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.
Caroline wrote to ask about graininess in lip balm. She’s using mango and cocoa butter and wants to know how to get rid of the grains…The first thing I’d try is changing butters – but that isn’t going to make a difference because the inherent problem is with the cooling down of the lip balms,...
Okay, so you’re going skiing (or you’re running for the bus in Calgary!) You want something heavy duty to protect your skin from the elements. What might you choose for a heavy duty winter facial lotion bar?A basic lotion bar has the following formula33% beeswax33% butter33% oil1% fragrance or essential oilIf you are new to...
Winter is not a great time for our skin! The cold and wind certainly don’t make for soft, moisturized skin, and the low humidity is incredibly drying (although awesome for making my frizzy hair straight and smooth!). I like to make a moisturizer just for the winter months filled with all kinds of wonderful ingredients...
Isn’t palmitoleic acid pretty? Sea buckthorn oil is a fantastic addition to just about any product you create, but at low levels because is such an expensive oil. Facial serums (shouldn’t that be sera?) for dry or oily skin, and facial moisturizers are great places to use sea buckthorn oil. If you’re looking for an...
If you’re a dry skin kind of person, you are definitely going to need different oils than your greasy skinned sisters! You’ll want to choose a base oil filled with oleic acid and Vitamin E to increase the moisturization of your skin and the absorption of the oil. You’ll also want something with linoleic acid...