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 crazy time around the Barclay-Nichols household this week, and I haven’t found a good chunk of time to sit down and write a blog post. And the busy will continue for a while as I’m teaching a class at Voyageur Soap & Candle on Saturday, so I won’t get time to do...
WHY CAN’T I USE GERMABEN II IN AN EMULSIFIED SCRUB?In this post on making a black cocoa emulsified scrub, Sophia asks: Oh no, I can’t use germaben II? I thought because there is e-wax in it I could use it? So what will happen? I watched a lady use it in her e-sugar scrub and it...
Making an oil based scrub is incredibly simple – it doesn’t require heating, just pouring and mixing – and sunflower oil is a fantastic choice for such an appplication. Yeah, I know, I keep going on about the awesome linoleic acid and how it is great for repairing skin’s barrier mechanisms and reducing transepidermal water...
In this post One ingredient, ten products: Incroquat BTMS-50 in emulsified scrubs (part one), MK asks: I made this scrub the other day, but what can we do to heat/humidity proof it? I had a thin film of oil on the top after this product got a little hot in our heat and humidity blast last...
Solid scrub bars are a great place to use Incroquat BTMS-50 as it will impart some great conditioning and moisturizing without a lot of greasiness, and it stiffens the bar so it’ll keep its shape. Adding Incroquat BTMS-50 to a bar means it’s now an emulsified scrub bar. Why make an emulsified bar instead of...