The home of SwiftCraftyMonkey! 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.
Welcome back to part two of this short series on using fragrance and essential oils. Yesterday, we took a look at some things to consider when using fragrance and essential oils, and how much we might use in a product. Today, let’s talk about the IFRA, their maximum skin exposure levels, why those things are,...
You may have noticed that I’ve changed how much fragrance I recommend for products over the years, going from a standard of about 1% for leave on or rinse off products, to suggesting as low as 0.3% or 0.1% for some leave on products. Why? Because fragrance oils seem to have become much stronger in...
Nothing says winter like minty, menthol-y goodness, so let’s take a look at using essential oils and menthol to create a a few wonderful things you can use or gift this winter! In our first super simple festive formula post, we took a look at making lip scrubs. In the second, we looked at making...
Every year I say it but please please please don’t make your own insect repellent! Like sunscreen, this is a product that must be tested for efficacy and registered with a governing body of some sort. You can’t just throw a few things you think work as insect repellents into a bottle and say it...
I’m testing out a few batches of a super fluffy body wash with protein based surfactants thickened with gellan gum and carageenan – thanks to Shannon at IMCD for sending these to me! – and I couldn’t resist fragrancing it with market peach from Windy Point Soap Making Supplies to give it that fresh summer...