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.
Susan Barclay-Nichols Sweeteababy0427 writes: I would like to know more about making liquid emulsifications. For example, like a leave in conditioner that has oils and water but I would like for it to stay in the liquid form and translucent (if possible). I saw you post about the spray leave in conditioner but I am thinking in general,...
As you all know by now, I run craft groups for tweens and teens at my local libraries (Chilliwack and Yarrow) and here are a few things I’ve learned about making bath & body products with them. I thought this would make a nice addendum to the post on running workshops I wrote the other...
Someone recently wrote to me about heating and holding the oil and water phase together in the same container, and wondered why the emulsion didn’t work (and it had worked in the past). First things first, we can make a lot of things emulsify that won’t stay emulsified. I remember making a lip balm with...
Tiffany writes: I love creating concoctions for myself and others, but I have been stumped on one thing that I hope you can answer. I know that we have to weigh our ingredients to get the most accurate measure, and I have done that. My question is once I have weighed my ingredients and converted...
Ruth wrote and asked: I wondered if you might be able to do a blog post sometime with advice on running these kinds of workshops! I expect it will be with adults, but other people might like to do this kind of thing with youth groups, and as you are into youth work, I guess you...