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.
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m on a quest to make some lovely products to help my best friend’s foot heal after surgery. So I’m turning to three oils I’ve heard might help – arnica, calendula, and comfrey. I’ve written about comfrey extract in the past, so let’s just go for a summary here. Comfrey oil...
Yesterday we added hydrosols and extracts to our conditioner to make a good, basic conditioner. Today we’ll take a look at tweaking the basic recipe for specific hair types. Aloe vera is a good inclusion for most, if not all, hair types. It’s a film former and humectant, which means it can draw water to your...
With a million different conditioners in the marketplace, it seems like insanity to think they’re all based off the same recipe…but they pretty much are. We saw the other day that there are really just three kinds of conditioners – rinse off, leave on, and intense or treatment – and the central component of any...
Acai biofunctional botanical liquid is a product from Beraca, a company that specializes in products from the rainforest. It’s INCI is Glycerin (and) Euterpe oleracea fruit powder (and) Water, and I’ve seen it advertised that it doesn’t include preservative, which makes me very nervous, to be honest. I have no idea about the shelf life...
Fruit acid complex or Multifruit BSC is a great way to get alpha hydroxy acids into your products in a way that is easy to use and hard to over-do. With an INCI Water & Vaccinium Myrtillus (Bilberry) Extract & Saccharum Officinarum (Sugar Cane) Extract & Acer Saccharinum (Sugar Maple) Extract & Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange)...