Are Rolio mica powders safe for CP soap?

[LynetteO]

I have some AMAZING friends & received lots of soap supplies for my birthday .
Today I received Rolio pigments/mica powder. The box claims to be safe for soap making but that doesn’t mean CP soap. I’m sure they are safe for “painting” soap tops but was wondering if anyone has tried them in CP soap?

I found one Amazon review that said the purples turned grey in CP soap. Makes me think the “soap making” reference on the box is for melt & pour.

 

[AliOop]

I haven't tried them, but if they don't say that they are safe for CP soap, they probably aren't.

You could always do a small test batch with a few of the colors, just to see.

 

[earlene]

In my experience even Lye stable micas when used in minuscule amounts, will not perform well color-wise. In other words, perhaps the purple turned grey because not enough was added to the CP soap to produce the desired shade of purple. But of course, when micas are not lye-stable, they sometimes do not color the soap at all. I have had that happen when I was new and tried some eye shadow in soap - I ended up with colorless swirls. Not all cosmetic micas (in eye shadow, etc.) are going to do that, but it certainly was disappointing.

How much of this mica do you have? If it's only sample sizes, it won't be a huge loss if you do some small batches for testing.

But you could also do a CP soap with a colored MP drizzle on tip to make it look super shiny and use up the micas that way if you find they are not lye stable.

 

[LynetteO]

@earlene It’s a mica set with oodles of colors. Each in its own small container with lid. The box containing the mica seems to only have the TOTAL amount which is 8oz. I love making Zany’s No Slime Castile & have quite a few plain white soaps. I’ve been using this new mica to color the soap tops as you mentioned. Looks lovely & a little goes a loooong way. This is the 1st group I colored with them.

 

[earlene]

I love the painted soap. It's really fun to do and no worries about it fading in the process. And you can get really creative with oodles of colors, too. Of course if you make soap in loaf molds, the painting plan has to change. BUT, if you use stamps or impression mats, your mica painting can really bring out the detail there as well.

As to determining if they are at all lye stable or stable pH 8 and above, perhaps you can contact the company either via their website or via their Instagram account. Although I do not see a contact us option on the website & do not see any photos of soap on their Instagram. They do answer questions on Amazon (not very well, though), and some reviewers do say the colors totally disappear in their CP soap, so I would just stick to surface painting, unless you want to do a little mixed media soaps. Perhaps a CP soap with colored MP glaze, for example.

According and answered question on Amazon, in the 24 jar set, each jar contains10 grams in each,, which adds up to 8.4 ounces, so that's probably what you have. I don't know offhand how much a teaspoon of mica weighs (some are heavier than others), but I'd say you could probably use one color in a cup of batter and do a simple swirl to test if it is pH stable. I probably would not bother, simply because I tend to believe the reviewers who post negatively about how it performs in CP soap.

BUT, are you interested in making nail polish? Or resin projects? The photos of the resin coasters and nail polish are absolutely gorgeous. I used to love to paint my nails and spent tons on nail polish over the years.