Almost every guide to blotting paper ranks materials by adjective — "highly absorbent", "less absorbent", "gentle". None of them give you a number. Yet there is one number that tells you almost everything about a blotting sheet before you touch it: its basis weight, in grams per square metre. Here is the full substrate index, with the weight of each.
The short answer
The everyday reference sheet is linen at 16 g/m². It is the most widely used oil blotting paper in the market and the number most brands should anchor to. Two of the other common substrates — suede-finish and bamboo charcoal — run heavier, at 20 g/m². And an oil-control film is not measured in g/m² at all; it is measured in micrometres, because it is an extruded sheet rather than a fibre web.
Basis weight is the fastest way to check that a supplier is quoting the substrate you actually asked for, and to compare two quotes on the same footing. Ask for it in g/m² rather than "thin" or "premium" — it is the one spec that is unambiguous across suppliers and languages.
The substrate index
These are the substrates Yanse runs. Where a basis weight is given below, it is the figure our production confirms for that paper. Where it is not, we quote it per project rather than publish a number we have not verified for the finished sheet — base papers vary by mill and by run, and a number that is right for one grade is not automatically right for another.
| Substrate | Basis weight | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed weights — the three most-specified papers | ||
| Classic linen (FSC), 7 tones | 16 g/m² | The industry reference sheet and the most commonly ordered. Clean-beauty and vegan ranges; crisp hand-feel; the weight to anchor a comparison to. |
| Suede-finish paper | 20 g/m² | Soft, velvety surface and a more substantial sheet. Premium and gifting ranges. |
| Bamboo charcoal | 20 g/m² | Dark matte sheet, deep-clean and men's-line story. Heavier than linen because the charcoal is carried in the sheet. |
| Other substrates — weight quoted per project | ||
| Green tea infused | on quotation | Antioxidant and soothing story; clean-beauty ranges. |
| Gold leaf | on quotation | Luxury and gifting; the Kanazawa-style premium format. |
| Hyaluronic acid infused | on quotation | Blot-without-stripping positioning for dehydrated oily skin. |
| Rose, tinted and tea-coloured | on quotation | Colour-led ranges; seven stock tones plus custom. |
| Coffee-infused linen | on quotation | Circular-economy and sustainability stories; biodegradable. |
| Rice and rice-powder | on quotation | Soft, brightening-adjacent positioning. |
| Ultra-soft cellulose | on quotation | Softest touch, drapes to the face. Sensitive-leaning ranges. |
| Volcanic ash / clay | on quotation | Deep-clean positioning; the most substantial paper in the range. |
| Setting-powder papers — two different products, not one | ||
| Premium setting-powder paper | 16 g/m² base + 2, 4 or 8 g/m² powder | A fine, well-dispersed powder laid onto the 16 g/m² blotting base, in three loads. The 8 g load is the one we recommend for most briefs. Blots and re-mattifies in one pass. |
| Standard setting-powder paper | ≈ 25 g/m² finished | A coarser powder in a heavier load. Built for markets that want visible, generous coverage — South-East Asia in particular. |
| Film — measured in micrometres, not g/m² | ||
| Silk-soft microporous film | ≈ 42 µm | Polypropylene, not paper. Lifts oil without disturbing makeup; see-through oil indication. |
Setting-powder paper: the distinction buyers keep missing
"Setting-powder blotting paper" is used as if it were one product. It is two, and they are aimed at different markets.
| Premium | Standard | |
|---|---|---|
| Construction | 16 g/m² blotting base + powder | Heavier sheet, powder-led |
| Powder loads | 2, 4 or 8 g/m² — three options | One, generous |
| Powder character | Fine, evenly dispersed | Coarser than the premium grade |
| Finished weight | Base plus the load you choose | ≈ 25 g/m² |
| Best-fit market | Japan, Korea, US, EU — a discreet touch-up | South-East Asia — visible coverage, humid climates |
| Our recommendation | The 8 g/m² load for most briefs | Specify when the brief asks for coverage over finesse |
Shiseido's Pureness oil-control blotting paper has been discontinued and the reformulated successor has not landed well with its users — which is why "Shiseido blotting paper" is still searched several hundred times a month with nowhere obvious to go. If you are looking for a like-for-like route, it is the premium powder paper at the 8 g/m² load, on the 16 g/m² base — a fine powder on a proper blotting substrate, rather than a heavy powder-led sheet. We can quote it as a private-label line from 3,000 units per SKU. Ask for the 8 g sample alongside a 2 g and a 4 g; the difference between the three loads is obvious in hand and is the decision most of this brief comes down to.
Heavier does not mean more absorbent. Bamboo charcoal is 25% heavier than linen — 20 g/m² against 16 — but the extra weight is the charcoal carried in the sheet, and suede-finish reaches the same 20 g/m² through surface construction instead. Two papers at the same weight can behave differently, and two papers at different weights can blot similarly. Use basis weight to identify and compare a substrate, not to rank absorption. Choose the material by audience and hand-feel, and confirm the weight on the quotation.
What basis weight does not tell you
Being precise about the limits of a number is part of using it well.
- It does not rank absorption between two papers of similar weight. Fibre type, porosity and finishing all contribute. A 16 g/m² charcoal and a 16 g/m² green tea will behave very similarly; the marketing will not.
- It is not a quality grade. A 16 g/m² linen is not "worse" than a 20 g/m² charcoal — they are different products for different jobs, and linen is the more commonly ordered of the two.
- It does not carry across to film. A 42 µm film and a 16 g/m² paper cannot be ranked on one number, and any supplier who converts between the two is guessing.
- It says nothing about tear strength in the pack. That is a converting and packaging question — how the sheet is stacked, glued and pulled — and it is where a lot of consumer complaints actually originate.
You will see suppliers quote oil-absorption numbers in mg/cm². Ask for the test method and the report before you put any such number in your marketing. Yanse publishes basis weight, dimensions and composition — which are mill specifications we can evidence — and supplies test documentation on request rather than printing comparative absorption claims we have not had independently verified. A supplier who cannot name the method behind a number is quoting you someone else's brochure.
Sizes and formats
Sheets are die-cut from large parent sheets, so size is a yield question rather than a feasibility one. The four sizes that cover most of the market:
| Finished sheet | Typical use |
|---|---|
| 55 × 65 mm | The standard booklet sheet; most stock packs. |
| 56 × 67 mm | Slightly larger; common in mirror-case and refill formats. |
| 60 × 90 mm | Full-face format; fewer sheets per pack, more coverage each. |
| 67 × 56 mm | Landscape orientation for wide booklets and tins. |
A custom size is normally possible. It changes how many sheets come off a parent sheet, and therefore unit cost — not whether it can be made.
How to specify blotting paper in an RFQ
Five lines will get you a firm quote without a round of clarifying emails:
- Substrate and basis weight — e.g. "bamboo charcoal, 16 g/m²". Not "thick" or "premium".
- Finished sheet size in mm — or say "standard 55 × 65".
- Sheets per pack — 50 and 100 are the common counts.
- Pack format — booklet, mirror case, tin, refill, or a pouch.
- Print or emboss — and whether you need a die-cut shape, which carries its own tooling minimum.
Can one factory make all of them?
Few can, and this is worth testing early. Most suppliers in this category buy finished sheets and convert or pack them, which is why a typical quote covers two or three materials. Yanse makes the paper and the film in-house across the whole index above — which is why a single sample set can span linen, charcoal, green tea, coffee-infused linen, a powder 2-in-1 and a film, on one lead time and one MOQ.
The full range — 27 styles across four families — is on the oil blotting paper page. Material-specific detail sits on the bamboo charcoal page, the natural linen, rice and green tea page, the setting-powder 2-in-1 page and the oil-control film page. Full technical parameters, including tolerances and certifications, are in the product specifications matrix.
Want to feel the difference in the weights?
Tell us the audience and we will send a sample set across the weight range — the 16 g/m² linen reference, a 20 g/m² bamboo charcoal, a 20 g/m² suede-finish and a film — so your team can judge hand-feel directly rather than from a spec sheet.
Request a sample set →Free samples · 24-hour quote · MOQ from 3,000 per SKU · samples in ~72 h on ready substrates
Reference content for brand and product teams. Basis weights are nominal mill specifications for the base substrate and carry normal production tolerance; confirm the exact figure for your chosen material on the quotation. Composition and claim wording vary by market regulation and should be confirmed against the rules of your target market before use on pack. Yanse Cosmetics is a contract manufacturer (OEM/ODM) and does not sell finished consumer goods under its own brand.