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.
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Hey, everyone! I thought I’d share some dates I was thinking about for Zoom workshops in May, June, and July 2026! These will be open to Formulation and Innovation subscribers. As we have before, you’ll get a handout on the topic along with at least two formulas so you can follow along. I’ll share the … Read more
Welcome to part 48 of this Introduction to cosmetic chemistry series in which we’ll be learning about rules of solubility along with a bit more on polyatomic ions. An important note about this series – it’s here for life. It isn’t going anywhere. If you want to take a break or take a few weeks...
Woo hoo! That was another fun Zoom workshop last Sunday on pH – testing and adjusting pH in a foaming facial cleanser formula along with learning how to calibrate our meters and test with pH strips. Let’s go through the questions you had in the chat! Check out part one of this two part series...
Woo hoo! That was another fun Zoom workshop yesterday on pH – testing and adjusting pH in a foaming facial cleanser formula along with learning how to calibrate our meters and test with pH strips. Let’s look at the formula we made, how we adjusted and tested the pH, then what we did when we...
In the post I shared the other day, Let’s talk about surfactants: Some basics about foamy, bubbly, lathery™ surfactants!, I shared this awesome chart demonstrating the mildness of our surfactants, but I didn’t want it to be buried near the end of a large post like that, so I thought I’d share it here. Please...