up 85% of...
When your skin cells reach the top layer of the stratum corneum, they will sit there for about 14 days before sloughing off. This process is called desquamation or exfoliation. Interestingly enough, there is so much scientists don’t know about this process. Scientists know there are enzymes that will break the bonds between the corneocytes,...
I know I wrote a post of this nature last year, but I thought it was time to write a more detailed series of posts on the chemistry of our skin if we’re going to take a look at formulating for different skin types. Your skin is composed of three layers – the epidermis, the...
Hydrosols are defined as “an aqueous solution or colloidal suspension of essential oils, usually obtained by steam distillation from aromatic plants”. They are also called floral waters, hydrolates, herbal waters, or essential waters. They contain the water soluble molecules from the plant material, and generally have a pH of 5 to 6, which is perfect...
I realized when writing a post on toners that I had failed to write up the post on witch hazel. So here it is…Join me tomorrow for more fun formulating with extracts! Witch hazel (INCI: Hamamelis virginiana) can be found as an extract or steam distilled water and is reputed to do many wonderful things....