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’ve had a few days to lie in bed and think about what I could be doing if I wasn’t ill, and I got to thinking about lotions. I think I can break the lotion making process into six stages – choosing the recipe, assembling and weighing the ingredients, heating and holding the ingredients, combining the...
A few questions came out of yesterday’s post on evaporation! What are the jars in this picture? These are 500 ml wide mouth mason jars (okay, technically they’re Bernardin 500 ml wide mouth jars, but you get the idea). I find they are a great choice because I can cram quite a few of them...
Tara made a great comment in response to yesterday’s question about why some of my lotion recipes are so thick – I used to agree that your recipes came out awfully thick, but then I learned to account for evaporated water. I now make sure my vessels that contain my ingredients for heating weigh the same before...
Kat wrote to me to ask these questions: I have made several of the lotion recipes you’ve posted on your site. They are all wonderful, to be sure. However, I’m confused because every single one has come out too thick to pour. I define lotion as being pourable. Am I wrong? In fact, I’ve altered (to...
I’ve been agonizing over this post for a few days now over this recipe because my original recipe adds up to 105 grams, so if I add 50 grams of water and 0.25 grams of preservative, the grand total of the product will be 155.75. So I could just leave the recipe as is and...