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.
So, I’m a bit of an idiot. I was ordering a few things from New Directions Aromatics, and didn’t want to incur their “small order” fee ($100 is not small!) so I threw some lime butter into my basket. And when it came, it turns out I bought a kilogram of it! Thank goodness it...
Let’s take some time today to see how this all comes together in choosing butters and oils for our lotions! Defining some scientific terms: Solubility, viscosity, surface tension, and interfaces Defining some scientific terms: Contact angle, wetting, refractive index, and specific gravity Defining some cosmetic chemistry terms: Spreadability, play time, cushion, drag, and melt point...
I thought we’d take some time to process what we’ve learned over the last few days about these very interesting concepts by considering some emollient combinations. Defining some scientific terms: Solubility, viscosity, surface tension, and interfaces Defining some scientific terms: Contact angle, wetting, refractive index, and specific gravity Defining some cosmetic chemistry terms: Spreadability, play...
In this post, Let’s formulate: Chamomile & aloe botanical summer time body butter (formula), Andrea asked: Can I leave isopropyl myristate (IPM) out (don’t have any) and add a different oil? Or just leave it out? The short answer is yes, you can substitute it. The longer answer is that unless I indicate otherwise in...
As I mentioned in this post on murumuru butter, I’ve gone on a bit of a spending spree over the last 18 months for all kinds of ingredients, including some new and interesting butters. I’ve fallen in love with cupuacu butter, as well as murumuru butter and tucuma butter. I’ve also been having some fun...