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.
To poorly quote John Oliver, “Cranberries are just cherries that hate you,” and while it’s true for the juice and non-whole berry jelly, cranberry extract liquid is bursting with anthocyanidins, which work as potent anti-oxidants while adding a gorgeous red colour to your formula! Cranberry liquid extract can also offer anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-septic properties,...
As blueberries are my very favourite fruit, I was super excited to receive this gorgeous liquid extract from Voyageur Soap & Candle* to try in all kinds of water-based and emulsified products! We’ve already met two types of blueberry oil before – Blueberry seed oil (INCI: Vaccinium corymbosum (blueberry) seed oil) and Blueberry seed oil (INCI: Vaccinium...
Let’s take a look today at prickly pear extract! The one I’m referring to most in this post will be FSS Prickly Pear extract G PF (INCI: Glycerin & Water & Opuntia Tuna Flower/Stem Extract), where the “G” means it is dissolved in glycerin and “PF” means it’s paraben free. This ingredient contains 39% glycerin, 39%...
I’ve gone a bit black currant crazy this past year, enjoying black currant seed oil as well as black currant fragrance oils – like black currant sorbet in this whipped cranberry & black currant oil butter – so you know I had to try using this water soluble, liquid black currant extract (INCI: Ribes Nigrum...
In this month’s Q&A post, MsWabi asked, I’d really like to use turmeric in my face cream and/or face oil and would like to make my own extract. What do you think is the best way to make a turmeric extract for use in an emulsion or facial oil? This is something that’s come up a...