TUTORIAL: Fixing a broken pressed shadow or pressing a mineral pigment at home

Ever accidentally drop an eyeshadow or blush and have it break?  Or curse when you open a loose mineral pigment when the stuff gets all over you?  Did you wish that it came in a pressed form?  Well you can do it yourself with just some household items easily!

Here's what you will need:

• The broken shadow/blush or loose mineral pigment
• Alcohol - I use 70% rubbing alcohol, easily available just about anywhere
• Container for your pressed shadow or pigment - you can use the container it came in, or put it in a palette etc
• something completely flat that will fit over the container to press the shadow down - the closer you can get to an exact fit the better
• couple of sheets of toilet paper

For this tutorial I am using a loose pigment.  I've collected a ton of these over the years and fell out of love with the whole Bare Escentuals/Bare Minerals thing some years ago.  I found trying to work with the loose stuff to be a recipe for fallout everywhere and spilling it was inevitable.  Every time I opened these containers I wanted to just make them be a pressed shadow for ease of use.  I got this one in the February Glossybox, gorgeous dup for MAC's Club eyeshadow.

You may want to do all of this on a paper towel in case there is fall out.  If the pigment/shadow is not already in the container you want to ultimately store it in, then transfer it to the target container first.  If you are working with a broken shadow/blush, take a fork or the handle end of a cosmetics brush and crush the rest of it so that it is in a relatively uniform powder.  Some small chunks are fine.

DaVinci pigment in Lava

Once the pigment/shadow is pretty even, add some rubbing alcohol a capful at a time and stirring it in until it resembles a thick cake batter.  Tap the container on the surface you are working on gently to even out the surface and remove any bubbles.  Allow it to air dry overnight.

Add enough to make a paste - two capfuls worked here

Find something with a similar diameter to your container

Next after your pigment has mostly dried, (overnight is best)  find something that has a similar diameter to your container.  This will be your "presser" that will smoosh the pigment into a tightly packed cake and allow you to use it without making a huge mess.  Cover the presser with a couple of sheets of toilet paper and press the pigment down firmly.  The toilet paper should absorb any excess alcohol.  If the mixture is still too wet and a lot of pigment comes up with the TP, wait another day to try and press it down again.

Press firmly

Once its pressed into the container, let it dry another night and you should be good to go!

Allow to dry overnight