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Help! Help! How to Use Color Cosmetics
Lately, I’ve been formulating a shampoo for a client, and I’ve finished the base part. The thing is, she wants the shampoo to be available in six different colors using FDA-approved colorants. I investigated and checked the FDA list of approved colorants for cosmetics (making sure they are safe for use around the eyes), and I found that only these colors are allowed:
- Blue 1
- Red 40
- Yellow 5
- Green 5
On previous products I have worked on, I haven’t had to use FDA-approved colorants specifically, but this time I do, as per my client’s request.
Here are my problems/questions:
The first thing is that, since I have never worked with primary colors before, do you have any tips or formulas you can share to achieve these colors?
- Pink
- Blue
- Green
- Orange
- Yellow
- Purple
The second thing is that my shampoo base is quite yellow, so I need to neutralize it with a purple color first (I know you can make purple by mixing blue and red) to create a more ‘white base’ for the final product. However, when adding the colors, should I add the blue first and then the red? Or should I mix them together first and then add them as one? Does the order of addition affect the final result? These questions also apply to all the other color combinations i need after neutralizing the shampoo base.
I’m asking these questions based on previous experience where I needed to neutralize yellow with purple. Adding the purple first successfully neutralized the color rather than mixing it with the actual color of the product. Since I’ll be making the color mixtures myself this time, I was wondering if the same thing would happen or not.
say for example:
- Purple first (= successfully neutralized yellow)
- Then the actual color of the product (let’s say green)
or
- Purple + green (does it successfully neutralized yellow ?)
The thing is that i need to take into the account that the green is gonna be a blend of the primary colors. Wich method should i follow?
I’m begging for help! I’ve never done this before, and I would really appreciate any advice/material/links/books you can recommend/give me!
Thank you in advance !
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This discussion was modified 1 month ago by
natasha.acendra.
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11 Replies
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Theres a painting color tutorial on youtube that goes over color science. It was helpful for me when I was making skin color.
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Hi! Do you happen to have the link? i looked at some but if yours was more cosmetic focused it might help me more.
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No I wasn’t able to find cosmetic tutorials. It was extremely hard for me to learn color science on my own. So I had to teach myself and experiment. I found some on makeup but it wouldn’t help much for hair. However, the science would be valuable. Maybe you could look for a patent for a shampoo with color? There are purple shampoos for grey hair, blonde shampoos, etc…
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Hi,
A few things come to mind:
1. Color cosmetics is a term used for decorative cosmetics;
2. Experimenting with the shampoo base and the colours on hand, will give you the answers you’re looking for; nobody can guess how they will behave in your formula, and less so, what %s will give you the desired colours; manufacturer’s guidance could be a good starting point;
Side note: as a customer, I would expect that the colour is added to visually differentiate the shampoos based on hair-concerns, but if too many options are presented (three seems resonable), I would go for something that I already know and trust.
Best of luck in your experiments.
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To mask the yellowish color of fragrances and so forth you can use violet #1 soln at 0.1%.
You need to make 1%-3% solution of each of your colors and start adding the colors (drop by drop) into your shampoo and weigh the amounts.
Make sure your surfactants are lite yellow or clear before using. You can try the violet soln. If your shampoo stays yellowish you will have to account for it in the color solutions. meaning it could have effect on your color. It is a process not an exact science. Study the color wheel to know what colors neutralize others. Youtube has lots of videos on color theory.
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This reply was modified 1 month ago by JellyFishKarma.
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Hi! Thank you very much for taking the time to asnwer.
I will make de violet solution, to try and neutralize de color as much as i can. And i will definetely look up some more color theory videos on youtube!
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This reply was modified 1 month ago by
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Hi! Aniela
Thank you for letting me know the correct use of the term! English isn’t my first language and i’m just getting into making products with color so i appreciate it! I am aware that only I can conduct the experiments. I just wanted some starting points on formulas that someone might have already stumbled upon and thought were a nice color 🙂 I also think they ask for too many colors, but that’s what my client wanted 😩
Thanks for taking the time answering!
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Hi Natasha,
No worries, English is not my first language either.
Wishing you best of luck😃
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Hi Natasha,
You say you’ve “checked the FDA list of approved colorants for cosmetics (making sure they are safe for use around the eyes), and I found that only these colors are allowed: Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5, Green 5″.
As I understand, you’re making a shampoo, therefore the restrictions for “Eye Area” definitely don’t apply for shampoos, they are in place only for products applied in the eye area. So, you have access to more colours than you thought, and this should/might make your task easier. I’m not in US, but I’m pretty sure you should only look at the “External Use” column.
PS- there are quite a few specialists on this forum with a vast knowledge in shampoos, but because you said “color-cosmetics” aka make-up, none of them has chimed in; I suggest you post again your question, under a title containing the word “shampoo”, and for more help, also share the results of your experiments to date.
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Hi Aniela!
You are so nice, I can’t believe you’re still helping me! I’m not in the US either, but my client is planning to sell the shampoo there, so I needed to look into FDA-approved colorants. Since it’s my first time researching FDA-approved ingredients, it was quite confusing to figure out which ones are approved and which aren’t. So here’s my train of thought: when you rinse out your shampoo, the product can possibly come into contact with your eyes (as it runs down your face), and I classified that as contact with the ‘eye area.’ That’s why I avoided certain ingredients. But yeah, I think you’re totally right, I might be making a simple task way more complicated than it needs to be. I am going to follow your suggestion and make another post with my new findings.
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Second time is a charm😉
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