Mineral MakeupPearlescent Micas | Oxides & Ultramarines | Complementary Mineral Makeup Ingredients | Packaging and Accessories FromNatureWithLove.com offers a broad selection of quality pearlescent micas, oxides, ultramarines and other ingredients used to formulate mineral makeup. If you are new to creating mineral makeup, be sure to read our 10 part Guide to Creating Your Own Mineral Based Cosmetics. It will set you on the path to making your own beautiful blushes, bronzers, eye shadows, lip colors and more.
Pearlescent micas are used to add color and sheen to various cosmetic products and are mostly used in the production of lipsticks, blushes and eye shadows. They are now becoming very popular as loose mineral make-up that you can make yourself. You can create virtually any shade of mineral make-up for your face by combining various shades of micas. Other pigments and additives can be used to darken or lighten colors and to create mineral make-up bases. In addition to creating mineral make-up, micas can also be used to color lip balms, bath salts, bath bombs, creams, lotions, shampoos, conditioners, soaps (check for color fading possibility in a small batch first), lotions bars, body gels, body powders and milk baths. Micas use light reflection, refraction, and transmission to exhibit their effects much like a prism creates various colors as light passes through it. They are made by coating small platelets of mica with various dyes and pigments. The size of the mica particle is measured in microns and determines the luster of the mica (the ability of the mica to bend and reflect light). Each mica has a particle size range listed. The smaller of the 2 numbers (in microns) refers to the smallest particle size and the larger number refers to the largest particles. The overall visual size of the mica will be an average of the two numbers. Smaller sizes will give a pearlescent effect with a smooth sheen. Medium size particles give a satin effect. Large particle sizes give a sparkle effect. The smaller the particle size is, the more opaque it will make your product. So you can use the fine micas to opacify transparent soaps. Some micas are first coated with an iron oxide which absorbs light and then it is coated with an interference color to reflect light. The result is a two-tone mica which changes color as it turns. Micas can be heavy and therefore may settle out in low viscosity. To use in soaps, pour your soaps at cooler temperatures as they will suspend the micas better. To achieve the real effect of a mica in soap, the particles need to be aligned in the same direction - you can try pouring your soap and then "combing" the surface of the soap in one direction using a spatula. You will get different results when you add micas to colored verses non-colored soaps. Having a background color enhances the effects of the mica. To add mica powder to a liquid formulation, first disperse the mica in a small amount of oil and then add the colored oil to the batch once all the clumps are broken up. Micas are easily stirred into dry salts and powders. Please be sure to heed the "Not Safe for Lips" and "Not Stable in CP (Cold Process) Soap" precautions. Visit the Mica Safety Chart to determine which micas are safe to use for your particular application.
Our inorganic pigments can be used for a variety of applications. Please read each description or visit the Color Additive Usage Guide to identify which pigments are safe for your particular application. Except for the water dispersible Titanium Dioxide shown below, all of the below pigments must first be dispersed in oil and then added to your batch or product. These will not work in water formulations such as body sprays or low viscosity formulations such as body oils. We also offer a sampler package that allows you to experiment affordably with a selection of the below pigments.
Below is a selection of additional ingredients commonly used in the creation of mineral based cosmetics. Read the descriptions for more information on each ingredient. Be sure to visit the many other skin care categories of our site to find Vegetable Oils, Essential Oils and other ingredients that you may need.
Below is a listing of accessories and the most commonly used jars used for storing loose mineral makeup. For a larger selection, visit our Packaging and Equipment areas. |
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