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.
As this comes up a lot in formulating, I thought I’d update this for 2026! When we buy aloe vera from our suppliers, it can come in myriad different ways: As a liquid, water soluble extract, as an extract in oil, as a gel that we can’t use in our formulas, and as a concentrated…