Tuesday 9 July 2013

How to remedy a cracked powder compact

The sight of a powder compact crushed to several minute pieces after accidentally dropping it or from poor handling by the postman just makes my heart sink! I recently received a powder compact in the mail and unfortunately the powder arrived to my doorstep all crushed and shattered, despite being carefully wrapped in bubble wrap! Although the powder could be used as loose powder, I prefer to have a solid powder compact for ease of application and mess-free application.

There are an abundance of 'how-to' posts in the beauty blogosphere to remedy shattered powder back to it's original compact form. Here is how I managed to salvage my powder compact (which can be also be done on crushed blush, eyeshadow etc.):

Carefully transfer the powder into a clean container.
Add a few drops of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) and use a stick to stir the mixture into a slurry. Rubbing alcohol is typically used as a disinfectant and you can find it in the supermarket, shelved in the same aisle as Dettol and Panadol.
Once the slurry is homogenised, transfer the mixture back into the compact.
Place a layer of glad wrap over the compact.
Use the back of a spoon to flatten out the mixture.
Allow for about 1 hour for the alcohol to evaporate and voila! My powder compact ended up setting with a few cracks, but at least it is still intact and usable!

 Have you ever had a cracked compact before? Did you use the product as loose powder, dispose it or use rubbing alcohol to fix it up?

xx Rose


1 comment:

  1. The only problem I have with using alcohol is that it tends to make the makeup harder than a pressed one. Though unfortunately there aren't many other alternatives to fixing a broken cake.

    ReplyDelete