화장품 분야에서 펄 안료는 다양하게 적용되어져 왔다. 지금까지 가장 대중적으로 사용된 펄 안료는 마이카 기재에 산화철이 코팅된 것이었지만, 최종 제품에 이와 같은 펄을 사용하게 될 경우 천연 마이카에 함유된 불순물로 인해 약간의 불투명한 노란 색상이 띄게 된다[1,2]. 본 연구는 눈과 같은 반짝임을 제공하는 펄 안료 개발에 초점을 맞췄고, 눈과 같은 효과는 펄 안료의 구조와 순도 등의 영향 때문인 것을 알게 되었다. 특히, 이번 펄 안료 개발은 유리 기재와 산화철을 코팅시켜 눈의 광학적인 값(refractive index)과 입자 크기(particle size)를 눈과 유사하게 개발하였고 이는 눈과 같이 화려한 반짝임(glittering) 효과를 구현할 수 있게 되었다. 그리고 메이크업 제품에 본 펄 안료를 적용하여 화려한 제품을 개발하게 되었다.
Pearlescent pigments have been widely used in cosmetic applications. Up to date; the most widely used pearl effect pigment is the mica-based pigment, which uses natural mica as the substrate that is in turn coated with metal of oxide interference layer. However, when natural mica is employed as a base material the final product often has a yellowish color, mainly due to the fact that natural mica contains low levels of iron as an impurity[1,2]. This study was focused on developing a pearl pigment which might have a similar sparkling effect as snow. This effect was found to be due to its structure and purity, and this concept was also applied to development of our pearl pigments. More specifically, this invented pearl effect pigments are the mixture of glass-flake and glass-flake coated metal oxides and present the optical properties of snow matrix such as refractive index and particle size, unlike only the glass-flake or glass-flake coated metal oxides to be applied in. Using base material having similar physical properties (refractive index and particle size) as snow matrix as platelet for pearl effect pigments, these invented pigments present a three-dimensional glittering effect of the snow matrix. With this invented figments an applied; we achieved the beauty of snow crystal from makeup products containing these pigments.
