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News Release


November 14, 2005

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Ronastar® - five new color fireworks with sparkling brilliance


Merck KGaA announces the expansion of the Ronastar® product family with 5 new interference pigments for cosmetic and personal care products. Making their debut are: Ronastar® Aqua Sparks, Ronastar® Green Sparks, Ronastar® Purple Sparks, Ronastar® Red Sparks (based on particle sizes of 20 - 200µm) and Ronastar® Silver (10 - 100µm). Their vivid effects impart an especially appealing aesthetic to cosmetic and personal care products.

The Ronastar® pigments are characterized by deep, pure interference colors, high transparency, extraordinary luster, brilliant glitter, multi-colored sparkling effects, and a smooth, pleasant skin-feel. Ronastar® pigments can be used to enhance a variety of cosmetic and personal care formulas such as emulsions, powders, creams, gels and nail polishes. Lower concentrations allow the individual glittering, multi-colored particles to be seen. Higher concentrations of a Ronastar® create a mirror-like effect in formulas.

Ronastar® Aqua Sparks displays the color of the sea. A refreshing, revitalizing turquoise is the dominant color, with flecks of green to green-blue to blue tones adding variation.

Ronastar® Green Sparks delights with a lively, vivid green combined with a breathtaking gleam. It sparkles with warm red and yellow-green multi-color effects.

Ronastar® Purple Sparks has an elegant, deep purple interference effect amplified by nuances of red, blue-green and violet glitter.

Ronastar® Red Sparks combines a royal, radiant red, delicate multi-color glitter effect, and intense luster. The result is a pigment with a subtle interference color shift from pure red to coppery-red.

Ronastar® Silver captivates with an astounding silver-white luster that is enlivened by colorful glitter effects and a powerful luster. Besides the extraordinary visual effect, Ronastar® Silver shows good light stability. These characteristics allow for the use in self-tanning formulations in combination with dihydroxyacetone as well as in applications like lipsticks, nail polishes, eye liners, eye shadow and care products. Concentrations as low as 0.05% can display a strong luster effect in transparent formulations.

The basis for all Ronastar® effect pigments is Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate platelets. Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate is neutral in color, and highly transparent. When coated with metal oxides, extremely pure colors emerge. The beautiful multi-color effect of each Ronastar® pigment is created by the thickness deviation of the substrate. The very smooth surface and high transparency of the substrate generate brilliant glitter effects and in addition, the very thin platelet thickness of less than 1 μm creates a smooth, pleasant skin-feel.

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Caption: Eyeshadow containing Ronastar® Silver.

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Caption: Foam Bath containing Ronastar® Green Sparks.


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Caption: Foam Bath containing Ronastar® Purple Sparks.


Ronastar-Red_Sparks-Lipgloss1.JPG
Caption: Lipgloss containing Ronastar® Red Sparks.


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Caption: Lipstick containing Ronastar® Aqua Sparks.

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Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company with sales of EUR 5.9 billion in 2004, a history that began in 1668, and a future shaped by 28,900 employees in 54 countries. Its success is characterized by innovations from entrepreneurial employees. Merck's operating activities come under the umbrella of Merck KGaA, in which the Merck family holds a 73% interest and free shareholders own the remaining 27%. The former U.S. subsidiary, Merck & Co., has been completely independent of the Merck Group since 1917.