Medium: Mica ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is a mineral pigment and texture modifier that adds shimmer, opacity, slip, and soft-focus light reflection. It is common in color cosmetics, powders, sunscreens, and lotions for visual payoff rather than preservation or cleansing.
What does Medium: Mica do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is a mineral pigment and texture modifier that adds shimmer, opacity, slip, and soft-focus light reflection. It is common in color cosmetics, powders, sunscreens, and lotions for visual payoff rather than preservation or cleansing.
Is Medium: Mica clean?
It is generally well tolerated on skin and widely accepted by clean-beauty retailers, with the main scrutiny coming from trace metal specifications and mine-sourcing ethics. Responsible sourcing documentation matters because some supply chains have been associated with labor-rights concerns.
Is Medium: Mica sustainable?
This material is mined rather than grown, so its footprint depends on extraction practices, land disturbance, refining, and supplier traceability. It is mineral and not biodegradable in the usual organic-carbon sense, but it is environmentally stable and not known for bioaccumulation.
Is Medium: Mica COSMOS-approved?
It is permitted under COSMOS-natural and COSMOS-organic standards when it is a naturally derived mineral grade that meets purity and processing requirements. Its Green Chemistry fit is mixed, with good inertness and low skin reactivity, but nonrenewable mineral sourcing and mining impacts are the tradeoffs.
How does Medium: Mica work chemically?
The material is a platelet-shaped layered silicate mineral that reflects and scatters light, creating pearl, shimmer, opacity, or soft-focus effects depending on particle size and coating. Typical use can range from below 1% for subtle luminosity to much higher levels in pressed powders and color cosmetics, and it is chemically stable across normal cosmetic pH ranges.
Last updated 2026-05-14