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.
Welcome back to this series on making oily gels with Sapogel Q (NatraSap Q™)! We met this ingredient – Sapogel Q (NatraSap Q™) – in our first post. In today’s post, let’s find out how to work with it! Before we start… If you’d like to see a video of this process, click here to...
Because we’ll be holding our first Zoom workshop of 2025 the last weekend of February on creating oily gels with Sapogel Q, Sucragel, and (possibly) sodium surfactin, I thought I’d share a series on each of these ingredients. If you were an Innovation level subscriber in September 2021, you would have received the e-book, Creating...
In the monthly Q&A, Kristina asked, Happy November Susan 🍁. In reading one of your blog posts, you mention softisan 378 to help reduce the potential for graininess when butters are used, shea butter in particular (yes please! even cooling quickly isn’t always a slam dunk). As you said, Formulator Sample Shop Carries it, but...
In the monthly Q&A, Klymer asked, Hello Susan, hope all is well up North! When we buy actives do they always need to be use in an emulsion? I have some oil soluble actives (D’Orientine) that I want to include in oil serums alone. As long as I follow the recommended usage, is this ok...
In the monthly Q&A, Christi asked, Hi Susan- I’m a recent groupiey🤣. Been formulating for a year and I’m currently enrolled in multiple courses at Formula Botanica. I my question is about honey, primarily Manuka Honey and the huge honey debate about if it’s safe to use in lip balm. I have made balms with...