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.
Today was an accident prone day, the kind of day when I should really stay home because I’m a serious menace to anyone who might come near me. I’m not really sure why I have these days, when I drop my iPod touch on concrete, walk into closed doors, or spill Slurpees all over the...
I love solid scrub bars! They’re easy to make, they’re easy to take travelling, and they make great presents! They don’t require a lot of packaging, except for a lovely cellophane bag and possibly a ribbon, a label, a tag, or whatever cute things you can think of to make it special. We use cationic...
This is a picture of my sprayable serum (left) and my sprayable lotion (right). I wouldn’t put a facial moisturizer in a spray, because getting sprayed in the face isn’t that pleasant when it’s gooey. I do like a toner in a spray bottle, though. When I’m formulating a facial moisturizer, I generally start off...
Yesterday we took a look at making a light, sprayable lotion using BTMS as our emulsifier. Today we’ll take that basic recipe and add a few ingredients that might help with some of the issues we encounter in the summer time! Summer means heat, so I like to modify my lotions to be less occlusive...
You may remember way back when I started this series on conditioners, I mentioned that making a conditioner is a bit like making a lotion. You have a heated oil phase, a heated water phase, and a cool down phase. You’re making an emulsion with the BTMS or cetrimonium bromide. So let’s take a look at...