POWDER DYES

Powder colourants for soap and colour cosmetics

This category holds 436 powder colourants – finely milled inorganic and mineral pigments for tinting soaps, colour cosmetics and body products. Unlike soluble dyes they work as dispersed particles: they have very good opacity and colour stability, and they stand up to cold process soaping. The range is divided into five subcategories according to pigment type and effect.

Mica – pearlescent sheen

MICA/MIKA is the largest group (337 items): mica pigments with a pearlescent to metallic sheen, in the AquaPearls and MICA powder colourant lines. They do not tint the water phase and create an optical shimmer inside the mass – they suit glycerine soaps, balms and colour cosmetics.

Oxides and ultramarines – matte, full shades

Oxides (iron oxides in red, yellow and black, green chromium oxide and violet manganese) are matte, highly opaque pigments; iron oxides and green chromium oxide are stable to both heat and alkali – the basis for cold process soap – whereas violet manganese loses its colour in an alkaline environment and belongs rather in powders, eyeshadows and lipsticks. Ultramarines round out the palette with intense blue and violet in both red and blue undertones; a fine pre-dispersion helps them colour evenly.

Effect and speciality colourants

Duochrome pigments (15 items including the EcoSparks line) change shade with the angle at which the light falls – a chameleon effect for accents in colour cosmetics and glycerine soaps. Bath bomb colourants offer 20 shades from Blue Lagoon to Vintage Rose, in 10 – 200 g packs.

How to choose a powder colourant

• Pearl and shimmer: mica – glycerine soaps, balms, colour cosmetics, swirls in CP soap.
• Matte, full colour: oxides – the best opacity, stable in cold process soap and in powders (exception: violet manganese, which does not belong in CP soap).
• Blue and violet: ultramarines – intense tones for powders, eyeshadows and soaps.
• Colour accent: duochrome pigments whose sheen shifts with the angle of the light.
• Bath products: bath bomb colourants in 20 shades, from a sample to 200 g.
• Water phase: for water-based gels and glycerine bases, consider liquid colourants – they tint evenly without dispersing a powder.

When working with powder pigments, preparation is what counts: disperse them in a small part of the oil (oil systems) or in glycerine or propylene glycol (gel and glycerine bases), or sift them. Add them gradually – the usual range is 0.05 – 1.0 % for make-up and powders and 0.1 – 2.0 % for soaps.

Every colourant comes with an SDS and a certificate of analysis (CoA); pack sizes run from 10 g samples up to wholesale quantities. For advice on choosing a pigment for a specific formulation, write to [email protected].