Mica, Mica, Mica!
First a big thanks to all that helped
build this section. It is important to remind you that your results may vary,
many things effect a final color, especially in CP soap. Hot Processed soaps may
also give you different results than you may achieve in CP soap. Always make a
test batch, you may be surprised. If you would like to contribute to this page,
please follow the format found in the samples below, include your name and web
site url if you would like a free plug, if you would like to remain
anonymous, that's okay too, just let me know. Please send mail with the subject
line-MICA to webmaster@soapnuts.com
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Name of mica: Green Pearl
Name of Supplier:
Bramble Berry
Type of product used in: CP Soap
Final Color: Light
pear green
Comments: Using 1/2 tsp per 36 oz of oils.
www.rose-kim.com
Submitted by Jessica Rose
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Name of Mica: Emerald
Supplier: Stuff Julie Likes
Type of product used in: CP soap
Final color: Varied!
Comments: I made a 4# batch of CP soap, scented at 2% usage rate
with BB's Christmas Forest. Oils and lye water were mixed at approx.
95*. This soap was swirled in the pot and poured at medium
trace. The color was a lovely cream and malachite green swirl.
Insulated with a lightweight towel. Color mutated to reds, purples,
greens and blue flecks!
Submitted by Meredith Garis
Here's a pic of it:
 
©Simply Homemade Soaps and Sundries
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Name of mica: Shamrock
Name of Supplier: Between
Friends
Type of product used in: CP
Final Color: Purple
with a sort of muted gray-ness to it
Comments: Used in a base of
olive, cocnut, plam, castor, and shea
Major mutation, but it you are
looking for a purple that isn't glaringly
purple, it migh actually be a
good mutation.
Submitted by Celeste Murray |
Name of mica: Sea Foam
Name of Supplier: The Scent Shack
Type
of product used in: CP
Final Color: Kind of a country sage green in
cp, stays true in MP
Comments: Very nice subtle color.
Submitted by Lori
www.irishhearthsoaps.com
www.thescentshack.com
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Name of mica: Merlot Mica
Name of Supplier: Bramble Berry
Type of
product used inch Soap
Final Color: Mauve/pink
Comments: Using 1/4
tsp in 36 oz batch. Can be seen at top left.
www.rose-kim.com
Submitted by Jessica Rose
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Name of mica: Red/Blue Pearl
Name of Supplier: Bramble Berry
Type
of product used in: CP Soap
Final Color: Vivid pink used for
swirl
Comments: Using 1 3/4 tsp in approx 2 cups of soap for swirl in a
130 oz recipe.
www.rose-kim.com
Submitted by Jessica Rose
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Name of mica: Merlot Mica
Name of Supplier:
Bramble Berry
Type of product used in: CP Soap
Final Color: Deep
Mauve
Comments: Used 1/8 tsp to swirl in 40 oz batch. Main portion was
colored with 1/2 tap of cocoa powder. Can be seen at lower left.
www.rose-kim.com
Submitted by Jessica Rose
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Name of mica: Coral
Name of Supplier: The Scent Shack
Type of product used in: CP
Final Color: A coral color, tending on
the pink/orange side
Comments: Higher temps will cause some fading
with this one, so adjustments may be necessary.
Submitted by Lori
www.irishhearthsoaps.com
www.thescentshack.com
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Name of mica: Merlot Red
Name of Supplier: Brambleberry
Type of product used in: CP
Final Color: Deep, rich red
Comments: I have used this before in a similar soap at a
higher
percentage rate and it was beautiful. It does bleed a bit if
the soap gets
goopy in the tub, but it does not produce red lather like the oxides
I've
experimented with.
This is BB's red apple swirled with merlot and chromium green oxide
(from
the pigment lady).
Submitted by Christa Hunter-
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Top Layer: Brambleberry's coral mica
Next Layer: Between Friends Too's lemon zest mica
Next Layer: Brambleberry's red/blue mica
Next Layer: Brambleberry's violet mica
Bottom Layer: a mix of bb's pearl blue mica and bft's tanzanite jewel
mica.
Neither one stayed a true blue in CP. Brambleberry has a
picture of a soap
with just the pearl blue mica in it on their site. It's also
blue-green.
this is scented with bb's rise & shine.
Christa
Specializing in Quality Handmade Soaps
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Name of mica: Copper Sparkle
Name of Supplier: Bramble Berry
Type
of product used inch Soap
Final Color: Light peachy-pink
Comments:
Using 1/4 tsp in 36 oz batch.
www.rose-kim.com
Submitted by Jessica Rose
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Name of mica: Copper
Name of Supplier:
Coloration Station
Type of product used in: CP
Final Color:
A beautiful autumn rust, using less gives a wonderful peach color.
Comments: No fading, very easy to use.
Lori
www.irishhearthsoaps.com
www.thescentshack.com |
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usage rate for all: 1/2 tsp per 8oz soap in cold processed
soap
All of these fo's either go tan or brown but these are newly
cut:
Angel (fresh cut after 1 day in the mold):
micas used: Montana rose (between friends, too) turned a burnt
orange,
merlot (sweet scents) turned light warm brown. the blue is
utramarine
medium blue from the pigment lady.
Submitted by Christa Hunter-
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Mayan Gold (fresh cut after 1 day in the mold):
Micas used: Brambleberry's Gold, Sweet Scents 24 k gold, BFT
dakota prairie
, BFT cedar.
Both the cedar and the dakota prairie micas turned a pretty
brown. One is
darker and the other has a slightly reddish tint, but I can't at this
time
determine which is which. The golds weren't distinctive in this
swirl, but
the entire soap has a very pretty gold shimmer. The 24 k gold
is a darker,
richer gold than the reg. gold. Very pretty!
Submitted by Christa Hunter-
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Name of mica: Gold
Name of Supplier: Coloration Station (aka
Pigment Lady)
Type of product used in: CP
Final Color: light
yellow gold
Comments: Great for swirling, I also have used this
combined with ultramarines for a very subtle gold dust effect.
Lori
www.irishhearthsoaps.com
www.thescentshack.com
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Name of mica: Sahara Sunset
Name of Supplier: Between
Friends
Type of product used in: CP
Final Color:
Peach
Comments: Used in SS's Citrus Splash in a base of olive,
cocnut, palm,castor, and shea
Submitted by Celeste Murray
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Amber dreams (blend of bb's vanilla bean and sc's amber romance fresh
cut
after 1 day in the mold):
micas used: bramble berry's cellini blue (the denim blue in
this soap),
bb's copper sparkle (pretty!) sweet scents purple shimmer (turned a
red
brown, the darker part of the brown swirl), sweet scents plum
shimmer
(faded)
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Name of mica: Electric Blue
Name of Supplier: The Scent Shack
Type of product used in: MP
Final Color: Bright blue
Comments:
This is *not* cp stable. In MP, you must thoroughly stir to disperse the
pigment, it is a little harder to mix in than most micas.
---------------------
Lori
www.irishhearthsoaps.com
www.thescentshack.com
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Name of mica: Frosted Lilac
Name of Supplier: Between
Friends
Type of product used in: CP
Final Color:
Lilac
Comments: Used in BB's Lilac and SC's Lavender Breeze in a
base of olive,
cocnut, plam, castor, and shea
You must go heavy on
this one or prepare your soap with some Ultramarine Blue; otherwise, the
yellowish tint of the soap will combine
with the lilac to make a muddy
grey.
Submitted by Celeste Murray
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Name of mica: Sky
Name of Supplier: Between Friends Too
Type of product used in: CP soap.
Final Color: pale blue streaked with brighter sky blue.
Comments: This was a test batch and the color faded to a pale blue upon
cure, but the swirls have remained strong. Used a heavy hand, 1/2 tsp. for
4 ounce tester bar.
Submitted by Becky
http://www.countrypetaler.com
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Mica use in other products submitted by Dee-
Body Powder: I used an uncolored mica from
FNWL to add a bit of sparkle.
Didn't sparkle! So added a tablespoon of String of Pearls from
Soapwerks
and got the effect I wanted. (this was in a batch that made up 12 -
3oz
containers). I also added 1 teaspoon of Magenta Madness to make it a
pale
pink. Stuff Julie Likes sells this same color but names it Party on
Bourbon
Street. The color did make it a very pale pink but I think this
wasn't
necessarily the best way to go.
Body Spray: I tried using mica in various
colors to add a pearlescent look
to my body spray. The result was always the same, it settles out and
looks
nasty and eventually plugs the hole of the sprayer. I used approx. an
1/8
teaspoon per 8 oz. bottle so this may have been too much.
Lip Gloss/Lip Balm: Here is where it can
get tricky. Unless you check each
and every color against the FDA listing of what is safe, you can wind
up
using something definitely not safe for lips. Terry at Soapwerks lists
which
ones are lip safe on her website which is very helpful, though I
always
check anyway. I have not discovered any other site that lists exactly
what
is in each packet of mica or whether or not the colors are lip safe
except
for the Pigment Lady and even she does not list what is in the mica.
Terry
takes the time to list the colorants used in the micas which makes it
much
easier for me to decide whether I can use them in eye shadows, blush or
only
soap. For twelve tubes of lip gloss/balm I use 1/2 teaspoon of lip
safe
mica to just barely color the product. I've been experimenting with
more
color in hopes of eventually being able to make a lipstick that my gang
can
use. To barely color the product, I mix the mica with the oil I will
use.
This disperses it much more evenly thoughout. However, over time lip
gloss
will start to fade out especially around the edges of the pot,
leaving
whitish areas that are very unattractive. (I kept some old ones to
see how
they would look over time.) My older lip glosses also started to
break down
and become oily and drippy. (I used MMS softest formula for gloss) In
order
to make a more intensely colored product I started using a full teaspoon
of
mica, added after everything was melted. In order to keep it
suspended this
meant I had to keep stirring and had to wait till the lip gloss was
almost
setting before I could put it in containers. Even then the mica
had a
tendency to drift to the bottom of the pot and STILL gets the whitish
areas
around the edges. The color is also still not intense enough even at
that
amount. In this case I used my own formula which is a bit
firmer.
Eye Shadow: I don't care who makes it,
mica is the colorant used in pretty
much any eye shadow including the very expensive ones you buy in high
end
stores. I usually use mica I buy from Soapwerks, or Stuff Julie
Likes
simply because their prices are better than FNWL's prices. Have found
no
difference in quality amongst the three I've bought from but I much
prefer
the way Soapwerks packages theirs in small, well labled ziplocs. Much
less
mess using them. I have used every color I've ever bought from
anyone,
unless the FDA says it isn't safe, and found it works perfectly from
each
supplier and in each color, however the FDA red, coral, yellow, green
and
blue actually stain and are not good for this product imho. (Great
for lip
gloss though!)
MP soap: I've only just started using the
various micas for MP. I found it
very difficult to mix in the FDA red, coral, yellow, green and blue.
These
colors wanted to clump up and it required a good deal of mixing and
stirring
to get the colors to totally mix in and not leave flecks of unmixed
color.
I then tried another batch and mixed the colorant, (same FDA type,
not
pearlescent mica), with a small amount of jojoba before adding it to
the
melted soap. This worked better though I still had difficulty
blending it
into the soap without more stirring than I wanted to do. The
pearlescent
micas, however, disperse evenly, easily and quickly with a minimum of
stirring. My first batch was made with Baby Pink from SJL and came
out just
beautiful. However, I used a vanilla FO, totally forgetting what
vanilla
does in soap! It was a blend and I never considered the vanilla
element in
the blend. The result over time was a deep, burgundy wine colored
soap.
Surprise! This was in a poor quality base I bought from
Michael's. I have
also used Snowflake White Sparkle which gave a really beautiful,
pearlescent, pure white bar and 24 Karat Gold in a clear, which gave
a
really lovely, golden bar. I scented the white with Angel's Kisses
and the
Gold with Wind Dancer. Neither turned any strange colors. Both
micas were
from Soapwerks.
