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.
I am asked all the time about how much emulsifier to use. If you are using Polawax, the general rule of thumb is to use 25% of the oil phase. So if you have 20% oil, you’d use 5% Polawax. If you have 30% oil, you’d use 7.5% Polawax. And so on. So why am...
One of the biggest disputes I see in lotion making is the debate over heating and holding our ingredients before mixing the oil and water phases together. I can give you several good reasons to join the heat and hold camp if you still think it unnecessary! Whenever I make a lotion, I weigh out...
Part of the problem in trying all new ingredients in a lotion is that it’s hard to figure out exactly what you like and what you don’t like. (I’m referring to the lotion I made on Thursday.) What I should have done is create a usual recipe then switch out one ingredient – say the...
I ended this body butter post by saying there aren’t many variations on lotions, which might seem like a bizarre statement considered the probably millions of recipes you see on suppliers’ sites, manufacturers’ sites, blogs, and forums (that should be fora, right?). The basics of every lotion are oil, water, emulsifier, and preservative, but it’s...
Comfrey root extract is an awesome inclusion in products intended for damaged skin. I like to use comfrey root extract in foot care products – foot lotion or foot cream or thicker foot cream – and I like to use it in the form of comfrey oil in anhydrous lotion bars (substitute 5% to 10%...