If you want to add some sparkle or shimmer to the surface of your product, you will naturally come into contact with Glitter powder or Pearl pigments. They are both shimmering little flakes that give your product a special charm. You can use them separately or combine them on the surface or inside of different products. However, sometimes people confuse the names of these shiny powders. Glitter powder and pearl pigments are not the same thing!

Img01: Pearl pigment and Glitter are not the same thing.

What is Glitter powder?

Unlike traditional glass-based Glitter powder, most glitter powders today are made in a different way. Glitter is made from tiny cut hexagons of shiny plastic (usually PET, also known as polyester). Sometimes these pieces are cut into other shapes, such as circular, diamond-shaped, even apple-shaped, or other irregular shapes glitter. The larger Glitter powder shapes are more similar to sequins, but they are still the same thing. Glitter powder is almost always made from tiny plastic pieces.

Img02: Moon shape glitter powder

Keywords such as environmental protection and biodegradability have been increasingly valued by countries around the world in recent years. For example, biodegradable plastics are gradually replacing conventional plastics. However, plastic glitter has the obvious disadvantage of being non-biodegradable. 

Although biodegradable Glitter powder is also a solution, due to technical and market demands, it is difficult for biodegradable Glitter powder to meet the requirements of many products in terms of brightness and color variety. Therefore, using pearl pigments as a natural substitute for Glitter powder has become the first choice for many industry manufacturers. This blurs the line between these two products. This does not change the fact that they are different things.

What are Pearl Pigments?

Pearl pigments are completely different. As its main material, mica is a natural mineral that naturally exists in a flake form and is mined from the ground. These flakes are colored with pigments and then ground into various sizes of flakes to make pearl pigments. Pearl pigments can be made from large flakes (very similar to Glitter powder) or from very fine powders with a pearl-like luster.

Img03:  Synthetic series Pearl Pigments

A famous brand of pearl pigments is iSuoChem, which is made from natural mica. You can view all iSuoChem colors here and download their posters. There are also synthetic pearl pigments, which are manufactured in the laboratory. Its size is the same as that of pearl pigments, but it often has a brighter luster and adopts a series of special coatings to produce special effects, such as these gorgeous nail powders.

How to Distinguish Glitter powder and Pearl Pigments?

If you have some Glitter powder, how do you know if it is pearl pigment or Glitter powder? Take a closer look. If you can't see individual flakes, take a photo and enlarge it on your phone. Mica flakes will be irregular and feel powdery on your fingertips and it feel more like fine sand. 

Img04: Pearl Pigment from nature mica, and feel powdery

Glitter powders have regular shapes, such as hexagons, and some special shapes. They feel like plastic.

Img05: Glitter in Hexagons, more like plastics

Pearl Pigments are made from ground mica, which can sometimes be ground so coarsely that it looks a lot like glitter powder. It might even be advertised or sold as glitter powder. But Pearl Pigments are irregular and made of completely different materials.

Glitter powder is cut from a plastic film into a specific shape by a cutting machine. Even very fine micro shimmers (on black card) are clearly visible with regular shapes. For some product fields, the precise cutting process also directly determines the quality and price of glitter powder.

Why do I want everyone to distinguish between glitter powder and Pearl Pigments?

It doesn't matter which one you use if you're making paper crafts or adding shiny accents to your products. Pearl Pigments and glitter both add a wonderful look and shimmer.

However, for some applications, Pearl Pigments can usually be used in screen printing, while glitter powder cannot do.

Are there other more applications here, and the two products cannot be replaced by each other? Welcome to write to us. Also welcome to read our other articles about the difference between glitter powder and pearlescent pigment in use.