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.
Wow, I’m posting this late, but I slept in this morning until 9:00! I’m such a rebel! Next I’ll be staying up past midnight, doing my crosswords in pen, and drinking milk straight out of the carton! (Okay, I won’t be doing the last thing as I’m lactose intolerant, but it’s the thought that counts,...
I asked the question – why did I buy that again? – and you answered with your list of ingredients you purchased for some project or recipe, the reason for which is lost in the mists of time! I thought I’d take a look at an ingredient one day, then how we’d use it in a...
There’s been an ongoing debate about the everlasting flower absolute in the Lush Afterlife moisturizer. It’s not helichrysum but this wonderful plant, the marsh cudweed. After quite a bit of research, I found some reasons why this plant might be found in a moisturizer. It contains caffeic acid, which is a powerful anti-oxidant, a great...
Niacinamide (aka Vitamin B3 or nicotinic acid) is an absolutely fascinating cosmeceutical and one that has a lot of science to back up the claims! It’s a water soluble vitamin that can be found as a powder we add to the heated water phase of our products. So what can this amazing vitamin do? The...
Beeswax is not an emulsifier. We can use it as a thickener in our products – in lotions, scrub bars, lotion bars, and so on – but it will not emulsify your lotions. I know I’ve mentioned this before – in the how can I tell if it’s a good recipe post – but the...