pressing shattered powders {don’t throw your makeup away}

I don’t think there is a lady out there that hasn’t had a powder cosmetic break or shatter on her. We’ve all had them slip out of our hands and crash to the floor as we gasp and yell, nooooooooooooo! It’s possible to continue to use them in their broken state but it makes application a trick and leaves a powdery mess in our makeup cases. I honestly don’t remember where I first came upon this fix but I knew it was inevitable that one day I’d be needing to try it.

I have been storing this shattered MAC Mineralized Skin Finish (in Petticoat) in a ziploc bag a long while and finally got it out the other day to see if this method really worked. All you need is some rubbing alcohol and a few little tools.




In this case only half of the blush was shattered so even though it seems a sin to do so, I took a little fork (a toothpick or any small tool will do) and broke up the rest of the product. You want to make sure the powder is fine with no chunks or pieces.




When all the blush was broken up I spread the powder around to fill the entire compact. You want to press it down to make it set. You could use a little dropper but since I didn’t have one I just poured some rubbing alcohol onto a teaspoon and carefully dripped it onto the broken powder until the entire compact was moist. I then took the back of the spoon to press the mixture and smooth out any bumps.




*Tip* If you are re-pressing a potted eyeshadow you can use a quarter to press the powder down and get a very smooth, flat finish to the top of the product. I did not have anything the size of this compact so I did the best I could with the spoon. Not very smooth, ah well.




Once I had all the dry powder moistened and pressed into the compact I put it aside and let it dry overnight. When I came  back to it the rubbing alcohol had evaporated and dried leaving a (almost) good as new compact of pressed powder. I cleaned up the edges, top and bottom and snapped the lid closed. It’s not the prettiest thing but it’s a lot better than having a messy shattered, rarely-used compact lying in my makeup case.




It works! I hope that I don’t have to use this method again soon but I’m glad to know that in the event of another crash I do have an easy fix.