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Zinc Stearate vs Magnesium Stearate
I am new to this forum and I’m a hobbyist. I have a fondness for powder eyeshadows, specifically matte, multichrome, and sparkly eyeshadows. For a while, I’ve been trying to understand the difference between zinc stearate and magnesium stearate in eyeshadow ingredients. I have been collecting eyeshadow palettes for years and have noticed that my favorite eyeshadow formulas typically contain zinc stearate instead of magnesium stearate. I have also observed that many of the formulas with magnesium stearate tend to feel and apply like lower-quality eyeshadows. I would like to know what the differences are between these two ingredients in eyeshadow formulations. I have considered creating eyeshadows and may do so in the future.
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2 Replies
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@iEngineerG Both of these metal stearates are often used to thicken oil mixtures, why we call them “oil soaps” sometimes. In pressed powders I believe their function is to act as binders, keeping those powders together. The sensorial aspect you perceive may be related to other components in the formulations but is still worthy of further discussion. If I knew more about color cosmetics I would start a thread here but that is one of my weak spots. #colorcosmetics
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Ok I can help a bit here.
I personally like working more with Zinc Stearate because of the way it feels, depending on the amount you use it might give you a grainy feel in the formulation but as long as you keep it under 5% you should be fine.
Magnesium Stearate feels a bit rough in my opinion, so I don’t really like it, and since you are working on powder eyeshadows, that’s a nope for your eyelids.
Follow your gut, keep the formulations for powder eyeshadows at 20-25% pigments, about 5% dry binder, q.s in the wet binder since it depends whether you have surface treatments or not, make sure to have some sensory powders (about 5% max of Lauroyl Lysine or Boron Nitride or Silica)and the rest in fillers (Sericite/Mica)
Also, make sure you sieve your prototype before you press it.
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