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What this covers Which changes what the rules are about Color additives are approved for named uses So "cosmetic grade" is not a specification And soap has an exemption with a trapdoor Your customers mostly do not know this The shelf is the largest in this library And it contains one closure that matters disproportionately Two crafts, one supply business References

The regulation lands on your buyer, and that is exactly why it is your problem.

What this covers

Dye blocks, soap base, wick supply, mica powder and fragrance oil. Five products sold to people making soap, candles and bath products, rather than to the people who use them.

Which changes what the rules are about

You are not making a cosmetic. Your customer is, and what they may put in it and say about it is constrained by what your ingredient is approved for. That constraint arrives through your product description.

Color additives are approved for named uses

Not approved in general. Mica happens to be unusually permissive, safe for coloring cosmetics generally including the area of the eye. Most colorants are narrower, and the eye area is the restriction that appears most often.

So "cosmetic grade" is not a specification

It is a phrase. The useful statement names the additive, names the uses it is approved for, and names the restrictions. A supplier who says the first without the second has told the customer nothing actionable.

And soap has an exemption with a trapdoor

A true soap is excluded from the definition of a cosmetic, but only where the composition qualifies AND the product is "labeled, sold, and represented only as soap". A moisturising claim ends it.

Your customers mostly do not know this

Which is the commercial opportunity. A supply business that explains the line, accurately, becomes the one people buy from, and the explanation costs nothing to produce once.

The shelf is the largest in this library

812 containers and 549 closures. Supply products are dry goods and liquids in jars and bottles, which is the broadest part of any packaging catalog.

And it contains one closure that matters disproportionately

13 spice caps. A sifter fitment is what turns a jar of mica from a bag of powder into a product somebody can use without making a mess, and nothing else on this shelf does that job.

Two crafts, one supply business

Soap and candle makers overlap heavily in what they buy: fragrance, colour and a base material. That overlap is why this is one property rather than two, and why a range can serve both without doubling.

References

21 CFR 73.2496, mica as a color additive for use in cosmetics: "Mica is safe for use in coloring cosmetics generally, including cosmetics applied to the area of the eye, in amounts consistent with good manufacturing practice", conforming in identity and specifications to 73.1496(a)(1) and (b), bearing labeling in accordance with 70.25, and exempt from batch certification because "certification of this color additive is not necessary for the protection of the public health". law.cornell.edu

21 CFR 701.20, the soap exemption. A product is excluded from the definition of a cosmetic only where "the bulk of the nonvolatile matter in the product consists of an alkali salt of fatty acids and the detergent properties of the article are due to the alkali-fatty acid compounds" AND "the product is labeled, sold, and represented only as soap". A product that fails either condition is a cosmetic and carries cosmetic labeling. law.cornell.edu

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 18 October 2026. The soap and candle supply shelf is 1,361 rows: 812 containers and 549 closures, the largest in the library, derived from three archetypes across five leaves. 482 PET, 159 HDPE, 100 glass and 71 PP, from 15 to 2,000 mL with a median of 225. The closures include 13 spice caps, which is the sifter fitment a jar of mica needs.

Written from 21 CFR 73.2496 and 701.20, and from the catalog as it stood on 18 October 2026. Whether a given color additive is approved for a given use is a question about that additive and that use, and the answer is in the regulation rather than in a supplier description; nothing here substitutes for checking it.