Effect pigments with golden appearance have been used in automotive paint since the early eighties. At that time these golden pigments were based on transparent mica flakes, which were coated with a single film of iron oxide or titanium oxide. The golden interference and absorption colours of such oxide films on mica flakes were strong, however the transparency of those pigments limited the hiding power of such basecoats. An alternative formulation for golden shades at that time was a combination of aluminium flakes with transparent yellow to red pigments such as fine-sized, transparent iron oxide. These formulations had excellent gloss ...