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.
Ah, finally back to molecules for my illustrations! Magnesium stearate (or octadecanoic acid) is a metallic soap that insoluble in water. It’s all about the adhesion with this ingredient. Because it repels water, it will keep your products on your skin all day long, and because it’ll absorb oils, it’s a a good choice for...
Bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) is yet another white powder used in mineral make-up. It’s an extremely hydrophobic alkaline organic salt, which means it will stay on your skin well throughout the day and will improve the wear time for all products in which you include it. It imparts a pearlescent effect at higher micron levels (the...
More pictures of white powders! I mean really, can you tell anything from them? In this picture, if you look closely at the lower left hand side, you can see a little bit has been crushed and there’s a white residue. If you did this with something like titanium dioxide, there’d be a lot of...
I’m not sure exactly why I’m posting pictures of various fillers in these posts. They’re white powders – for the most part – and you can’t tell much about them from the pictures. But I guess I just don’t want the posts to seem boring… Micronaspheres – or Ronaflair M-Sphere as it seems to be...
What exactly is sericite mica and why is it used so much in mineral make-up? Sericite mica is a natural powdered mica (aluminum potassium silicate) similar to white mica with a fine grain size and silky shine. It is used as a talc substitute. Mineral make-up used to be made with a talc as the...