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 do love working with thickeners in my products! We know that cetyl alcohol can produce something slicker and silkier than stearic acid, and that cetearyl alcohol can offer those same qualities with a little more waxiness, so what does behenyl alcohol bring to the party? First, a review…. Cetyl alcohol is a fatty alcohol...
Tara made a great comment in response to yesterday’s question about why some of my lotion recipes are so thick – I used to agree that your recipes came out awfully thick, but then I learned to account for evaporated water. I now make sure my vessels that contain my ingredients for heating weigh the same before...
Two new elements have been added to the periodic table at 114 and 116, and they are – as yet – unnamed! I would like to suggest that one of them have the symbol E as it would make Periodic Table Scrabble much more fun (right now, we only have Er as an option) so...
Happy Victoria Day! It’s a statutory holiday in B.C. (remember, we’re still part of the Commonwealth!) and I’m off work. Today celebrates the birthday of the reigning Canadian monarch (scheduled for the Monday on or before May 24, which was Queen Victoria’s birthday). So I’m off work today and planning to slob around the house...
The next few days are going to be a blast from the past as we learn more about the HLB system. I’ve updated these posts with more information and ideas so it’s not just a re-posting of something I wrote two years ago! When we’re working with emulsification systems like e-wax or BTMS, we don’t...