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 read there’s a TikTok video going around suggesting you make your own sunscreen with coconut oil, some butters, beeswax, and zinc oxide. I can’t stress this enough – DON’T! This is an abundantly bad idea and that will result in suffering from sunburns today and skin cancer in the future. Please please please please … Read more
Every year I beg you not to make your own sunscreen – read the most recent post here – but this year, it’s all about making bug repellents, which is pretty scary. (And again this year as well. Sigh…) We don’t make sunscreen at home as it’s considered a drug for which you must go … Read more
Welcome to December, the first day of our lovely jammy Bonne Maman advent calendar, each day a new flavour to celebrate the countdown to Christmas! It’s just one of my favourite things about December, which also incudes my birthday, Raymond and my 30th anniversary, Sasja’s adoption day, and my adoption day on New Year’s Eve. … Read more
Welcome to November! It’s still mushroom season around here, with fungi of all kinds sprouting up on our lawn, on other lawns, and in the new trail that snakes beside the creek behind our house. Raymond has taken to photographing them whenever he sees them around town, and I’ve never been so enamoured by mushrooms … Read more
Welcome to October! We have a lot going on this month – well, a lot for us, anyway. It’s little Sasja’s 7th birthday today – holy cow, I still think of her as a puppy! – and Raymond’s birthday on the 11th. Tomorrow, on the 2nd, we’re going to see Iron Maiden in Vancouver, which … Read more