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 love making charm bracelets, and I love Christmas, so if you put the two together, you get Christmas-y charm bracelet fun! I make my charm bracelets using either 8 mm rings and 4 mm rings to join them or 10 mm rings and 5 mm rings to join them. You’ll want to get at...
Sweet almond oil (INCI: Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis oil) is a light, odourless, pale yellow oil with a 12 month shelf life. It contains 3 to 9% palmitic acid (C16), 2% palmitoleic acid (C16:1), 3% stearic acid (C18), 60 to 78% oleic acid (C18:1), 10 to 30% linoleic acid (C18:2), and 2% linolenic acid (C18:3). It...
I’ve had this horrible cold/flu for almost two weeks now, and I’ve been soldiering through because it’s my busy time of year for classes and for crafting stuff for Christmas. I think I’m over the worst of it, but my throat is still hurting (I don’t think playing Guitar Hero last night helped, but I...
These Christmas snowflake forms are a lovely way to make ornaments for your tree, and at $4.00 for eight, they’re also inexpensive. I suggest using acrylic beads for this project – they’re inexpensive, weigh less than glass or wooden beads, and come in tons of pretty colours! For these projects I used 4 mm clear...
Macadamia nut oil (INCI: Macadamia ternifolia seed oil) has an interesting fatty acid profile – 8.9% palmitic acid (C16), 18.7 to 22.6% palmitoleic acid (C16:1), 2.9% stearic acid (C18), 58.4% and higher oleic acid (C18:1), and 1.8% linoleic acid (C18:2). We know oleic acid is great for softening skin, regenerating skin cells, moisturizing, and behaving...