The home of SwiftCraftyMonkey Formulating Inc.! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys). Often strange, occasionally useful, and always worth a stop as a point of interest on your journey through the Intertron.
Cetearyl olivate is an ester that’s derived from Cetearyl Alcohol – which is a combination of cetyl alcohol (16 carbon) and stearyl alcohol (18 carbon) – reacting with olive oil, which is a mixture of fatty acids that have been esterified, like cetearyl palmitate, cetearyl oleate, cetearyl stearate, and so on. (It’s like cetyl esters in...
We took some time away from the ester series over the holidays, but it’s time to get back to learning more about these awesome non-greasy, silky, glidy emollients. Let’s take a look at another simple ester, stearyl palmitate. As a note, you can find all the posts from this series in the emollients section of the blog....
We first met this ingredient when I made my honey, apple & kale foaming kitchen hand cleanser with d-Limonene, but I didn’t go into great detail about it. Let’s take a closer look at babassuamidopropyl betaine (BaB) Babassuamidopropyl betaine (BaB) is an amphoteric foamy, bubbly, lathery™ surfactant like Cocamidopropyl Betaine or Lauramidopropyl Betaine derived from...
I’ve noticed a lot of people trying to make lotions and experiencing serious fails, so I thought I’d share my pretty much foolproof formula for a hand & body lotion with Polawax, emulsifying wax NF, or Incroquat BTMS-50. I’m serious when I say it’s foolproof – if you follow my instructions and don’t go substituting...
I’ve been playing with lauramidopropyl betaine for almost a year now, and it definitely has a permanent place my workshop shelves as a very mild, primary or secondary surfactant I can use in pretty much any foamy, bubbly, lathery™ product I make, and you know how much I love these kinds of things! Let’s take...