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.
My midterm went well – an A! – and life is getting less busy, so I thought I’d start this Friday off with some comments you’ve made over the last two weeks! I love hearing from you, so please comment wherever you can and I’ll be sure to see it! Or visit the Weekend Wonderings...
I stumbled upon this scrub, Fresh Brown Sugar Polish through Sephora.com, while reading the newspaper this morning. At $65, it claims to be anti-bacterial and hydrating for “thirsty skin cells”. The site claims that it offers the “restorative, antibacterial properties of sugar”. The paper claimed that the scrub has become a “cult-classic in the beauty...
In this post on solid scrub bars, Julia asks: I love this scrub bar, but so far I have always made it without sodium lacate. Which is fine until it reaches about 27˚C, it starts getting soft and mushy. So I want to add the sodium lactate. Problem I’ve run into: It is 60% Salt to...
CAN YOU TURN A LOTION BAR INTO A SCRUB BAR?In this post, Back to the very basics: Defining terms for anhydrous products, Karen asks: I want to ask, is there a reason why a person can’t just add exfoiliates to a lotion bar recipe and have a shower scrub bar? And for the scrub bar, can I substitute...
ADDING SURFACTANTS TO EMULSIFIED SCRUBSIn this post, Experiments in the workshop: Black cocoa butter emulsified sugar scrub, Stephany writes: Could I incorporate a little bit of surfactant in this to make it foamy???And in this post on facial scrubs, Stephany offers a potential recipe. (Click to see it.) An interesting thought, but no, you can’t add...