Pigment Opacifiers for Color Cosmetics

Undine

I am working on blending the colorant components for a silicone in alcohol solution for an airbrush makeup. My ideal product will have rich color saturation with high opacity. I am using high chroma colorants such as FD&C lakes and mineral pigments, but I would like to boost their opacity without altering their tint or desaturating hue. So far I have just been adding a small amount of Ti02 but that compromises both the tint and hue. Since the medium must remain at an extremely low viscocity, I cannot add soluble waxes. 

I was considering Kaolin Clay or calcium carbonate and blending that at a high sheer, but have not gotten around to it. Ideally, the filler will also assist in pigment suspension since separation is an issue in fluidic mediums. Any other thoughts?

Sponge

Kaolin or calcium carbonate would likely work - so would talc, mica. I don’t know how well these would suspend though. Have you considered silica?

Im not sure these opacifiers will go far though. Especially considering the fluid nature of the product - you wouldn’t want too much. 

Is there a reason for preserving the intense chroma? A tint might be what you need considering the color range most use in airbrush (assuming you’re not aiming for vibrant face/body paint).

Finally, a current ingredients list would help us better assist, as we don’t know what you’re already using and compatibility, etc. 

Herbnerd

I was looking for a non-TiO2 opacifier recently. Talking with a colour chemist ultimately I was told we can reduce the TiO2 but it cannot be replaces easily. Kaolin nor calcium carbonate will do what we require of it.

Undine

Herbnerd said:

I was looking for a non-TiO2 opacifier recently. Talking with a colour chemist ultimately I was told we can reduce the TiO2 but it cannot be replaces easily. Kaolin nor calcium carbonate will do what we require of it.

Ah thats too bad, let me know if you find anything! 

Undine

Sponge said:

Kaolin or calcium carbonate would likely work - so would talc, mica. I don’t know how well these would suspend though. Have you considered silica?

Im not sure these opacifiers will go far though. Especially considering the fluid nature of the product - you wouldn’t want too much. 

Is there a reason for preserving the intense chroma? A tint might be what you need considering the color range most use in airbrush (assuming you’re not aiming for vibrant face/body paint).

Finally, a current ingredients list would help us better assist, as we don’t know what you’re already using and compatibility, etc. 

It will be for a body paint with my main market being cosplay/special effects artists, so the paint has to have good coverage without being noticibly tinted by Ti02. It will be carried in a silicone in alcohol base, and the colorants are common mineral and FD&C lake pigments so I dont anticipate any combatibility issues. 

I will try the talc and silica, I only have fumed silica lying around the studio which wont work. Is there particular grade or particle size you would recommend? 

Thanks for the help! 

Sponge

Oh I’m not sure about grade/particle size, someone else would probably be better help with that. I’d start with Aerosil for information though as I’ve seen a few helpful PDFs that go over these topics. Aerosil has also been recommended quite a few times on these forums as a good supplier for silica.