Materials in the form of colored spherical fine particles

A process for producing colored spherical fine particles comprising adding an organic or inorganic pigment coated with a hydrated metal compound to a metal oxide sol or a sol mixture comprising the metal oxide sol and an inorganic compound, or alkoxide, mixing the resulting mixture with a water-insoluble or sparingly water-soluble organic solvent in the presence of a surfactant to form a W/O sol emulsion, mixing the emulsion with a basic substance or electrolyte to cause the sol forming the aqueous layer of the emulsion to gel to obtain spherical gel particles, and subsequently heating the particulate gel to remove the water in the gel from the system as a mixture with the organic solvent.

A cosmetic composition comprised of colored almost perfectly spherical fine particles comprising an organic pigment and/or an inorganic pigment coated with a hydrated metal compound over the surface thereof, the coated pigment or pigments being enclosed with a porous layer of inorganic material, the colored almost perfectly spherical particles being prepared by a process comprising adding an organic or inorganic pigment coated with a hydrated metal compound to an aqueous solution containing at least one inorganic compound selected from the group consisting of alkali metal silicates, carbonates, and phosphates, and alkaline earth metal halides and nitrates to obtain a dispersion, and admixing with the dispersion with an aqueous solution of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of alkaline earth metal halides, inorganic acids, organic acids, inorganic acid ammonium salts, organic acid ammonium salts and alkali metal carbonates and capable of forming a water-insoluble precipitate by an aqueous solution reaction with the inorganic compound, before or after admixing the dispersion with an organic solvent having a solubility of up to 8% in water to obtain a W/O emulsion.