Fixing Broken Makeup - Step by Step

I'm sure that everyone who owns makeup has ended up dropping their powder at some point... so it smashes into hundreds of itty bitty pieces. Your first thought? Bin it... I can't use it now. That is where you're wrong, because there is a way to fix that smashed powder...

Step 1 - You're going to need you're broken powder, rubbing alcohol, a spatula and some kitchen roll.

Step 2 - Take your broken powder and using the spatula, start to break it up. (If you're worried about getting it everywhere, you can tightly wrap your powder and case in cling film and break it up inside the cling film.)

Step 3 - You want to break your powder up until it's all been broken into teeny tiny pieces.

Step 4 - Start off by adding a couple of drops of the rubbing alcohol to the powder. (Remember it's easier to add the liquid than take it away. You want to do it bit by bit and try avoid flooding the compact with liquid.)

Step 5 - Mix the broken powder and the rubbing alcohol together. This will take a while and it will be quite clumpy at first, but keep adding the rubbing alcohol bit by bit and eventually it'll get easier to mix.

Step 6 - Once it's all mixed together into a paste (not too watery, you want to keep it reasonably thick.) Spread it out evenly into your compact and smooth out.

Step 7 - Pop a piece of kitchen roll onto your powder mixture, (I folded mine over twice to make a little square!) Then put a similar sized mug to that of the powder on top and leave it so the kitchen roll has time to soak up any excess rubbing alcohol.

Step 8 - Remove the kitchen roll and you'll see that it has soaked up most of the excess liquid. You can also clean up the edges of the compact if you haven't already!

Step 9 - Ta da! Leave your newly done powder out to dry and that's it!

As you can see, my powder at the end has a dotted pattern on... this was simply because the kitchen roll I used had a dotty pattern on it also, so it transferred. Which I actually really like as it adds a bit of decorative texture to my new powder! This method works for any powder... whether it be eye shadow, bronzer, or any other pressed powder... so no need to throw a smashed powder away ever again!