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For coloring bath salts (which are a cosmetic) you would need to use a color additive that is approved by the FDA for use in cosmetics. There are lots of color additives that are approved for cosmetics,  however some of them do not work well in bath salts.

Ultramarines are basically made by heat treating kaolin clay and sulphur. At low pH’s (which is the range where bath salts are) ultramarines tend to break down and release sulphur giving off that lovely rotten egg smell. Not a very nice surprise for your customers. While these stink, LOL, they do
not fade.

Iron Oxides will work, but may also leave a residue in the tub. The good thing is they don’t fade.

Micas will work. Some will fade and some won’t. They will most likely leave a residue in the tub.

There are also natural colorants on the FDA’s approved colorant list. These are annatto, caramel, carmine and beta-carotene. There are a few more, but nothing that you would probably want to use in salts. These will all fade in sunlight or UV rays. There are no flowers (like blue malva - which will make water a lovely blue — too bad it does not hold up in soap) or chlorophyll listed on the approved list and using these “simply for the purpose of coloring” your salts would make them an adulterated product, you don’t want that.

Dyes offer the biggest color choice of all. You want to make sure that what you are using in on the approved list for cosmetics. And as with natural color additives, eventually dyes will eventually fade, particularly if exposed to UV rays. There are a couple dyes that are limited in the amount you can use in a product, Green 8 and Red 36, but generally you would have to add so much of these dyes to a product that the product would start coloring other items before you reached that limit.

Unless you are familiar with the ingredients in certain food colorants it is not a good idea  to use them in bath salts or other toiletries.  Some food colorants, particularly gel/paste food colorants, contain Blue#2 and Red#3.  Both Blue#2 and Red#3 are not approved by the FDA for use in cosmetics.

The link to the FDA’s list of approved color additives is: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opa-col2.html 
You can look up the individual colors in 21 CFR part 73, subpart C and 21CFR part 74, subpart C.  Unless you are making make-up or lip stick and eyeshadow, you don’t really need to worrying about what you use as long as it is on the approved list for cosmetics.

If you are considering using ultramarines and oxides blended with castor oil to color lip products, you might want to reconsider.  Sure, you will see on the FDA website that both ultramarines and oxides are safe to use in externally applied cosmetics, but what does that mean?

According to 21 CFR §70.3, “The terms externally applied drugs and externally applied cosmetics mean drugs or cosmetics applied only to external parts of the body and not to the lips or any body surface covered by mucous membrane.”

So the FDA restricts the use of the following color additives in lipsticks, lip glosses, lip balms or cosmetics applied to the lips.

Ultramarines
According to 21 CFR §73.2725 (c) “Uses and restrictions. The ultramarine pigments may be safely used for coloring externally applied cosmetics, including cosmetics intended for use in the area of the eye, in amounts consistent with good manufacturing practice.”

Hydrated Chromium Green
According to 21 CFR §73.2326(b) “Uses and restrictions. Chromium hydroxide green is safe for use in coloring externally applied cosmetics, including those intended for use in the area of the eye, in amounts consistent with good manufacturing practice.

Chromium Green Oxide
According to 21 CFR §73.2327(b) “Uses and restrictions. The color additive chromium oxide greens may be safely used in externally applied cosmetics, including cosmetics intended for use in the area of the eye, in amounts consistent with good manufacturing practice.”

So, if you want tint lipsticks, lip glosses or lip balms, consider using lakes instead of ultramarines or the above mentioned oxides.  If you want green consider a blend of yellow and blue lakes. 

That said, yellow, brown and black oxides are safe for general cosmetics, so there’s no problem with mixing them with castor oil and using those for color.

If you’re thinking about using micas your lip products, you may also want to check and see if the following are an ingredient in the mica you are considering.  Both of these color additives are usually primarily in blue micas, but they are also used in many other colored micas too.  You’ll need to be sure and do some research.

Ferric ferrocyanide. 
According to 21 CFR §73.2299(b) “Uses and restrictions. Ferric ferrocyanide is safe for use in coloring externally applied cosmetics, including cosmetics applied to the area of the eye, in amounts consistent with good manufacturing practice.”

Ferric ammonium ferrocyanide. 
According to 21 CFR §73.2298(b) “Uses and restrictions. Ferric ammonium ferrocyanide is safe for use in coloring externally applied cosmetics, including cosmetics applied to the area of the eye, in amounts consistent with good manufacturing practice.”

Keep your winter shoes, boots and gloves smelling fresh and clean. 

You’ll need:

Crystal cat litter (silica gel type stuff found at the grocery store)
Essential or fragrance oils (tea tree and lavender work well)
Small cloth bags with tie closures

Mix a small amount of the essential or fragrance oils with some of the crystals cat litter.  Put this mixture of litter and essential oils in the muslin bags and place the filled bags inside the gloves and boots.  The crystal cat litter will absorb the moisture and the antifungal, antibacterial properties of the tee tree should keep the odor causing bacteria and fungi in check.  Lavender essential oil has some properties similar to tea tree and will also help make the tea tree smell better.