I’ve been working with all kinds of plant pigments (both purchased and handcrafted) for a while now, and occasionally discover I wasn’t paying enough attention to the fine print (for example whether it says soluble or dispersible) when purchasing.

This is such a case.

This is a lip gloss with 100% plant pigments that demonstrates the difference between dispersible and soluble perfectly.

Soluble means the ingredient will dissolve and merge with the substance it is put into. In short, it will become a homogenous mass.

Dispersible means the ingredient doesn't merge with the substance it is put into, but it can be dispersed (spread out evenly) if handled according to a specific method. The specific method is often something that requires machinery of one type or another in combination with a specific balance of ingredients.

Adding a dispersible pigment as if it were soluble results in what you see here.

Even though this is an obvious fail, I’m keeping it around for a bit of observation and testing (read: playing with). I‘ve applied it a few times and even though the pigment migrates to the bottom of the container, the gloss still moisturizes.

Maybe it could be marketed as some kind of non-coloring gloss with lumpy bits. Or maybe it will just be binned after I’m done playing around with it.