Improved powder paint compositions employing particulate metal color producing components comprise a unique combination of (a) aluminum flakes individually encapsulated in a thin, thermoplastic organic film-former (b) nickel powder, and (c) the principal film-former of the powder paint composition in particulate form. The encapsulated aluminum flake is prepared by intimately dispersing the aluminum flake in a solution of the thermoplastic, organic film-former of controlled concentration and spray drying the resultant dispersion. In the preferred embodiment, the principal film-former of the powder paint composition is also a thermoplastic material and, in the most preferred embodiment, it is also of the same composition as the principal film-former of the powder coating composition.