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Foundation Color Formula Reference ?
Greeting all. I’m new here. Had a look on the forums but didn’t find anything.
QUESTION: is there a source of starting points for foundation color formulas?thanks! -
14 Replies
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Good question but what kind of are you looking for????? W/O or O/W type????
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This is my best attempt to collect sources for free cosmetic formulas.
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They are usually made up of red, black, white and yellow iron oxides. I would recommend pre-dispersed coated pigments rather than trying to mill yourself but even with that colour matching can be a pain. We don’t do colour matching in our factory but luckily managed to find a preblended dispersion which made making BB and CC creams much easier - it’s called Creasperse from The Innovation Company.
Some links below if you wanted to create your own foundation:-
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I meant above to refer to these pre-blended examples: Creasperse Light Fair Beige CP208 or Creasperse AF Medium Date Brown CP209 - saves you adding red, black, white and yellow.
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Hi guys and Gals, thanks for getting back to me. Right now the medium has yet to be decided, may end up with a variety. I’m looking more for starting points for ‘standard’ shades - beige, olive, tan, honey, cocoa. Yeah, I know the building blocks are white, black, red oxide, yellow oxide, chromium green, etc. Having a ballpark balance of these pigments for different shade families sure would help save a lot of R&D time. LOL. the Jane Hollenbeg link doesn’t work for me, unless one has to have access to the link. the paper at http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:442919/FULLTEXT01.pdf was somewhat helpful, but without color photo representations of all the formulas, the numbers are of little help without taking the time to make each up. Thanks for your help! best, Tom
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Generally speaking, formula’s for shades are considered extremely proprietary information.
Additionally, there’s little to no incentive for pigment or pearl manufacturers to develop different shade formulas for their customers - multiple shades will not increase their sales.Lastly, pigments are tricky - they react differently depending on supplier, concentration, % titanium in formula, etc. Lot to lot variations are also common.As far as I know, other than using pre-blended pigment mixes, you have no choice but to make the shades yourself. BUT…this is not a bad thing. Working with pigments in your base to make all these shades will give you a much better grasp of how pigments behave in your particular base, and how to correct for the inevitable variations in processing and shade that you will encounter during production.I have found that making monochromatic batches - using just one pigment - speeds up color matching and shade development by a lot - it is much faster and easier than making dry blends each time. -
@Bobzchemist But thats the fun Robert, trials upon trials to get that shade and when the computer shows a green dot close to the center of the circle, that feeling of elation and accomplishment is worth the effort.
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@milliachemist, you use a computer for shade matching?!? Sacrilege! Blasphemy!
(also, very expensive) -
@ Bobzchemist I was when I started my career as prototype shades were fed in the master computer and the shade matching of course was visual and manual. The computer won’t write formulas for you as we know, it just indicated a trend of the shade. Additionally, the computer just made it look more trustworthy and provided a sense of accuracy, before the samples could be dispatched for customer approval. As for the cost, well the company could afford it and so had it.
But very old story now, not into color cosmetics and shade matching anymore. Fell for personal care and never looked back.
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@ Bobzchemist And thanks for making me feel absolutely guilty for something I did long back
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@Zink I’m glad you found my original suggestion in this post
https://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk/discussion/460/formulating-a-concealer-pt-2-using-a-rock-tumbler-and-ensuring-optimal-powder-oil-mixing-advice/p1of using Creasperse useful -https://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk/discussion/800/pre-mixed-iron-oxide-blends-for-simplified-stick-concealer-formulation-e-g-creasperse#Item_1 It is unfortunate, however, that it has a fairly high MOQ. Your only option might be to make your own blend. I posted a few links in my comments above which might help. Also hiring an oil paint/acrylic paint trained artist who can help teach you color theory may prove useful. -
Eventually the color shade matching lies in the eye of the beholder
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Thanks @Makingskincare will look into those links. My current formula using Creasperse is not so far off, so might go with a MOQ order if I can get away with using only one of their blends (the darker one). for at least a couple of different shades.
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