The research presented here is a modest contribution to the saga that has continued over a century to understand the mechanism of spontaneous emulsification. Interrogating the transfer of surfactants and oil (or the organic liquid) using UV spectroscopy helped develop an intuitive picture of the relevant processes, whereas the non-equilibrium DPD-MD simulations provided a complementary insight needed to understand the local processes. Some of the main observations made in these studies are as follows.