Soap Making Products: Colored Mica & Powder Pigment Soap Colors

Mica Pearlescent Powder

What is Mica?

Mica is the name of a group of naturally occurring Earth's minerals which are mined from around the world, purified, and crushed into fine powders. Our cosmetic grade mica is a FDA approved and used to add pearlescent sheen, metallic shimmer, or iridescence to CP and HP soaps as well as lip products, bath & body products, eye cosmetics and more. These powders are derived from the mineral Muscovite Mica which grows in a layers and is ground to create these pearly translucent powders. Mica has a high reflective quality and is prized for its shimmery, pearlescent sheen. For this reason, it works best in products where it can get a lot of light, such as transparent soap.

Mica particles will only suspend themselves in a thick base such as a shower gel, or a soap base that is starting to cool. If the base is too thin, the mica particles will sink to the bottom of the product.

All of these mica powders are cosmetic grade; safe for eyes, nails, and face cosmetics as well as soap. Not recommended for use in melt and pour soaps.

Dry Brush Painting Technique Using Mica Powder

Dry Brush Soap Painting with Mica Powder

You can create elegant, beautifully colored soaps using a dry brush painting technique. We recommend professional sable art brushes in fan, round, and liner sizes. Cosmetic brushes (such a blush and eye shadow brushes) also work well.

Before painting unmolded soaps, practice some brush strokes on a few scraps of soap cubes. Use both white and clear melt & pour soap base to get a feel for the effects of the dry brush application.

When ready, place the unmolded soap on a paper towel sheet. A flat working surface is essential as well as a few extra sheets of paper toweling (for removing excess mica particles from the brush between colors). Determine the various size brush tips needed for the project. Use a smaller tipped brush for more intricate areas. And a wider brush for the larger areas. Dip the dry brush into the mica powder. Placing the mica powder in a zip lock plastic bag makes this process easier. Carefully apply the mica particles to the area you wish to color. Dabbing the powder onto the soap often works better than "stroking", particular when working with small areas. Once color is applied to a given area, gently blow on the soap to remove excess mica particles. Adding multiple layers of mica will intensify the color tone of many colors. Just be sure to apply the mica evenly in all areas.

Continue coloring each area of the soap with mica colors until the desired effect is reached. You may also blend mica colors. For example, you can apply a layer of pearl pink mica and apply a layer of pearl blue mica on top of the pearl pink. Have fun experimenting!

Do not use water to clean brush between color changes. Instead, wipe the brush tip repeatedly on a clean sheet of paper towel to remove particles.

Clean brushes with soapy water and allow to air dry once painting project is complete.

Watch the instructional video on how to stencil on soap using mica powder.

All of these mica powders are cosmetic grade; safe for eyes, nails, and face cosmetics as well as soap. Not recommended for use in melt and pour soaps as the powder tends to speckle when mixing with soap base. Speckling is flecks or clumps of color that will not dissolve into the soap base and no amount of stirring will help. We suggest liquid gel colors for melt and pour. We offer a large selection of liquid gel colors.