REFERENCE LIBRARY · FINISHES & TECHNOLOGIES
Colour & coating library
Reference entries on the finishes professionals are asked about most: how each one is actually produced, why it looks the way it does, and which materials behave similarly. These are technical explanations, not product listings. Where a finish is proprietary to a manufacturer we say so and discuss the technology rather than implying we supply it.
Library entries
FEATURED ENTRY · STRUCTURAL COLOUR
Structural Blue explained: how a Morpho-inspired finish works
Why interference from engineered layers produces a saturation that pigment cannot, what that means for refinishing, and which materials get closest for a professional project.
READ THE ENTRY-
TECHNOLOGY GUIDE
Liquid-metal automotive finishes
Very fine, highly oriented aluminium pigment and why the application window is narrow.
-
TECHNOLOGY GUIDE
Matte and frozen OEM finishes
How gloss is removed at the clear coat, and why these finishes cannot be polished.
-
TECHNOLOGY GUIDE
Candy apple red: building depth in layers
Transparent colour over a reflective base, and why every pass must be identical.
-
COMPARISON
Pearlescent vs metallic vs candy
Three different mechanisms that are routinely confused in enquiries.
-
FLAGSHIP ARTICLE
Rare automotive paint colours
Six exotic finish technologies, why they are difficult, and what drives their cost.
-
PIGMENT SCIENCE
Structural colour vs pigmented colour
Interference and scattering versus selective absorption — and what each can achieve.
-
AVAILABILITY EXPLAINER
Vantablack and ultra-black: what you can actually buy
Branded technologies, commercial materials, and how to specify reflectance.
What this library is for
Colour arrives in an enquiry as a name, a photograph or a code, and none of those says what the finish actually is. These entries explain the mechanism behind a colour so that a requirement can be specified rather than described.
Colour from pigment
Most colour is a pigment absorbing part of the spectrum and reflecting the rest. Hue, opacity and lightfastness come from the chemistry, and two pigments of the same shade can behave completely differently in the same binder.
Colour from structure
Interference, iridescence and structural colour come from thin films and layered platelets rather than from absorption. They change with viewing angle, which is why a single colour reference cannot describe them.
Colour from the system
Candies, tri-coats and high-orientation metallics get their appearance from the stack — ground coat, effect coat and clear — and from how it is applied. The product in the tin is only part of the answer.
The absence of colour
Ultra-black and low-reflectance coatings work by trapping light rather than reflecting a hue. They are specified by reflectance and durability, and are surrounded by more misinformation than any other finish we are asked about.
Technical interest and commercial availability are different questions
A colour can be thoroughly documented and still be impossible to buy. Some of the finishes people most want are proprietary manufacturer processes rather than products; others exist commercially but only through a licence, in one pack size, or at a price that changes the project. Nothing on these pages should be read as a statement that a material is available.
Where an entry describes a finish that BADAR can investigate commercially, it links to the category that handles it. Where it describes something that cannot currently be obtained, it says so. That distinction is the point of keeping the library separate from the commercial pages.
When an entry does turn into an enquiry, what you get back is a route rather than a catalogue line. How long that takes depends on where the answer sits: a current product through a known channel is quick, while a discontinued finish or a made-to-order material runs on the manufacturer’s schedule, which we quote as given. Anything supplied arrives with the manufacturer’s safety data sheet and technical data sheet for the product, and materials placed on the EU market carry classification under CLP and obligations under REACH — see technical compliance for what that means in practice.
Learn
Read the entry and establish which mechanism produces the finish you are looking at.
Identify
Turn it into something specifiable — a system, a pigment class, or a manufacturer paint code. Paint-code sourcing covers the automotive case.
Source
Take it to the category that handles it: automotive paints, effect pigments or specialty coatings.
Enquire
Send the requirement with quantity, substrate and destination, and we investigate what can actually be obtained.
Looking for an advanced effect for a professional coating project? Discuss specialty blue pigments, interference materials and effect systems with our team.