Oil-based Slurry FAQ

Slurry if you are under roughly 200 kg per batch or you do not have a bead mill; dry pigment if you are large enough to amortise the equipment and the cleaning.

The slurry saves you the milling step, the dust, and the batch-to-batch variation that comes from inconsistent milling. The trade-off is that you are committed to the carrier and the pigment content the supplier chose, and you pay for the carrier weight. Above a certain volume, milling your own becomes cheaper per kilo of colour.

The other consideration is colour control: with a slurry, the colour of the batch is set before it reaches you, which is a real advantage in a shade-critical product.

Choose by the pigment, not by a preference for higher concentration.

High loadings are achievable with dense, well-behaved pigments: TiO2 at 73% (867W), black iron oxide at 70% (926B), and the treated versions at 65%. Organic lakes sit lower — 40% for Red 7 (190R), 50–55% for most of the Red series — because a lake's low density and high oil demand make a higher loading unpourable.

So the number tells you what is inside, not how good the product is. A 40% lake slurry and a 73% TiO2 slurry are both fully dispersed; they are simply different pigments.

It makes the pigment surface lipophilic so the dispersion stays stable in the oil phase and the film wears longer.

DSG — disodium stearoyl glutamate — is a surface treatment applied to the pigment before dispersion. In practice it reduces viscosity at the same pigment load, improves the water resistance of the finished film, and makes the slurry easier to incorporate into a W/O or anhydrous base. The treated versions carry a lower pigment content (50–65% instead of 60–73%) because the treatment adds weight.

Use it when the finished product needs wear or water resistance. Skip it when it does not — you are paying for a treatment you will not see.

It is a set of four dispersions built for transfer-resistant foundations, where the film has to stay put on oily skin for a full day.

The four grades are TiO2 (869W, 60%), red iron oxide (116R, 55%), yellow iron oxide (340Y, 50%) and black iron oxide (920B, 50%) — that is, a complete foundation shade-building set. They are treated for compatibility with the film formers used in long-wear systems, so the pigment does not migrate into the oil phase and destabilise the film.

Using all four from the same series keeps the treatment consistent across the shade, which is what stops a deep shade from wearing differently from a light one.

Yes, for a production quantity. The standard carrier is chosen because it is a good general-purpose emollient with a dry feel and wide compatibility.

Common alternatives are caprylic/capric triglyceride for a richer feel, C12-15 alkyl benzoate for a lighter one, and dimethicone for a silicone-continuous system. The pigment content has to be re-optimised for each carrier, and the MOQ for a custom carrier is typically 100–200 kg.

If your formula is already fixed, check the carrier against your emollient system before ordering — swapping carriers changes the skin feel more than the colour.

As the pigment plus the carrier plus the treatment, which means the CI number alone is not the whole declaration.

On an INCI list, the dispersion appears as the pigment's CI number together with the carrier and the treatment agent, not as a single trade name. That matters for labelling and for any permitted-list check, because the carrier is an ingredient in its own right and has to be permitted and declared separately.

We supply an INCI breakdown with each grade for that reason. If your regulatory team works from CI numbers only, give them the full breakdown as well — the carrier is where the surprises are.

Settling is normal for a high-loading dispersion; hard caking is not, and the difference is usually storage temperature and time.

A soft sediment that redisperses with a paddle is expected and harmless. A hard cake that needs a mill means the dispersion has been stored too warm or too long, or has been through a freeze-thaw cycle. Store between 15 and 30 °C, out of direct light, and use within the shelf life on the COA.

Before use, roll or stir the container rather than pouring off the top — the top layer is carrier-rich and the bottom is pigment-rich, so pouring without mixing gives you the wrong colour.

MOQ is 5 kg for a stock grade and 25 kg for a production quantity; a custom carrier is 100–200 kg. Shelf life is typically 24 months from production in an unopened container.

Lead time is 7–15 working days for stock, longer for custom. Samples are 1 kg.

Because the carrier is an oil, shelf life is affected by storage more than by the pigment. Keep it closed, keep it cool, and record the lot on your batch record so a colour issue can be traced back.