Best colorants for CP soap?

[goat soap rulz!]

Hey yall! It's me again! I recently got into coloring soap, but have been making soap for 3 ish years. And I have found it extremely overwhelming to find colorants... I got the royal upgrade from mad micas, and I thoroughly enjoyed them, but the TD wasn't very pigmented. I have used almost all of the samples, so now I need a few recommendations!

I want to find a staple supplier for colorants. I want most of my colorants from one place because its annoying to have multiple packages out for the same thing ya know?!

I want each color of the rainbow, ROYGBIV plus black and white. I like activated charcoal for grey, so I get that at HEB.

I've heard Nurture is pigmented, and they give quite a lot in their samples!
Mad Mics is pretty cheap, with quality products
Im not a huge fan of BB

But Im quite overwhelmed. What are yalls favorite supplier, and what are your favorite colorants from that supplier? Thank yall so, so, much!

I have also heard natural colorants are unreliable, so im not very interested in those just yet. I want to keep with something I can count on for now!

 

[Anstarx]

I don't live in US so I can't speak for US suppliers. However, the soapers I follow on youtube always use Mad Mica and Nuture soap micas so I figured there must be something. Botanic colorants can fade overtime but I like clay and oxide for coloring as they are very stable and pretty much you get what you see. Black oxide is my go to when I want a pitch black soap.

 

[Arimara]

TKB trading is one to consider too. They have plenty of options.

 

[shunt2011]

I also recommend Micas and More. Nurture is and has been my go to though for the best selection and performance. Micas and More also have quality micas but maybe not as large as a selection. I've used TKB trading as well. I use charcoal for my black.

 

[dibbles]

I mostly use Nurture, and occasionally Micas & More. Nurture has FO that I like, and it doesn't take long to reach $30 free shipping. Mad Micas is comparable in quality, but I don't use them anymore. Too many of the micas are identical (between NS and MM), with just different names, so if you use both companies be aware of that. Mad Micas used to carry FOs and I ordered both mica and FO from them. When they quit selling FO, I pretty much stopped ordering from there to avoid paying shipping for only one type of product I could easily source elsewhere. My recommendations are all from NS.

For ROYGBIV colors I'd say:
red - Trial by Fire is a true, fire engine red. I think I still prefer My Red Obsession. It's red enough for me. I have Really Red as well and will add a bit to brighten My Red Obsession at times. When I run out of red colorants, I will have to decide which one I want to reorder.
orange - Atomic Orange
yellow - Firefly Yellow or Lemon Drop Yellow. If you want one besides a primary color, I recommend Mimosa Yellow. It is a beautiful golden yellow color.
For primary, Crayola-type colors the Vibrance (green, blue, pink and purple) are good choices. Additionally, I can recommend Savage Garden and Hello Spring for green, Sky Blue and Cheshire Cat.
I use mica for black and white most of the time and my favorites are Winter White and Nocturnal. A couple of other favorites are Maya Gold, Love Song or Rose Pink, Mocha Brown and I would also recommend a peacock or teal color (Synergy or Siren's Song or similar).

 

[jcandleattic]

My two go-to suppliers for colorants are Mad Micas and Nurture Soap.
They tend to blend the easiest for me, are quality products and a little will go a long way.

 

[goat soap rulz!]

I mostly use Nurture, and occasionally Micas & More. Nurture has FO that I like, and it doesn't take long to reach $30 free shipping. Mad Micas is comparable in quality, but I don't use them anymore. Too many of the micas are identical (between NS and MM), with just different names, so if you use both companies be aware of that. Mad Micas used to carry FOs and I ordered both mica and FO from them. When they quit selling FO, I pretty much stopped ordering from there to avoid paying shipping for only one type of product I could easily source elsewhere. My recommendations are all from NS.

For ROYGBIV colors I'd say:
red - Trial by Fire is a true, fire engine red. I think I still prefer My Red Obsession. It's red enough for me. I have Really Red as well and will add a bit to brighten My Red Obsession at times. When I run out of red colorants, I will have to decide which one I want to reorder.
orange - Atomic Orange
yellow - Firefly Yellow or Lemon Drop Yellow. If you want one besides a primary color, I recommend Mimosa Yellow. It is a beautiful golden yellow color.
For primary, Crayola-type colors the Vibrance (green, blue, pink and purple) are good choices. Additionally, I can recommend Savage Garden and Hello Spring for green, Sky Blue and Cheshire Cat.
I use mica for black and white most of the time and my favorites are Winter White and Nocturnal. A couple of other favorites are Maya Gold, Love Song or Rose Pink, Mocha Brown and I would also recommend a peacock or teal color (Synergy or Siren's Song or similar).

that was extremely helpful! Thanks so much! Yes, I love nurture soap! I get most of my FO there as well! And my loaf mold is from there! I will go with nurture soap! And I love getting the little gift in the package! It makes me so happy lol!

My mad micas colorants went a long way!! I was getting a vibrant color for 1 tsp color to 5 pounds soap!! It was a lighter than advertised obviously, but I’m happy with it!

 

[Megan]

I like mad micas, and order some from nurture as well. I really like the brilliant collection from Mad Micas, I bought the 4 oz jars last summer and I feel like (unless business starts taking off like crazy) they will last me at least another year.

 

[goat soap rulz!]

Can you post a picture of what the 4 oz jars look like, so I can have an idea of how much it is?? Thanks!

Okie Dokie! I want to do a soap dedicated to each one of my goats since they are the ones who provide a staple ingredient in every one of my products (and because I'm a crazy goat lady!) !! But, do yall think that is a good idea? The colors are kinda boring. Different shades of Brown, white, black, red... How would all design the soaps?

I have 8 goats. But 3 of them are black and white, 3 of them are mixed with red, white, black (called tricolor), 1 silver and black with white (swiss), and a light brown with a dark brown stripe (called chamose if anyone is curious)

I also want to somehow include eye color. We have both blue and yellow/brown eyes.

Here are some pics of each one of my goaties! Just because!

Here is Sadie. She is a brown and white dapple with blue eyes (I put her in the tricolor because of her pattern even tho she isn't)

Heres my boy Harrison. Obviously black and white, with brown eyes.

Ill do the rest of the pics from my phone, because my computer is slow!

Here is Cheerio! She is a Swiss! I think her silver appearance would be fun in a soap!!

here is Jenny! She is also a black and white baby! Mostly black with a bit of white.

here is cricket! She is mostly black with white dapples on her chest, and almost a full belt of white.

here is benji! He is a tri color!

here is a very relaxed Clara!! She is the chamose, so is 2 shades of brown

The one in the front is baby! Her real name is piper, but we call her baby. She is also a tri color!

Any ideas y’all have bc or a soap would be great! If not, then enjoy cute goats!!

 

[goat soap rulz!]

Sorry! Lots of typos!! I’m on my phone!

 

[cerelife]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your goats!!!! I want to pet them all!!!
My favorite silver/grey mica is Satin Grey Pillowcase from Mad Micas. It's the best I've ever found for a pretty light silvery grey in cured CP soap. Perfect for Cheerio

 

[goat soap rulz!]

You are always welcome to pet the goaties!! As long as you have plenty of peanuts and licorice, they will love you!!
Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[TheGecko]

I don’t have a ‘favorite’ supplier; I have a range of colorants from BrambleBerry, Rustic Essentials, Nuture Soap, TKB Trading and Soaper’s Choice.

 

[Rsapienza]

I think that most of the reputable suppliers have very similar micas, just different names. I've ordered from Mad Micas, RE, BB, and WSP. I find them all to be of the same quality performance wise.

 

[Megan]

You are always welcome to pet the goaties!! As long as you have plenty of peanuts and licorice, they will love you!!
Thanks for the recommendation!

Goats like licorice...who knew!

Sorry I didn't get a pic of my 4 oz jars, it slipped my mind when I got home from work last night.

 

[goat soap rulz!]

Goats like licorice...who knew!

They LOVE black licorice! Which is fine, because nobody in the house eats it! Thet also like apple sauce! Mine do at least!

 

[peachymoon]

Your goats are all so precious, so cuteeee!!! Hello bebbies!!!

 

[GemstonePony]

Your goats are absolutely adorable!
Be warned that making things complicated is my thing, but since you asked for design ideas, here's my thoughts. Long post ahead!
In addition to pulling inspiration from coat colors, I'd pull from personalities/habits. I don't have much to go on, so I'll be shooting in the dark, but you get the idea. I don't know what your FO preferences are, so I'll be shooting in the dark there too.
Sadie: if you were up for an ombre, that's what her coat reminds me of. Otherwise, large drop swirls of tan and reddish brown in the middle with a blue layer on the bottom and smaller drop swirls of blue on top. FO- Blueberry or blueberry muffin to tie it in.
Harrison: reminds me of a black soap with a white hanger swirl in the middle. FO-Something sophisticated with Amber or musk- a black tie soap, if you will.
Cheerio: I'd go for a mostly silver bar with a few drop swirls of brown and an in the pot drop swirl of white and black. FO- Lavender vanilla or similar floral
Jenny: that pink nose! A mostly black soap with large white drop swirl on top and a smaller pink drop swirl in that, with a textured layer of raspberry pink on the bottom to try to keep it from looking too cow. Raspberry fragrance perhaps?
Cricket: I'd do a thin layer of hunter green on the bottom with most of your batter in black/white/black layers, with little white drizzle on top gently whirled into the top black layer. FO- She looks like mischief, so I would do something spicy. Maybe pine?
Benji: this one's a little more complicated:
>White with light brown drop swirl
>White with dark brown drop swirl
>very thin layer of baby blue, broken with above drop swirls
FO of cotton?
Clara: thinking a thin layer of Spa green on the bottom, two-toned brown drop swirl in the middle, with a dark gray layer on top. FO clean and relaxing- bamboo and lotus comes to mind
Piper: a bit similar to Benji.
>Black drizzle swirled into white
>Mostly white with reddish drop swirls
> Thin layer of baby pink, broken by reddish drop swirls and white above
FO of apple?

Anyways, this was super fun to think about, thanks for reading!

 

[goat soap rulz!]

Oh my goshhh! I love it!! If you don't mind, I can give you some personality trait of each!
We will go oldest to youngest here

Baby/Piper: She is a TROUBLE MAKER! She loves sneaking chicken food! Bad girl! She hates to go in the pen after I let them out to graze all day, but she really enjoys sunbathing. She likes to argue with people (if you didn't think goats argued, you are VERY wrong!) She is really smart as well, but not as smart as Clara!

Sadie: She actually isn't super friendly. I bought her in December, and she has come a long way. She gets bullied a lot because she is the new guy, but she and Clara are best friends! I bought Clara almost a year before Sadie from the same person and they remembered each other! She loves to eat, and she LOVES to roll around in the grass! I will have to post a video because it is HILARIOUS! She is very anxious, so I spend a lot of time keeping her comfortable. She is so anxious that when I take Clara away to trim hooves or what have you, she will start to pant like a dog. We had the vet check her out, and she also has a very slight heart murmur, so she is a very special goat!

Cricket: When you said she is mischief, you are CORRECT! She SCREAMS at feeding time! LOL! She is my only horned goat, so we have to tape tennis balls on the top so she won't hurt anybody with her horns. She is SUPER friendly! She loves everybody! So she gets away with a lot of stuff! She is kinda a fatty. She hogs all of the grain and hay! And she sucks it up like a vacuum! She loves to hop around and play. She still thinks she is a baby and will sleep with her head in my lap! (she is my favorite, but don't tell any of the others!)

Cheerio: She has had a bit of a rough year. Her mamma who she was very close to passed away in May. She was 13 years old. I had sold her twin sister in February because I simply had too many goats, and she was extremely mean (cheerio didn't really like her!). But she has definitely bounced back to herself! She is kind of the guard dog of the herd!! She lets everyone know who is boss! Even her baby lets everyone know who is in charge! She is very sweet when she wants to be, but usually likes a few scratches and will go do her own thing. She is very dramatic! When I take her to the milk room to clip hooves, she will jump and yell and try to get away from me! She has done this since she was a baby! I diagnosed her with separation anxiety, so when she needs to go to the milk room, I just bring the stand out to the pen so she doesn't freak out!

Clara: Goodness. This goat has the most vivid personality! She is more interesting than some people! She is very emotionally bonded with every single one of the goats and me. She will scratch them and lay with them. Even though she gets bullied by cricket and cheerio, she still loves them! She is also very curious! She likes to explore, which can get her into trouble! She has been stung by wasps, bees, been bitten by a rat snake (not poisonous thank goodness), and hyperextended her knee when she tried to jump from a little set of stairs onto a slide, which are like 10 feet apart! So I guess you could say she is a bit mischievous, but I really like her! She is also REALLY smart! I like to put Gatorade powder in their water when it gets hot, and I accidentally left the tub out, and she OPENED it! I got little brain teasers for them and she was the first to open it and get the food! I love her a lot!

Harrison: He is a rescue case. The lady I got him from showed me really nice pictures of him, so I drove 4 hours away to get him and his brother. They were 7 months old when I bought them and his brother Archie was 18 pounds, and Harrison was 24 pounds. (they should be 40-50 pounds) I couldn't leave them there, so we bought them. They were infested with tapeworms and lice. Sadly, Archie, his brother passed away on April 2nd. He has gained about 20 pounds in 6 months (which is really good!), but he was stunted by malnourishment. Since he was so malnourished, his immune system was weak, and he got the dreaded Barber Pole worm. We knew he wouldn't be able to fight it off, so we put him down. Harrison though has grown into a handsome boy! She is about 50 pounds right now, but he is definitely stunted as well. Not as bad as Archie was. Harrison LOVES running around and playing! He has a little see-saw in his pen, and he has a BLAST on that thing! It is quite fun to watch! He's very silly! But also a bit feisty (like most bucks!) I am so glad he is with us here on J6 ranch!

Jenny: Well... Jenny is a bit... Slow... She isn't the smartest goat ever, but i still love her!!! Her and baby are best friends! Well, actually they are mother and daughter! She is also very silly! She loves scratches and she loves to hop around and have fun! She is care free! She likes to sunbathe like her mamma, and she likes to sleep on her side, so when i go out there i thing she is dead! Nope! Just sleeping very soundly! She is kind of a big baby lol! When somebody head butts her, she will go right to her mamma nd tell on them and they will get beat up! LOL!

Benji: Ive only had him for a month, but he is a baby, so he is very playful! He likes to protest when i take him back to his pen, because he likes to be with the ladies! He is a stud muffin for sure! Hes a charmer! Thats the bast word i can describe him with!

Okie dokie! Thats everybody! I REALLLY liked Gemstoneponys suggestions, but yall seem to like the goats, so why not!

 

[peachymoon]

I feel like I know them all now! I like your idea for making soaps dedicated to each of them, it sounds like you love them very much. I can relate to your enthusiasm about them, as I feel the same about my dog & cats. It's so funny seeing their personalities blossom. I'd love to see Harrison on that see-saw! Haha.