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.

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.

A colored metallic pigment according to the present invention is a colored metallic pigment including at least a metallic pigment, an amorphous silicon oxide film layer formed on a surface of the metallic pigment, a metallic-particle-supporting layer formed on a surface of the amorphous silicon oxide film layer, and metallic particles formed on a surface of the metallic-particle-supporting layer, characterized in that the metallic-particle-supporting layer is formed of one or both of a metal layer and a metal oxide layer composed of a metal oxide other than silicon oxide, the metallic particles are formed to directly cover a part of the surface of the metallic-particle-supporting layer, and the amorphous silicon oxide film layer has a thickness of more than 500 nm.

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.

A color metallic pigment according to the present invention contains at least a metallic pigment, an amorphous silicon oxide film layer that is formed on the surface of the metallic pigment, a metal oxide layer that is formed on the surface of the amorphous silicon oxide film layer and contains a metal oxide other than silicon oxide, and metal particles that are formed on the surface of the metal oxide layer, wherein the metal particles are so formed as to directly cover a part of the metal oxide layer.

The invention relates to a method for preparing colored materials by heterogeneous nucleation of metallic nanoparticles, said nanoparticles exhibiting optical properties based on the surface plasmon phenomenon. The invention also relates to said colored materials obtained, as well as compositions comprising them. In particular, the method for preparing colored particulate material by heterogeneous nucleation notably comprises mixing a suspension at room temperature comprising: at least one salt of a metallic element, said metallic element exhibiting a plasmonic effect, at least one reducing agent, and at least one particulate substrate, said suspension mixture forming a colored particulate material.