Woo hoo! Welcome to August 2026! Hope you’re having a good summer/winter!
I finally remembered to share the certificate on skin care science I earned from the Society of Cosmetic Chemists’ last year, finishing in July 2025. They took forever to send me the physical copy, which I still have to hang on the wall. It was a great course, and I finally feel comfortable calling myself a cosmetic scientist.* I completely encourage you to take that course or any course from the SCC or AOCS as they’re so thorough and interesting. On top of these courses, I’ve taken at least 15 others on everything from hair care to toothpaste to a few courses on oils, butters, and triglycerides.
*I have a Bachelor of General Studies in English and Canadian studies as I originally planned to be a teacher, but ended up as a social worker, and didn’t take a single chemistry course until 2008, when I fell in love with it. I have taken chemistry, physics, biology, and math at university, but given I haven’t finished the degree, I’m uncomfortable saying I’m a chemist of any sort. I’ve certainly studied enough to be admitted to the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, but I feel like “chemist” is a protected term for me.
Holy cow, did I write a lot!
July 2026 was an absolute banner month for writing for me! I shared over 100,000 words (100, 568 to be exact) between the site, the Zoom workshop, and the e-book of the month, Emollients you will love: Esters – part two, isopropyl esters.
It works out to about 400 pages in Pages, my word processor, which is insane! And think that this is what I shared, not all the first drafts, edits, and hand written research!!! I burned through another pen! And I’m about to finish up a notebook.
I was really excited about fragrance/essential oils in the Chemistry Thursday series and about surfactants in the Apple a Day formulating series and Zoom workshop, and I couldn’t stop talking about them.
Also, I figured a lot of you aren’t around right now, so when you get back from summer holidays or the kids are back in school or you’re preparing for markets, you’ll have more than a post a day waiting for you!
As a note, I won’t be doing as much in August – or again, as this was like a marathon every day! – as I have a bunch of medical stuff to do in the first two weeks, and they tend to leave me a little worse for wear. I have a surgery coming up that’ll knock me out for a bit – probably in October – but I should be prepared better for that with posts.
August Zoom workshop!
This month, let’s have a Zoom workshop. I’m thinking Sunday, August 16 or August 23 at noon PDT (Vancouver time), but I want to talk to Natalie of This Formulating Life and Sweet Little Crumb to make sure we’re not Zooming on the same day.
She usually does hers on the last Sunday of the month (Australia time), but there are five Sundays, and I don’t want to interfere with her planning.
You can see our August Zoom workshop on surfactants by clicking this link. (For Formulation and Innovation subscribers.) That goes to part two of the follow up posts where you can see the video along with links to the handout and formulas with the answers to questions posed in the workshop. It was great fun!
Do you have suggestions for the Zoom workshop? I can’t do heated lotions as it’ll be way too hot in the workshop to have the double boiler going for a few hours, but we can do all kinds of fun things. I’m leaning towards surfactants again, with an emphasis on using fragrance/essential oils, but anything works! I just need time to get the ingredients, if necessary.
Let me know in the comments or by emailing me at swiftcraftymonkey@swiftcraftymonkey.blog with the topic “Zoom workshop”.
In-person cosmetic chemistry coffee klatch in August?
I’m hoping to get a cosmetic chemistry coffee klatch going in August here in Chilliwack. Whichever Sunday I don’t do the Zoom workshop is when I’d like to meet, on a Sunday. We could go to a park, we could meet at a coffee shop or brewery, or we could come to my house and you can take a peek at my workshop and meet my husband and dog.
Let me know what you think!
Yeah, I know, this tea has seen a ghost! So weak!
Thanks for joining us for August 2026. We have so many cool things in store for you as I work through years of research, formulas, and new ingredients.
If you’re an Innovation subscriber, we have coupons for suppliers, which you can find by clicking this link
Oh, and don’t forget, if you’re prepping for markets in the fall or around the holidays, August is the busiest shopping month, so get your lists ready now!
Have a great August!