• Formulating

  How much colour to use?

  Posted by natzam44 on January 20, 2021 at 9:54 pm

  Hello,

  So despite the fact that I have been doing cosmetic chemistry as a hobby for nearly five years now, I have never added colour to my products. Now that I have purchased some, how much should I add? I have seen certain sample formulas use 2% pigment but I find that oddly high.

  Thanks,
  Nathaniel

  Eliana replied 10 months ago 5 Members · 5 Replies

  • color
  • cosmetics
  • formula help
  • formulating
• 5 Replies

• 

  Cafe33

  Member

  January 20, 2021 at 10:10 pm

  It depends completely on the nature of the color. As far as pigments, to give you a rough benchmark, 0.1% can be quite strong.

  Then you have some colors that require a tiny amount like RED 33 and Green 8. I manufacture a pink colored spray and I dissolve 0.05g of RED 33 in a 99.95g of water and use 0.22% of this solution and it creates a vibrant pink color.  

  So to provide a rough range - 0.02 - 0.20 %

• 

  OldPerry

  Member

  January 20, 2021 at 10:26 pm

  Yes, it depends on the formula.  2% is definitely very high unless you’re making color cosmetics.

• 

  natzam44

  Member

  January 20, 2021 at 10:37 pm

  @Cafe33 @Perry Thanks! When I read 2% my spidey sense went off. I’m glad I checked.

• 

  jenniehunt

  Member

  January 21, 2021 at 2:14 pm

  That’s amazing @Cafe33

• 

  Eliana

  Member

  June 25, 2023 at 2:32 pm

  I was wondering if anyone could guide me on how to colour match a
  personal care product to another, or to a particular pantone colour.
  i.e. a green shampoo in this case.

  For example pantone 2251C:
  approx. %
  31% Blue 1
  12% Yellow 5
  57% White

  I have access to diluted dyes (at 1% for Blue 1, and 0.5% for yellow
  5), and opacifier for the white.

  How much of each colour in grams do I add in a 100g product? Surely
  31g of Blue and 57g of White is far too much, and will also dilute the
  product?

  I am definitely missing something here! Please help! 🙂

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