A coating composition is described comprising a polymer resin binder and optically variable thin film pigment flakes. The pigment flakes have a multilayer thin film interference structure comprising a metal reflector layer having first and second parallel planar surfaces and, disposed on at least one of said first and second planar surfaces, at least one transparent dielectric layer. The pigment flakes further have an average particle size of 5 to 40 νm and a particle size distribution where no more than 10 % of the particles have a particle size of greater than 50 νm and substantially none of the particles have a particle size of greater than 125 νm. This coating composition can be used to prepare a variety of coatings, especially color-plus-clear composite coatings such as those used in the automotive industry.
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