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.
I’ve been reviewing the questions and comments you’ve written since the start of the moisturizer section of the learning to formulate series, and one of the most common relates to how to turn our facial lotions into sunscreens. This makes sense to me because one of the best ways to avoid the look of aging...
I realized that I hadn’t really addressed the concept of cosmeceuticals before diving right into the topic. This is partially because my brain has been addled by the stomach flu and partially because I didn’t have ‘net access for three days. So let’s take a step back… So what exactly are cosmeceuticals? There is no...
As I mentioned, I feel like I’ve tweaked moisturizers to death, so here are a few ideas for ingredients you can include in your products. I can’t stress enough the idea of making a basic moisturizer then adding ingredients once you see if your skin likes it – give it a week before deciding, unless...
The first place to start to formulate a good moisturizer is to choose a recipe. We’ll start with this very basic recipe and tweak it until we get something we like! I suggest starting with a basic recipe and seeing how your skin reacts to it before adding all those lovely (and expensive) cosmeceuticals. It...
I mentioned the other day that I find moisturizers the hardest product to create, and I should start off by justifying this comment. They aren’t hard products to make – the process is the same as any lotion with the heated water phase, heated oil phase, heat and hold, cool down phase, and mixing –...