Last week, much to my horror, my Guerlain Terra Inca powder broke. I’d accidentally knocked it off my dresser and when I opened it and saw the crack through the edge of the powder, I could not help the sinking feeling in my stomach. It wasn’t that I was so in love with it. The practical reason was “It cost me so much!”
Fortunately, it did not shatter so its still useable. I just have to be careful storing it. However, I’ve had powder makeup shatter on me before and always, I’ve been advised to re-press or repair it where it can look as good as new. Sort of.
However, I don’t do this.
Repairing or re-pressing broken powder makeup requires rubbing alcohol or isopropyl alcohol, which I believe can be obtained from most pharmacies. It is commonly used as a disinfectant.
To repair broken powder makeup, what you are advised to do is drip some rubbing alcohol onto the shattered powder, press it back together with a spoon or spatula, re-emboss it if you like, and then leave it for a few days to dry out properly before using. Isopropyl Alcohol evaporates quickly without changing the colour of your makeup hence the common use of this for repairing broken eyeshadows or blush or for pressing loose powder eyeshadows or pigments.
I have done this before many years ago when I first learned about this. The colour does not change, but I found the texture was different. What was once a product where I could pick up pigment or colour easily became harder to the touch and to work with. I did not like that.
I therefore choose not to use this method. In fact, I choose not to repair the shattered item. If the item is old, I sometimes toss it as I did my Nars Desire blush that broke while I was depotting it. Sometimes, I toss out the broken bits and work with the remaining product (as I did the Dior Cannage palette). If I absolutely love the color then I crush it up, put it in a empty tub and use it as a loose powder eyeshadow or blush. If its broken but not shattered, I leave it where it is and use it more carefully, as you see in the picture above. Its my personal choice.
Your say: Do you repair or re-press broken powder makeup? Or do you just give up on it?
Paris B
Lee says
June 21, 2011 at 8:35 amI’d just put them in another container & use it. I broke one of the Bobbi Brown shimmer brick, I crushed them all and put them in a pot, just use it in loose form…voila. No money wasted, it’s still useable but just not as pretty as it used to.
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 10:10 amI’m the same. I prefer to just repot it and use it loose.
Sandra says
June 21, 2011 at 9:13 amI’m lazy & kedekut! I just leave it as it is, although I have to be careful not to spill/crack more of it.
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 10:11 amHAHA That’s not kedekut 😉 That’s just like me! 😉
Jacqueline says
June 21, 2011 at 9:28 amOh no! I remembered the first time I broke my very first Stila eye shadow palette, that was the first time I spent so much on one (eons ago!) I cried. My hubby thought I was very silly. Anyway pressing it will salvage the product but it just wouldn’t be the same. I would also put them in a pot to reuse. Pressing it just takes too much effort!
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 10:11 amThe first time I tried repressing I found it so much hassle too. Some shadows actually worked better after bring crushed … surprise surprise 🙂
Lindsey D says
June 21, 2011 at 9:31 amI find repressing stuff really fun, so I usually do it, except when I have a teeny tiny amount of product left, then I just use it like I would some sort of loose powder. I don’t normally find the texture any different, but I do mostly repress MAC stuff (I rarely have anything else break that badly, which personally makes me suspicious about the quality lol), which seems to be the most common brand to press/repress.
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 10:12 amI know some people who press pigments and I tried it, but did not like the pigment texture after that 🙂 Do MAC shadows crack that easily? I didn’t know that 🙂
Hanny says
June 21, 2011 at 9:54 amThey said that you could also use contact lens solutions for this sort of thing. But so far, I’m lucky to have only an Elianto eyeshadow crack on me. It went straight to the bin, heh heh heh.
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 10:14 amHmm… not sure about contact lens solution – is it viscous enough to hold it together? I know some people said contact lens solution or eye drops could work as a mixing medium, for mixing loose pigments or loose shadows for liner/cream colour. I tried it once and it was meh. I prefer using a proper mixing medium 🙂 As for Elianto, I find their shadows quite soft and I’ve had one break on me too. Into the bin it went 😛
electronicfly says
June 21, 2011 at 10:01 amI repress 😀 I’ve done so for a few items, and I don’t feel that the texture changed though. Could it be that when you repressed yours you compacted it too much? I tried that before once and that eyeshadow got sooo hard, but once I broke it up and repressed it more gently it was all good again 😀
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 10:15 amHmm… it could be that. I might have over done it 🙂 But these days, I’m either a) more careful so there’s less breakage or b) too lazy 😉
Sam says
June 21, 2011 at 10:22 amI don’t repress at all. I just try to keep using it until it can’t be done anymore.
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 11:20 amMe too! Sometimes, after I keep at it, the broken bits get used up and then its all good 🙂
xin says
June 21, 2011 at 11:29 amI never bother to repair the powder too for the fear of changing the texture. If it is a broken foundation, usually i will just toss out the bits (lazy to crush and store) and continue to use the remaining in the pan 😀
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 2:43 pmYa I’m also like that. I usually crush and store if its something I really like. Otherwise, I just kick myself for being careless
Denise says
June 21, 2011 at 12:27 pmI repaired an eyeshadow a blush using alcohol, both re-shattered on me after a while. Oh well, at least I tried.
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 2:43 pmIt reshattered? Oh dear… As you said, at least you tried!
Tamara says
February 27, 2013 at 12:28 pmThe same happen to me, just wanted to fix my mac foundation. In couple hours I saw that it cracked again..
Monstro says
June 21, 2011 at 1:22 pmI repressed once, but the results were just like yours–too hard. Didn’t bother after that!
Btw, what do you do with your depotted Nars? I want to remove my Nars blushes from the sticky rubbery ones, but dunno what to do with them!
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 2:45 pmI only depotted 3 and put them into a Unii palette. You can put them into any open empty palette or flat tin box if you can get one 🙂
makeup.addict says
June 21, 2011 at 1:38 pmLuckily (if you consider it lucky), I have only broken 1 product in my whole 7 years of wearing makeup and it was my Guerlain G Serie Noir blush. :'( It was about 2 weeks ago when it fell from my purse and then the case broke open and it shattered all over the car park at MV. The powder was scattered every where and what was left in the pan I left it as it is. No pressing for me. But it does take a bit of maneuvering to open the compact in order not to get what little of the product left flying every where.
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 2:46 pmOh dear! It had to be the LE one! 🙁 My commiserations
Isabel says
June 21, 2011 at 2:26 pmI’ve only had one product shatter on me and it was cheap and almost finishing so.. I just left it like that lol I think if I do shatter something that’s more expensive in the future, I still wouldn’t do anything to it. Just chuck all the pieces back in, leave it in a ‘sitting/sleeping’ (does that even make sense?) position where the powder won’t get messy and never bring it out.
Oh btw, I know it was some time ago but I’m Isabel, the one who said hi with Traclyn at Lancome the other day lol
ParisB says
June 21, 2011 at 2:46 pmHi there! 🙂 I remember that – nice meeting you.
Nikki says
June 21, 2011 at 3:43 pmSo far, I am very very careful with my makeup but if any case I break it, I always leave it as I don’t want to cause more trouble! me and my slippery hands!
ParisB says
June 22, 2011 at 10:10 amI’m usually very careful too but you know… accidents happen 😛
Amanda says
June 21, 2011 at 4:21 pmI broke my MAC Blot Powder on a vacation, I just put it into an empty foundation container. I did however repress my broken MAC eyeshadows using rubbing alcohol method.
ParisB says
June 22, 2011 at 10:10 amIts always great to have empty containers on hand 😉 I keep them… until they take up too much space and then I toss them… and then I break something 😛
Marina(Makeup4All) says
June 21, 2011 at 5:24 pmI’ve actually broken one of my favourite eye shadows (Hourglass Gypsy) and was VERY upset but I haven’t done anything with them. And I guess after reading that alcohol changes the texture I won’t even try. Or… maybe there is something else I can do about it..
ParisB says
June 22, 2011 at 10:11 amOuch! It always hurts to see your favourite item broken. I guess if its served you this long while broken, you probably don’t need to fix it 😉
Jeni says
June 21, 2011 at 5:35 pmWow I didn’t know you could fix or repress a broken powder makeup. I have a blush that cracked by the time I got it home from the store, so I I just put the pieces in the lid and use it that way, but it’s annoying. I normally just throw out broken eyeshadows but maybe I will try to fix them next time!
ParisB says
June 22, 2011 at 10:13 amDo give it a try if you can get hold of some rubbing alcohol. Just don’t use it on something too pricey first just in case the texture isn’t something you like thereafter.
milktea says
June 21, 2011 at 5:57 pmNever broken any *touches wood* Was there a mirror attached to the Guerlain Inca?
ParisB says
June 22, 2011 at 10:14 amYes there is a mirror in the cover of the Terra Inca powder. It didn’t break.
Connie De Alwis says
June 21, 2011 at 8:14 pmAhhh….. I feel your pain 🙁
I do what you do. If it’s shattered and I like the product, I’d crush it and use it as loose powder. But in the case of my broken MSF that split into half like a hamburger, I left it as it is and still use it. Just more careful in storing it. I’m worried that re-pressing or adding any other stuff onto it will affect the color or texture
ParisB says
June 22, 2011 at 10:14 amhehe MSF like a hamburger! If I have anything split that nicely I’d leave it too. It doesn’t get too affected even moving around.
lavender says
June 21, 2011 at 9:46 pmI once broke my revlon blusher and I crush them into powder and pressed them back (using tissue paper on top) without using alcohol and it worked well.
ParisB says
June 22, 2011 at 10:15 amI broke a blush once that I did not particularly like. I then crushed it up and put it in a tub and I liked it so much more after that! 😀 Didn’t know it could be restored without any alcohol – how would it hold together?
Anne says
June 21, 2011 at 10:09 pmI usually leave them as is, because I’m a bit of a worry-wart about contamination and bacterial growth. I worry about this with powders even without the the added worry of introducing another substance like alcohol, etc. By the way, I would go with alcohol and not eye solution. Eye solution, as far as I know, is aqueous (contains water), and therefore can lead to mold, fungus, bacteria and allll sorts of other nasties that I’m sure we’d all rather not have in our lovely powders!!
ParisB says
June 22, 2011 at 10:16 amThank you for your tip re: eye solution! I wouldn’t want bad stuff growing on my powders either!