Mica Pigments Flash Brown Pigment to colour soaps and cosmetics

Particle size: 10-100 micron

Composition: mica 71-75%, iron oxide 23-27%

Form: powder

Colour: flash brown

Odour: odourless

Solubility: insoluble in water

Melting point: decomposes

This multicolour shimmery pigment mainly comprises of mica and iron oxide.

Micas are categorised as an approved natural colourant that has been mined and then individual mica platelets are coated with approved pigments to achieve the colourant. The multi-sided colour is what gives micas its unmistakeable shimmer and sheen. It works best in clear products such as clear melt and pour soap as the shimmer needs light in order to reflect. One good thing about mica is that it tends not to clump in cold process soap.

The down side though is that it tends to be unstable in cold process soap. Iron oxide has been proven to be stable in soaps and will not change shape or colour in cold process or melt and pour soaps. One of its drawbacks though is that it tends to clump and you will need to be especially careful to de-clump first before adding to your recipe. To de-clump beforehand, use a hand mixer to pre-mix your pigment in with a deodorised fixed oil, such as sweet almond oil or olive oil, before adding to your soap. This will help disperse and break up any clumps. The coloured oil can then be added to the soap batter at trace when making cold process soap.

For melt and pour soap, the pigment should first ideally be mixed thoroughly with glycerine to get rid of speckling and can then simply be added to the melt and pour soap. Iron oxide is added to allow a level of stability not afforded by mica. The end result of the combination of mica and iron oxide is a multicolour shimmery pigment that is fairly stable and not clumpy. This shimmery pigment can be used by itself in bodycare applications or to brighten other colours in various applications. It can be used for colouring cosmetics as well as to colour soaps.

The 15g option is packaged in a clear vial whilst larger options come packaged in resealable ziplock standup pouches.  

Warning: there may be violent or incandescent reaction of the product with metals, such as aluminium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, lithium, sodium etc, at high temperatures.