The home of SwiftCraftyMonkey Formulating Inc.! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys). Often strange, occasionally useful, and always worth a stop as a point of interest on your journey through the Intertron.
GABA (aka gamma aminobutryic acid or 4-aminobutanoic acid) is a “multifunctional ceullar stimulant”. It is claimed that it is anti-inflammatory ingredient. But these aren’t why we want to use it in our facial products. The main claims about this cosmeceutical is that relaxes muscles when topically applied which will smooth and reduce the look of...
DMAE (also known as dimethylaminoethanol and 2-(Dimethylamino)ethanol comes as a water soluble, white crystalline powder we can use in our products at 1.5% to 3% in the cool down phase. It has a pH of 10, and doesn’t play well with acidic ingredients. So what’s claimed about DMAE? It’s claimed that it can reduce skin sagging and...
I wrote about MSM on February 25, 2010, but I thought I’d do an update. The new information is in italic! MSM (aka DSMO2, methylsulfone, methylsulfonylmethane, and dimethyl sulfone) is an ingredient that we see in various moisturizers, but what does it do? Sulphur (or sulfur) is an element found in every cell of our...
I realized that I hadn’t really addressed the concept of cosmeceuticals before diving right into the topic. This is partially because my brain has been addled by the stomach flu and partially because I didn’t have ‘net access for three days. So let’s take a step back… So what exactly are cosmeceuticals? There is no...
Niacinamide (aka Vitamin B3 or nicotinic acid) is an absolutely fascinating cosmeceutical and one that has a lot of science to back up the claims! It’s a water soluble vitamin that can be found as a powder we add to the heated water phase of our products. So what can this amazing vitamin do? The...