The present invention provides a glitter pigment suitable for imparting high brightness to reflected light toward a regular reflection direction and reducing unnaturalness caused by an observation angle-dependent variation in reflected light. The glitter pigment according to the present invention includes: a flaky substrate; an optical interference film formed on a surface of the flaky substrate; and fine light scattering particles attached to the optical interference film, wherein reflected light is represented by an L*(15) value of more than 100, a L*(hs) value of less than 30, and a h(hs) value of less than 40 in an L*C*h color system. The L*(15) value is an L* value of the reflected light toward a 15 direction based on an angular representation in which, when an illuminant is disposed so that an incident angle is 45, an angle at which light is regularly reflected is defined as 0 and a light incident direction is defined as positive. The L*(hs) value is a difference in L* between a highlight and shade, and the h(hs) value is a difference in h between a highlight and shade. The h value expressed in angle is an angular difference. The highlight is an average of values measured at 15 and 25, and the shade is an average of values measured at 75 and 110.

An inorganic, non-quarter wave, heterogeneous multilayer effect pigment includes a platy substrate comprising an absorbing optically active metal oxide layer thereon, having an optical thickness from about 20 nm to about 400 nm; a layer of low refractive index material on the absorbing optically active metal oxide layer and having an optical thickness from about 10 nm to about 500 nm; and an outermost optically active layer of a non-absorbing high refractive index material on the low refractive index material and having an optical thickness from about 50 nm to about 1000 nm. The multilayer effect pigment exhibits a blue reflectance ratio (BRR) of at least 3, according to the equation: BRR=(Blue Max)/(Green Min); where Blue Max is the maximum reflectance exhibited over wavelengths 380 nm to 450 nm; and Green Min is the minimum reflectance exhibited over wavelengths 450 nm to 600 nm.

The present invention relates to pigments based on multicoated flake-form substrates which are distinguished by the fact that at least 8 layers [layers (A)-(H)] are on the substrate, where an SiO.sub.2 layer (=layer A) is located directly on the surface of the substrate, and to the use thereof, inter alia, in paints, surface coatings, automobile paints, powder coatings, printing inks, security printing inks, plastics, ceramic materials, glasses, paper, in toners for electrophotographic printing processes, in seed, in greenhouse sheeting and tarpaulins, as absorbers in the laser marking of paper and plastics, and in cosmetic formulations, for the preparation of pigment pastes with water, organic and/or aqueous solvents, for the preparation of pigment compositions and dry preparations.

Provided is a method for forming a multilayer coating film, comprising simultaneously curing an uncured base coating film, an uncured effect coating film, and an uncured clear coating film. In this method, an effect pigment dispersion (Y) contains water, a rheology control agent (A), and a flake-effect pigment (B), and has a solids content of 0.5 to 10 mass %; the flake-effect pigment (B) is an interference pigment in which a transparent or translucent base material is coated with a metal oxide; and the flake-effect pigment (B) is contained in an amount of 30 to 90 parts by mass based on 100 parts by mass of the total solids content in the effect pigment dispersion (Y).

Disclosed is a composite white pigment having mixed together white pigments having different colorimeter values from each other by comprising substrates having various sizes and/or TiO2 having various thicknesses. The composite white pigment, according to the present invention, comprises: a first white pigment comprising a substrate and a white metal oxide layer formed on the substrate; and a second white pigment comprising a substrate and a white metal oxide layer formed on the substrate, and having a different colorimeter value from that of the first white pigment.

A bright pigment according to the present invention includes: a glass flake; a titanium oxide layer formed over the glass flake; and fine gold particles deposited on the titanium oxide layer or placed between the glass flake and the titanium oxide layer. The titanium oxide layer has a thickness of 150 nm or more, and a reflected color of the bright pigment is a blue to green color represented by a C* value of 15 or more and a h value of 150 to 300 in a L*C*h color system.

The present invention relates to pigment compositions with improved and adjustable sparkling effect comprising

A) a platelet-like perlite; and
B) an effect pigment;
and a process for their production and their use in paints, ink-jet printing, for dyeing textiles, for pigmenting coatings (paints), printing inks, plastics, cosmetics, glazes for ceramics and glass. The pigment compositions show an improved sparkle effect; in particular an attractive high sparkle intensity.

A bright pigment of the present invention is a bright pigment including flaky particles and a metal oxide layer covering each surface of the flaky particles. The metal oxide layer has a thickness variation coefficient (standard deviation of thickness of the metal oxide layer/average thickness of the metal oxide layer) of 20% or less. The bright pigment preferably contains a sodium component, and the sodium component is Na.sub.2O. The content of Na.sub.2O in the flaky particles is 3% by mass or more and less than 9.5% by mass. The bright pigment preferably has a specific surface area of 5.0 m.sup.2/g or less.

The invention relates to an absorbent effect pigment including a nonmetallic substrate in platelet form and a coating applied thereto, wherein the coating includes at least one spacer layer. The invention further relates to a process for production of and to the use of the absorbent effect pigment.

A gold pigment is disclosed. The gold pigment according to the present disclosure includes a substrate; a first coating layer formed on a surface of the substrate and including a metal oxide having a refractive index of more than 1.8; a second coating layer formed on the first coating layer and including an oxide containing manganese; a third coating layer formed on the second coating layer and including a colorless metal oxide having a refractive index of 1.8 or less; a fourth coating layer formed on the third coating layer and including a metal oxide having a refractive index of more than 1.8; and a fifth coating layer formed on the fourth coating layer and including Fe.sub.2O.sub.3.