Has this ever happened to you? My sister was toting her shu uemura powder compact, despite its brokenness and inconvenience, because she didn’t want to spring for a new one. These things are a bit on the expensive side, and as you can see from the photo, there’s still a substantial amount left in there for her to use.
The compact first cracked when a stranger caught her bag and caused it to slide off the back of her chair. Since then, it’s been on its way to a place beyond repair. I volunteered to try and fix it because it was getting way too messy in her makeup bag.
First, you want to grind the pieces into an actual loose powder instead of just the chunks. I poured the contents in a Ziploc bag and ground the pieces into fine powder. The Ziploc bag is a good idea to keep everything neat and also so that you can clean the compact first.
If you apply foundation with a brush, you can actually just pour it into a spare, clean screw-top pot as a loose powder. My sister uses a sponge for this product, though, so I got to work on the other steps.
Once you’ve poured the contents into the metal pan container, add bits of alcohol into the powder until it becomes a paste. I used 70% Isopropyl Alcohol. Alcohol is used because it evaporates faster than water. I think the point is to get the product dry as quickly as possible so no (less?) bacteria develops. Use a knife to get it as flat as possible and drop it gently on the table a few times to get rid of air pockets.
Let it dry for an hour. I placed a facial tissue over the pan and pressed on it with a flat tool (I used the underside of a kabuki brush) to squeeze out the extra liquid. If you do this step before letting it partially dry, the mixture will just stick to your tissue. When you’ve eliminated the extra liquid, let it dry overnight.
This powder is currently in use! It still works the same, though it’s a bit harder to get the product onto the sponge for some reason. Still, it’s functional and easier to tote around. 🙂
Any beauty emergencies on your mind? Reply to this post or send me an email, and let’s see what I can do to help out. Thanks for reading!
Softly Sometimes 
Nice save! I did the same thing when I dropped my compact. But only stopped at the grinding part because I’m okay with using a brush to apply powder.
>
Glad to hear that!
I had a similar experience with a blush product. After I fixed it with alcohol, I don’t get the same amount of product on a brush anymore.
But it still works, yes?
Yup! And the color didn’t change 🙂
The same technique can also be used for turning loose pigments to pressed shadows. 😀
Really? I thought you needed a binder/special mixing medium!
Does this also work with powder blushes and eyeshadows?
This is pretty the same how-to I’ve found everywhere. I haven’t tried it with those products, though, so I can’t really vouch for it personally
The alcohol may have dissolved or evaporated whatever makes the powder transfer to the sponge easily, essentially making the powder “drier.” You’re a brave soul to mix it with enough alcohol to make a paste! I always thought you pack it in as best you can then spray just the top with alcohol. It worked for my cracked shadow in a pan, but then that one is of course much smaller than a powder compact.
Really? For all the tutorials I’ve watched, it was grind then pour then mix into a paste! Anyway, she said it works fine, just takes a bit more work than it used to!
I have so many this has happened too.. I MUST do this thank you! x
Welcome!