Resurrecting Broken Powder Makeup

On today's episode of Making the Best Out of Being a Clumsy Fool, I'll be sharing how I salvage cracked powder products. AND because I just got this idea last night, here's a picture of my new pressed horse blush.

Eh? Eh? Neat, right? Now you can make it look like you destroyed it on purpose!

You just need 5 things:

1. Formerly pressed powder (aka clumsiness fatality)

2. Crushing implement (like a bobby pin, ball pen/pencil/brush butt, or your fingers)

3. Rubbing alcohol

4. Cling film (Cling Wrap)

5. Anything with a shape you want to press onto the new pan - pick something with a nice silhouette, because the powder might not be able to take on the little details. Alternatively, you can do this with stamps - letters would be great for this!

6 (?) And maybe a hair dryer 

Step 1: Take your unfortunate beauty product and crush the powder pieces further until you only have small bits left. 

tools of destruction and rebirth. pick one

Step 2: Pour on a little rubbing alcohol - the less big bits you have, the less alcohol you're going to need. Remember that we're just going for soft, not mushy, because the wetter it is, the more creases it's going to have when you're trying to smooth it out later. 

Step 2.5 But in case you do put in too much, you can either jump to step 3 and let it dry out by itself, or, if you're doing step 4, this is where the hair dryer becomes necessary. You want it to be dry enough so that the powder doesn't take on the creases of the cling film, but damp enough to take on the shape of the thing you're pressing onto it. 

 

Yes, it still works even with all the little wrinkles

Step 3: Place cling film on top of the pan and smooth out using your fingers or a flat implement. (The plastic covers that come with some compacts are perfect for this). If youu're not doing step 4, you can take off the plastic and wait for it to dry overnight, but where's the fun in that?

Step 4: This is where you can pretend that you crushed your stuff on purpose to serve your "quirky, artistic personality"

Again, take your preferred shape that has a nice silhouette and is not too detailed and press it right on top of the cling film a good 1mm down. Make sure to press down evenly on all sides. 

Peek under the cling film to see if the powder is taking on a lot of the wrinkles on the film. If it is, then it's still too wet. Go back to step 2.5. 

hint: it would have been better to take it off the necklace rings first, but who wants to do that at 2am

Now that your shape has been pressed nicely on there, it's time to smooth things out. You can either use your finger again to rub out any uneven bumps or use a paint brush/pencil/ball pen butt on top of the film to coax the powder into covering up bubbles and unevenness. I also used a nail art detailer to outline the horse, and used some of the excess powder pieces to fill in the holes.

Et voila again! Now instead of a hastily fixed mess, it looks like a primitive cave drawing! *happy dance*

Now it's your turn. I'm sure everyone has had at least one one of these mishaps -- and is it just me, or does it happen more often the more finely-milled the blush is. Do it with a flat finish or with a fun emboss/press and show us in the comments! 

P.S. I've found that letters and little shapes will also work on undamaged pans. Be careful not to push too hard into the palette though, or you might crack the powder.
 

oh yeah! (I got the slight pinkness by rubbing the cling film onto some blush first)