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.
The more you create, the more it seems you need to buy special equipment for your crafting…but it doesn’t have to be that way. I’ll give you an idea of which things I feel I really need and which I don’t (and I hope you’ll chime in with your favourite toys for the workshop) Scale:...
When I’ve prepared my space by cleaning and tidying it up, I get ready to measure! I like to get some fresh water into my double boiler, then set the dial to the highest setting to get it to the boiling point. (If you want to learn more about my electric fondue pot that I...
I’m not an organized woman, but I think I’m doing okay in the workshop. I have all my ingredients organized into different bins. If you look at at this picture, on the bottom row (from left to right) I have boxes of surfactants, oils, extracts and hydrosols, other ingredients, and powdered ingredients that aren’t salts...
The second step in creating products is to assemble and weigh your ingredients into the proper containers. Let’s take a look at obtaining our ingredients in this post. Where can you buy ingredients? At a bath & body product retailer, of course! I’m fortunate in that I have three retailers within driving distance – Suds &...
Choosing which recipe to make can often be the hardest part of creating products. I can spend hours in the workshop looking at my ingredients, thinking about what I could make with those lovely new esters or surfactants, doing an inventory of what I need to make for my personal needs or for gift giving,...