CP Coloring Calamity

[Wendy90292]

Hi all,

I made a batch of CP yesterday from a very familiar recipe I've used many times, but we moved so it was created in a different climate now. I don't know if that's why, but I created a huge ugly batch. Why did this happen?

The recipe (from Wellness Mama for "Rose Soap" - which is the recipe that started me on soaping in 2018!) calls for 1-2 t. of Rose Kaolin powder. I always pour into a set of rose shaped silicone molds. Since I've never really liked the color, I experimented this time with just 1 t. of Rose Kaolin (for slip) and...2 TABLESPOONS of shiny pink mica from Brambleberry, which created a beautiful rose color to mix in. So I did.

And I got...weird-colored sickly beige bars. Really ugly. I had diluted the kaolin + mica in the oils from the recipe - something I've never done before, but the resulting color was lovely; and I used a 10% water discount, something else I've never done before, but the bars always disintegrate within a week, which is annoying, even though I always use sodium lactate.

Any experience with this kind of discoloration? Which element(s) do you think affected my color?

Thanks in advance. I'm a hobbyist, I don't resell my bars. I give them away, but these are so ugly I don't even want to use them!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Colour can do weird things sometimes - no rhyme or reason for it half the time.
How about, while your soap is still fresh, getting out a little more of the pink mica and adding a touch of long-shelf-life oil and 'painting' the tips of your rose soaps to make them prettier? Leave it for a few days and it should absorb in. We can't have you not using them!

 

[earlene]

I cannot find a BB 'Shiny Pink' mica on the website, so not sure if it's out of stock or discontinued or renamed. The reason I looked was to see if I could determine if you bought mica rated for lye stability or if it was for another use (like bath bombs or lip stick, etc.)

Do you know for sure it was lye-stable mica and what did the BB site show for sample color in soap?

As for how the color faded to beige when it started out a lovely pink, could indicate that you did not add enough mica, or that this mica morphs in the presence of lye, but it could also indicate the color might not be lye stable, particularly if it fades away completely (I have had that happen when using mica not lye-stable). Mixing the clay with the mica, can also mute the color, so perhaps mixing them together was what caused it to fade to beige. Even with lye-stable colorants, the color intensity in pre-mixed oil is not necessarily the intensity in the final formula because it becomes diluted by a larger amount of soap batter.

Also, did you use a fragrance of any kind? If so, what was it? Some fragrances can discolor soap as well.

 

[Wendy90292]

Colour can do weird things sometimes - no rhyme or reason for it half the time.
How about, while your soap is still fresh, getting out a little more of the pink mica and adding a touch of long-shelf-life oil and 'painting' the tips of your rose soaps to make them prettier? Leave it for a few days and it should absorb in. We can't have you not using them!

Great idea! Thanks a bunch.

I cannot find a BB 'Shiny Pink' mica on the website, so not sure if it's out of stock or discontinued or renamed. The reason I looked was to see if I could determine if you bought mica rated for lye stability or if it was for another use (like bath bombs or lip stick, etc.)

Do you know for sure it was lye-stable mica and what did the BB site show for sample color in soap?

As for how the color faded to beige when it started out a lovely pink, could indicate that you did not add enough mica, or that this mica morphs in the presence of lye, but it could also indicate the color might not be lye stable, particularly if it fades away completely (I have had that happen when using mica not lye-stable). Mixing the clay with the mica, can also mute the color, so perhaps mixing them together was what caused it to fade to beige. Even with lye-stable colorants, the color intensity in pre-mixed oil is not necessarily the intensity in the final formula because it becomes diluted by a larger amount of soap batter.

Also, did you use a fragrance of any kind? If so, what was it? Some fragrances can discolor soap as well.

Thanks Earlene,

Of course there's no "shiny pink" - they would never use such a generic name! I was describing it, not using its name. But yeah, I've used it before and it works fine. HOWEVER...you are likely to be right. I used the last of an older bottle of Passion Rose fragrance from Camden Grey that smelled nice but that I don't recall ever using in soap before. You may have picked up the culprit!

Thanks so much for your time helping me with this!