Have you ever dropped a pressed makeup product and watched it crumble right before your eyes? My stomach drops, I usually curse, and then I start to assess the damage.
First, gather what you can back into the pan. Most pressed products can be re-pressed with alcohol. If you have an extremely delicate product (like a mineral or baked product), you can also use a special pressing medium or a mixture of alcohol and glycerin to help bind the product back together. Otherwise, you may have to transform the product into a loose pigment. If this is the case, just chop up the product as best as you can and transfer it into a small jar with a sifter lid.
Pressing with alcohol can also change the texture of your products, so be aware that it may not be the same. It may be harder to pick up product and it may not blend as easily. However, this doesn’t always happen and with the majority of the items I have pressed, they usually end up working out just fine!
If you decide to move forward with pressing your makeup, it may be messy and you may lose some of your product in the process.
But you’ll be left with a whole product again!
First, you will need alcohol. I use 91% but others have had success with 70% as well. You will need a sanitized quarter. This will help you reshape your product and make it flat and uniform. You will also need some toilet paper or a tissue to soak up extra alcohol. Next you’ll need a dropper or some kind of object that will allow you to control drops of alcohol falling on your product. Lastly, you will need a cotton swab or a small spatula to spread the alcohol around and mix everything together.
Next, make sure everything is pretty well broken up. If it is something small like an eyeshadow, I would go ahead and break up the whole thing. If it is a bigger product and only a piece fell off and the rest is intact, I would just treat the loose piece and leave the bigger piece alone.
Add enough drops of alcohol to completely cover the broken bits. Don’t worry if you add too much as you will be soaking up the extra later.
Use your cotton swab or clean spatula to mix everything together and get it relatively flat.
You should be left with something like this:
Now take your tissue and lay it flat over the pan. Try to do it evenly without dipping one end in before the other. I use 2-3 layers for maximum absorption. Press down firmly with the quarter to soak up the excess alcohol.
Remove very gently.
You will be left with whole makeup again!
Let dry for at least 24-48 hours uncovered.
Remember to treat these repressed products gently. Let me know if you give this a try or what you usually do with your broken makeup. As always,
Good luck mamas and until next time, stay beautiful!
