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.
It’s been a really busy week at work, so I’ve had little time to write blog posts or get into the workshop. So let’s take a look in the virtual mailbag to see what question or interesting things have shown up (and as you can tell by the photo, I’m always excited to get mail!)....
My friend Ken, an herbal nutritionist, asked me about the differences between oil based and emulsified scrubs and why he would choose one over the other. The functions of the two scrubs are quite similar – they are both intended to exfoliate the skin with salt, sugar, or other scratchy things and leave behind a...
Shana writes to me: I was reading one of your old blogs about water soluble oils and you stated this: “There are two ways to make water soluble oils – you can mix an oil with an emulsifier (usually polysorbate 80) to make an oil water soluble” You did not explain how to do this exactly. Could you...
In response to the post How does Lush use fresh fruit in their products? p writes: I just stumbled upon Lush’s youtube channel, and I found a video you might find really interesting. It’s on how they make their Avobath Bath Bomb (a citric acid – baking soda bath bomb with fresh avocado). The video shows them cutting...
Madeaj asks in this post: I have a question about oils. I see oils in the supermarket. My local has sesame (not toasted;-), macadamia nut, sunflower (storebrand for frying), walnut, grapeseed, coconut oil and of course olive oil. Are these the same oil used in cosmetic products or is there a difference? I usually cook with olive...