Iron Oxide as a Colorant

Last year my husband and older two boys visited my husband's parents in Southern France. A day trip took them to a ochre quarry in Roussillon, a small village with striking red cliffs and an old clock and bell tower.  Along with beautiful photos and plenty of memories, they brought back containers of iron oxide in shades of brick red and mustard yellow.

Iron oxide is a chemical compound composed of iron and oxygen (I'll let my son Caleb tell you more in his blog post about oxides).  It's a dye used in cosmetics that is approved by both the FDA and the Environmental Working Group. 

The boys learned that to change the color of the powder, it involved oxidization through baking. The baking process would change the shade of color of the powder to create various earth-tone shades. 

What a Great Lip Balm: Testing the color of iron oxide in a tinted lip balm

Over the years, MadeOn customers have asked for a cocoa butter lip balm, which, by replacing the lip balm's current shea butter with cocoa butter, gives your lip balm a luscious, natural cocoa scent. We decided to experiment with creating a tinted lip balm and found that adding a red ochre (iron oxide), the cocoa butter lip balms leaves lips with a soft, brownish-red tint that looks natural and feels nourishing.

August and September will be our testing period. For a limited time, we'll be adding a tinted cocoa butter lip balm to every purchase over $25. We'll survey our customers and when it's perfected, it will be offered for sale in plenty of time for Christmas purchases. 

Back to France...

Enjoy this short video of the ochre production factory in Roussillon, France: