Foundation, lipstick, night cream, facial mask, eyeshadow, sunscreen… Behind the impeccable makeup of a beautifully groomed woman lie numerous inorganic powders. Powdered raw materials are vital base ingredients in fragranced powders, blush, foundation, loose powder, and toothpaste. They constitute 30% to 80% of cosmetic formulations. Inorganic powders generally provide functions such as coverage, smoothness, oil absorption, spreadability, and sun protection. Some colored powders can also act as pigments, imparting vibrant colors to cosmetics. For manufacturers seeking consistency and control in powder processing, the Jet Değirmeni by Epic Powder represents a top solution. Epic’s Jet Mill technology excels in producing finely ground, narrowly distributed inorganic powders that are critical for high-performance cosmetics.
Classification and Introduction of Powders for Cosmetics
1. Classification and Advantages of Inorganic Powders
Inorganic powders are diverse. Structurally, they are classified into metal and alloy powders, oxide and hydroxide pigments, and other inorganic materials. Based on appearance and characteristics, they fall into colored powders, white powders, extender powders, and pearlescent powders. By functional properties, they can be categorized as colorants, extenders, and sunscreen agents.
Compared to organic powders, inorganic powders offer three major advantages in practical production and application:
Firstly, inorganic powders are chemically inert, odorless, and non-irritating, making them safer to use. They effectively avoid hazards associated with heavy use of organic powders, such as potentially inducing skin cancer or chemical allergies.
Secondly, when used in cosmetics, they can achieve sterilization and deodorization. If a powder has catalytic activity, it can decompose fragrance components in cosmetics and oxidize oils in the cosmetic system, leading to rancidity and unpleasant odors. Inorganic powders, being chemically stable, effectively reduce this occurrence. Furthermore, most inorganic powders possess excellent UV absorption peaks compared to other materials, allowing them to be used as shielding agents in cosmetics.
Thirdly, inorganic powders have abundant sources, are more affordable and readily available, and are easier to mass-produce.
Unlocking Peak Performance: The Role of Jet Pulverization
Achieving the desired properties in cosmetic powders – such as ultra-fine particle size, narrow distribution, and high purity – often relies on advanced processing techniques like jet pulverization. This milling technology uses high-velocity compressed air or steam to create particle-on-particle impact, resulting in precise size reduction without contamination from mechanical wear. Jet pulverization is crucial for producing micron and sub-micron powders essential for smooth texture, seamless application, and enhanced efficacy in modern cosmetics. The controlled jet millingprocess ensures consistent quality, making it ideal for high-value inorganic powders like boron nitride, silica, and coated pigments.
18 Commonly Used Inorganic Powders in Cosmetics
Currently, commonly used inorganic powders in the cosmetics field include talc, kaolin, mica, silica, montmorillonite, calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, diatomaceous earth, tourmaline, boron nitride, aluminum oxide, hydroxyapatite, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, ultramarine, manganese violet, and carbon black.
(1) Talc
Talc is a silicate mineral primarily composed of hydrated magnesium silicate. Its powder is white, micro-crystalline, with a layered structure and a smooth, lubricating feel. China has abundant talc resources, with major production in Liaoning, Shandong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Qinghai provinces; the texture varies by origin. Cosmetic-grade talc is typically high quality if white, lustrous, and smooth.
Talc is mainly used in fragranced powders, pressed powder, and baby powder due to its white color, soft texture, good spreadability, and smoothness. It also modifies other raw materials, enhancing their lubricity and spreadability.
As talc powder is made by crushing talc ore, which is often associated with asbestos, and Chinese cosmetics regulations prohibit talc containing asbestos, it must be purified to remove asbestos before being added to cosmetics.
(2) Kaolin
Kaolin, also known as china clay or white clay, is a layered silicate composed of silicon-oxygen tetrahedra and aluminum-hydroxygen octahedra in a 1:1 ratio, with the main component being 2SiO₂·Al₂O₃·2H₂O.
Kaolin is a white or pale yellow powder with an earthy scent and stable chemical properties. It adheres well to the skin and can inhibit sebum and absorb sweat. It’s commonly used in fragranced powders, pressed powders, and cleansing products.
(3) Mica
Mica refers to a group of complex hydrated aluminosilicates with a continuous layered silicate structure, appearing as light gray, scaly crystalline powder. Mica powder has good chemical stability and strong adhesion. It also offers moderate brightness and softness, good coverage, and dispersibility, allowing it to blend well into cosmetic formulations to improve product texture and appearance.
Synthetic mica, produced through special processing, enhances the whiteness, brightness, and longevity of color cosmetics and is mainly used in fragranced powders, pressed powders, blush, and foundation.
(4) Silica
This includes microcrystalline silica, precipitated silica, fumed silica, and silica gel powder.
Precipitated silica is typically a white powder with strong slip, oil absorption, and adsorption properties, and stable chemical characteristics. It’s commonly used in eyeshadow, toothpaste, and for modifying cosmetic raw materials.
Spherical silica powder has good flowability and a large specific surface area, making it suitable for use in lipstick, pressed powder, and foundation cream.
(5) Montmorillonite
Montmorillonite effectively cleanses and absorbs residual makeup, impurities, and excess oil from skin pores, tightens overly large pores, accelerates the shedding of dead cells and exfoliation, and lightens melanin to improve skin tone.
The selection of montmorillonite for cosmetics has precise requirements regarding whiteness, heavy metal content, and fineness. Suitable montmorillonite can be used in cosmetic paste ingredients (for thickening, suspension, emulsification), facial masks, and moisturizing cream bases (for cleansing, detoxifying, relieving itching, beautifying, and moisturizing).
(6) Calcium Carbonate
Calcium carbonate is mainly used in cosmetics like fragranced powders, pressed powders, blush, and baby powder. It removes the shine from talc, has good absorbency, and can also act as a blender for fragrances.
Calcium carbonate can improve product flowability and viscosity and adjust the pH of skincare and cosmetic products. Additionally, it can be added to cosmetics as a viscosity-regulating component to ensure product texture and stability.
(7) Magnesium Carbonate
Magnesium carbonate is primarily used as an absorbent in cosmetics like fragranced powders and liquid powders. It has strong absorbency, a safety risk factor of 1, is considered relatively safe, and generally has no effect on pregnant women. However, excessive use can absorb skin lipids and cause dryness, so the dosage should generally not exceed 15%. In producing powder cosmetics, fragrance is often first mixed evenly with magnesium carbonate for absorption before blending with other ingredients.
(8) Diatomaceous Earth
With a porous structure and high oil absorption, it is an inexpensive powder filler. It is mainly used in various powders and pressed powders in cosmetics and can be used in facial masks.
(9) Tourmaline
Tourmaline not only comes in various colors but is also a unique mineral possessing pyroelectric and piezoelectric properties. Studies suggest that adding tourmaline to cosmetics might help increase the skin’s absorption of the product. L’Oréal once launched a night cream claiming to be “enriched with rare tourmaline.”
(10) Boron Nitride
Boron nitride (BN) is an inorganic compound, pure white, with a layered structure similar to graphite, but with carbon atoms replaced by boron and nitrogen atoms. The average particle size of cosmetic-grade hexagonal boron nitride powder varies by trade name and grade, generally ranging from 1 to 47 µm.
Boron nitride acts as a slip modifier, whitening agent, and brightener in cosmetics. It significantly improves lubricity, skin affinity, and whitening/brightness effects. It is used as an ingredient in nearly all cosmetic industry products: pressed powder, loose powder, foundation, eyeliner, eyeshadow, blush, lipstick, and numerous skincare products.
According to statistics, as part of the Cosmetic Voluntary Registration Program, boron nitride is used in 643 cosmetic formulations. The highest concentration of use is found in eyeshadow products.
(11) Aluminum Oxide
Aluminum oxide is used in cosmetics mainly as an abrasive and thickener. It can also serve as an anti-caking agent and adsorbent, commonly used in blush, foundation, lipstick, and facial cleansers.
Furthermore, aluminum oxide can act as an insoluble carrier for mineral pigments, often mixed with powders for mineral makeup. Due to its abrasive nature, these crystals are frequently used in exfoliation and skin rejuvenation—particularly in microdermabrasion.
(12) Hydroxyapatite
Ultra-fine hydroxyapatite powder can be used as micro-particle abrasives in exfoliating cleansers, helping to remove dead skin cells without damaging the skin. Additionally, in makeup like foundation and loose powder, hydroxyapatite is often used as a bulking agent and texture modifier to increase the powder’s smoothness and adhesion. Its optical properties also scatter light, creating a so-called “soft-focus” effect that visually blurs fine lines and imperfections.
(13) Zinc Oxide
Zinc oxide is a white powder, odorless, tasteless, with uniform texture and particle size, relatively stable chemically, easy to disperse, resulting in products that are fine, smooth, tender, and have strong adhesion.
Zinc oxide has excellent sunscreen properties, capable of absorbing and reflecting UV rays. As one of the two permitted inorganic sunscreen agents in the “Cosmetic Safety and Technical Standards (2015 Edition)”, its maximum allowed concentration is much higher than that of organic sunscreens, reaching 25%. Initially, zinc oxide had large particle sizes and poor dispersibility, leading to a noticeable white cast, but technological advances introduced nano zinc oxide, gradually solving this problem. Additionally, zinc oxide has strong tinting strength, coverage, and some auxiliary antibacterial effects, making it suitable for sunscreen, foundation, BB cream, etc.
(14) Titanium Dioxide
Titanium dioxide, chemical formula TiO₂, is, like zinc oxide, an odorless, tasteless white powder. Its maximum allowed concentration in the “Cosmetic Safety and Technical Standards (2015 Edition)” is 25%, with the rutile form being predominantly used in practical applications.
With the popularity of sunscreen products, the use of nano titanium dioxide has increased. However, due to its reduced particle size, it exhibits some photocatalytic activity, usually requiring surface treatment to enhance its stability and dispersibility. Adding a small amount of titanium dioxide in color cosmetics can whiten, even out skin tone, and conceal imperfections. It’s commonly used in sunscreen, foundation, and pressed powder.
(15) Iron Oxides
Iron oxides are a crucial category of cosmetic raw materials, including Iron Oxides Red (CI 77491), Yellow (CI 77492), Black (CI 77499), and Brown (CI 77491, 77492, 77499). They are all iron oxides but differ in composition, structure, type, and preparation method. These inorganic pigments have good tinting strength, covering power, durability, and light stability, and are widely used in color cosmetics like blush and lipstick.
(16) Ultramarine
Ultramarine (CI 77007), also known as cloud blue, Buddha blue, or oriental blue, belongs to the framework silicate structure. It is a non-toxic, harmless red-shade blue inorganic pigment; this specific red-blue hue cannot be achieved by mixing other pigments.
Historically, ultramarine was made by calcining a mixture of sulfur, clay, quartz, and carbon, but it is now more commonly synthetic. Synthetic ultramarine offers high purity, strong tinting strength, and color permanence, and is widely used in color cosmetics like eyeshadow, lipstick, and blush.
(17) Manganese Violet
Manganese Violet (CI 77742) is a type of purple powder whose vibrant color comes from trivalent manganese ions. Potassium permanganate, manganese oxide, or manganese carbonate are typically used as manganese sources.
Manganese Violet has a red undertone, is lightfast and heat resistant, with bright and rich color. It is mainly used in cosmetics for eye shadow, eyeliner, etc., providing the required red-violet hue. It can also be applied in other fields requiring red-violet shades.
(18) Carbon Black
Carbon Black has strong tinting strength and covering power, widely used in black beauty cosmetics like eye shadow, eyebrow pencil, and theatrical makeup. Additionally, Carbon Black possesses whitening and sunscreen effects, offering more possibilities for the cosmetics industry.
Destansı Toz
For manufacturers seeking consistency and control in powder processing, the Destansı Toz Jet Mill represents a top solution. Epic’s Jet Mill technology excels in producing finely ground, narrowly distributed inorganic powders that are critical for high-performance cosmetics. The advantages of Jet Mill include superior particle size control, minimal contamination risk, enhanced product purity, and the ability to process heat-sensitive materials effectively. By using Epic Powder Jet Milling systems, producers can achieve the exceptional smoothness, adherence, and optical properties required by today’s demanding cosmetic standards. This ensures their final products stand out in the market.
