Because the calcination step creates a harder, more angular particle that interlocks under pressure instead of sliding past its neighbours.
Soft platy fillers such as talc and mica slide, which is what gives slip but also what lets a compact crumble. Calcined kaolin particles key into each other and hold the structure. In a talc-reduced compact, that is often the reason the formula still presses at all.
The practical limit is feel: above roughly 15% the compact starts to feel dry and chalky on application.
Yes. Every lot is tested for asbestos and the result is reported on the COA, which is the document a customer questionnaire is actually asking for.
The test is by a recognised method on the incoming ore and on the finished powder, because the risk in talc comes from the ore body rather than from processing. We source from ore bodies that are characterised for amphibole and serpentine content, and we do not blend across sources.
If your market requires a specific declaration format or a third-party certificate, tell us at enquiry — the wording and the laboratory differ by destination, and it is better to fix that before the order than after.
Coarser platelets give more sparkle and more visible shimmer; finer ones give a softer sheen and more coverage.
On a 6 to 20 µm ladder, 20 µm (Kingcovite 71) gives the most pronounced pearlescent effect and the easiest spreading, but it also shows the individual platelets on the skin at close range. 10 µm (75, 25) is the balance point. 6 µm (74) and 5 µm (5501) give a soft, almost matte sheen with better coverage and better adhesion.
In an eyeshadow, the size choice is really a decision about whether you want visible shimmer or a smooth wash of colour.
Partly, and not one-for-one. Replacing 20–50% of the talc is usually workable in pressed and loose powders; full replacement is not.
The slip and skin feel are better than talc and the platy structure is similar, so the texture translates well in that range. Three things stop you going further. Oil absorption is different — talc absorbs in the 40–81 range while boron nitride absorbs very little, so oil control drops if you swap everything. Cost per kilo is several times higher. And compact strength depends on the talc fraction, so a full swap needs a binder or pressing review.
In practice, pair the substitution with a higher oil-absorbing filler rather than replacing talc with boron nitride alone.
The PC series — PC20 (20 µm), PC100 (100 µm), PC150 (150 µm) and PC200 (200 µm), at oil absorption 100–130.
For scrubs the particle size sets the sensation: 100–200 µm reads as a clearly perceptible scrub, while 20 µm is closer to a polishing feel and is easier to keep in suspension in a surfactant base. K15 at 150 µm and oil absorption 300 is used where you want the same size with much higher oil uptake, for example in a cleansing balm.
These are the same chemistry as the cosmetic grades, so from a documentation point of view there is no separate category to qualify.
Foundation usually lands at 5–12%, pressed powder at 3–8%, and sunscreen at whatever the SPF target dictates — often 3–8% for a moderate SPF in combination with an organic filter, higher for mineral-only systems.
The ceiling in base makeup is rarely about coverage and more about texture: above roughly 12% you start to feel dryness and the product drags during application. If you need more hiding power past that point, adding a soft-focus filler usually works better than adding more TiO2.
In mineral-only sunscreen, loading is driven by the required SPF and the film thickness you can actually achieve, not by the powder's own properties.
5–15% is the usual band. Below 5% you mostly get a mattifying effect with little structural contribution; above 15% the dryness becomes the dominant sensation.
At 8–12% you get both the oil absorption and a measurable improvement in press hardness without the formula reading as powdery. That is the band most oil-control pressed powders are built in.
In a loose powder the ceiling is higher because there is no press strength requirement — 20% is workable if the feel still reads smooth.
The direction is toward tighter documentation and, in some markets, restricted use in specific product types. The practical response is to keep a documented substitution path rather than to wait.
Two things are worth doing now. First, make sure your talc supplier can produce a lot-level asbestos test and a heavy-metal statement on demand — that is the common denominator across markets. Second, qualify a talc-free version of your main formulas while there is no pressure to ship it, because reformulating under a deadline is where quality slips.
Our BVL-compliant series exists for the markets that apply stricter heavy-metal limits; the mica range includes talc-replacement grades if you want to take the second step.
It can carry the structure, but not the oil control.
Mica is platy like talc and presses well, and its lower bulk density means you use less by weight for the same volume. What it does not do is absorb oil — it is a surface, not a sponge. A talc-free compact built on mica alone tends to look shiny within a couple of hours.
The workable formula pairs mica with calcined kaolin or a porous silica for the oil absorption, and keeps the mica fraction high enough that the slip and press strength survive.
It is the fraction of boron that can leach out of the powder, and it is what market-specific questionnaires ask about — not the total boron content.
Boron nitride itself is chemically inert. Residual soluble borate comes from the manufacturing route, so it is controlled by grade rather than by the customer's formula. That is the whole reason the range is split into 7000 / 9000 / 3000 instead of being one series with different particle sizes.
When a customer sends a regulatory questionnaire, the answer comes from the batch COA, which reports the figure for that lot. Ask for the COA of the lot you are buying, not a generic series datasheet.
Not necessarily. It means the powder takes up more oil in a beaker, which is a formulation property and only an indicator of what happens on skin.
On skin, oil control depends on how much powder is actually on the surface, how well it stays there, and whether the formula lets sebum reach it. A very high-absorption grade at low loading can control less oil than a mid grade at higher loading. It can also make the film feel tight, which users often read as dryness rather than control.
Use oil absorption as a starting filter and confirm the real effect in a wear test. That is also why the same oil-control brief can be met by several different grades.
It is non-nano. The rutile grades are specified at 210–420 nm mean particle size and the anatase grades at 200–220 nm, all well above the 100 nm threshold used in most nano definitions.
For a customer questionnaire, the usual package is: the particle size distribution from the batch COA, a statement that the primary particle size is above 100 nm, and the SDS. Where a market has its own definition and its own notification route, the wording has to follow that definition rather than a generic one, so tell us the destination market and we will align the statement to it.
Up to a point, then it plateaus and starts to cost you comfort.
Oil absorption rises with loading, but once the powder is saturated the excess oil simply sits on top of the film, and the dry feel of a heavily loaded formula makes the wear experience worse even though the measured shine is lower. The useful range is where the powder is still able to take up oil — typically up to 12–15%.
If oil control is still short at that level, the answer is usually a different mechanism (a porous silica, a film former) rather than more kaolin.
It is the same talc held to the German BVL heavy-metal limits, which are stricter than the general cosmetic specification and are used as a reference by a number of European customers.
You need it if a customer's questionnaire names BVL, or if you are supplying into a market that references German practice. You do not need it for a formula sold where the general cosmetic specification applies — the particle size and the feel are identical, and the price is higher.
The two grades in that series are LS-6005 at 5 µm and LS-6008 at 8 µm.
Because it is grown from a controlled melt rather than mined, so it has none of the iron and other trace colourants that tint a natural mineral.
Natural mica's colour varies by ore body, which is why a natural mica needs a whiteness window and a lot-level check. Synthetic material starts white and stays white, and its platelet size distribution is tighter because it is classified after synthesis rather than ground from an ore.
For a white or pastel shade, that difference is worth paying for. For a deep shade it is invisible.
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