coloring

[Robertal]

I'm having alot of problem with this. I have a liquid colorant thats about 2 or more years old. It does good in some things but like bath salts, milk baths it does not work well. What kind do I suppose to use and where to buy. Also what kind to use in lip balm & gloss. Oh I forgot I have cake coloring can I use that in my balms and gloss

Thanks

[Robertal]

Can someone anwser this for me.

Thanks

[BLSoaps]

Hi Roberta!

I'm going to try to answer this to the best of my knowledge with the information you've given me.

When you say liquid colorants, I'm assuming that it's water based, and most likely an FD&C or D&C colorant, or a blend of these colorants. The age shouldn't affect it. It's pretty much an inert product, and if it goes bad, I've never heard of it, and it would certainly take more than 2 years to do so.

As for bath salts and milk baths.... they just don't take certain liquid colorants well. I can get gorgeous pink, yellow, & green bath salts, but I can't get a purple. I try to mix red & blue to get purple (thinking kindergarten here!), but it doesn't work. Why? Not sure exactly, but that's always been my experience with the current FD&C/D&C colorants that I own.

As for milk baths more specifically, I don't color mine. One, adding any kind of liquid can risk reactivating the milk powder, which will sour the milk bath (nasty), two, the colors just never work right. Not a good medium for it. If you REALLY want to color the milk baths, try something dry, like micas. See how that works for you. I just like to dress it up in really nice packaging with a great label, and leave it plain. Seeing a purple milk bath...might turn people off. It sounds weird to me, and I love coloring toiletries.

If you're looking for some good FD&C and D&C colorants, send me a PM.

As I'm sure you either know or have figured out, water based colorants do not work in oil based products. MMS has some liquid oil based colorants. I found they worked well, but consistency was a major issue. They're strong enough that they recommended dipping a toothpick into the colorant tub, then using that to color the batch of whatever you were making, and repeat if needed. Yeah, that's not accurate enough in my opinion. But then I've got accounts that want and demand a consistent product every time they get it. Go figure! I'd be the same way!

I switched to using the Lip Balm Colorants from Pine Meadows. They're tiny wax pieces, probably a lot like color chips for coloring candles (I don't make candles, so I'm not sure exactly on this! LOL!). They work wonderfully. They're very strong. But unless you have a microscale that can measure parts of a gram, you'd have to use full packets as your measuring guide. They sell them in half gram baggies. Which if you're trying to color a lip balm batch enough to be a lip tint, it's not very much. But if you're coloring a batch of balm (like a lotion stick), and it needs to be very light (no tinting skin or risk of coloring clothing if it brushes the skin before it absorbs), then you're going to need to make larger batches of balm. It's workable without a microscale, but it might still be a good idea to get one. As soon as I got mine (after 3 years of making stuff with a scale that just did 10ths of an ounce or single grams), I couldn't believe how much I use it. I got mine from Jenn at LotionCrafter. the JS-50X, and it was less than $30 I believe. Totally worth it!

As for using cake colorants, I'm assuming (I hate assuming! ) that you're talking about using Wilton Icing Paste. I'm going to tell you about using them, and then tell you what I think of them. I know many will disagree, but it's really for you to decide in the end. I just want you to get all sides of the issue on using these.

You should be able to use the Wilton Icing in bath salts (and probably milk baths, as long as you're mixing it into something besides the milk powder). I don't believe they'll work in the oil based products. I'm trying to remember what they're dispensed in, but it's been ages since I looked at them. I'm sure someone would be able to share.

Now these colorants are strong and produce some of the most amazing colors in bath salts and bath bombs that I've ever seen.

My problem with them is that they were not intended for use in cosmetic products. Most of the pastes are safe to use as colorants, but you will need to check each and every color separately. FD&C stands for Food Drug & Cosmetic approved colorant. The "C" portion is what's important for us to watch for. So those D&C (no F) colorants could not be used in coloring any food product, but can still be used in most of our products (the exception being lip balms, because anything in them needs to be edible).

So you'll need to read the ingredient label on each of the Wilton's colorants, and make sure that the combo of colorants THEY list each have that "C". If they do, you can use it. But keep in mind that they have other ingredients in there besides the colorants, and you need to list each and every ingredient on your own label.

I hope this helped!

[Robertal]

Thank you very much