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.
In this post, It’s that time of the year again: Lotion bars, Tonya asks: I am experimenting with lotion bars and have a question about tapioca but greasiness- I guess would be the the actual question.My most recent mix of ingredients includes these variations. My question is how do I get the tapioca starch to...
Christmas and Hannukah are almost here, and if you’re looking to make some awesome gifts for your loved ones, join me over the next week for loads of ideas. LOTION BARSYou can get the ingredients for these little lovelies at your local health food store if you can’t get to a supplier or get things...
In this post, How to make a longer lasting lotion?, Susanna Originals asks: Can you use glycerine in an anhydrous recipe? For instance, if you were making a body bar could you replace 2 or 3% of the oil with glycerine? The short answer is no. The long answer?As I note in this post, we...
I hate it when I hear “last minute” on the 18th of December. I’ve barely started shopping or crafting, and you’re calling it last minute? But I thought it might grab your attention, so I used it in the subject line of this post. For shame, Susan! There’ll be coal in my stocking this year!...
Why did I say yesterday that we don’t encounter rancidity as much as we encounter other things like contamination? Because we really shouldn’t be making batches so large that they outlive the shelf life of the product. So let’s say you want to make this manicure balm, how long is the shelf life? LANOLIN &...