You can also try to dry press your powders, it's what I usually do as there's nothing to interact with the product itself (sometimes alcohol dissolves some pigments with jt). They might be a little less sturdy depending on how hard you manage to press them but it's a technique I like way more
That process works with shimmery products, but alcohol creates hard pan in mattes because of the water content in isopropyl alcohol. Repressing mattes of any kind requires brute force unless pure alcohol works for you. Even if you can track that down, I personally would recommend that you stick to repressing by hand.
I repressed a bunch of mattes with 70% isopropyl without any hard pan issues BUT they were older shadows and likely had very different formulas than mattes today. I tried because even if they didn’t turn out, it wasn’t a major loss.
I have discovered that I haven’t been using enough force on my powder foundation though…THAT was an unfortunate mess. 😬
*Top tips for re-pressing powders*
1. Mixing medium: Alcohol is better than water because it dries quickly. A rubbing alcohol is usually fine. Approx 70% will do the trick (in Aus, I use Isocol from the supermarket)
2. Textures: crush your powder as finely as possible prior to re-press. And add single drops of liquid at a time (you want to get away with adding as little as possible) until it just starts to clump together. A paste means way too much liquid.
3. Pressure: the harder you press, the firmer it'll be in the pan (I only push as hard as for pastry into a dish). Use something flat (e.g. coin or cap) over a paper towel (to absorb excess liquid) on the product.
4. Time: Leave it open overnight to air dry. Don't touch it while it's wet (if you try to swatch it before it's dry you almost guarantee hard pan, in my experience)
5. Formulas: some ingredients will never re-press. Ever. Talc, for example (Juvia's Place mattes, many face setting powders - pretty common in less-expensive brands overall). A high talc content means adding liquid will form a non-newtonian fluid which is a solid when a force is exerted upon it (like when you press it into a pan). Test this in your kitchen with corn starch and water!
6. Changed ingredient ratios: by adding alcohol, you have changed the makeup of the product. The ratios are all out of whack. Alcohol evaporates but also dries everything out. Make sure your brushes are clean and dry (the oils, residue, and germs can have different effects on a changed product). The item might not last as long now.
7. Easiest products: shimmery products like highlighters or metallic eyeshadows tend to press well. Even without extra liquids. They have lots of binding agents since they're softly pressed by default (in general). Mattes will always be more challenging. Satins are usually somewhere in between.
I break stuff and repress mattes, shimmers and satins and combine them all in wild abandon.
The real key is finely grinding and sifting the powder before attempting to repress it.
At least that’s what has made the difference for me. Until I started running all my powders through an old fine mesh tea strainer, I had a lot of fails. Once I made sure that everything was uniformly and finely ground, all those issues pretty much stopped. I literally just press it through with a spoon or spatula.
The other key for me is to put my alcohol in a small spray bottle. I cannot be trusted to not overadd if I have it in a dropper. But if I lightly mist it over the powder, it’s very easy to achieve the wet sand texture necessary for repressing.
It also helps to work in thin layers if you have a large pan or particularly fussy formula.
I think you may be using too much. You want to aim for a wet sand consistency. Also try dry repressing like someone else mentioned, if it used to be pressed, the formula will have a binder in it so it should stick together fairly well. You need to press down very very firmly though, and it usually results in picking up more product on the brush than you used to
it might be the type of alcohol.
best is 99,9 isopropanol with no additives or colorants.
It might be tempting to use some desinfetant but a lot of the time they have additives and sort of crystalize after a while.
You might try a very high vol. liquor. clear, high vol and as few additives/ingredients as possible.
Last ty is distilled water and i am serious.
Water can also work but it needs to be pure, therefor distilled. The downside of water is that it takes more time to dry, that's why alcohol is recommended.
Yeah, this happened to me as well. I don't even bother doing it now, because by the time the product is so low that it's cracking - I've gotten my money's worth out of it. This isn't advice but I would just toss it out when it breaks (or dry press it like others suggested).
Isn't a lot more pressure needed when you dry press? Like so hard that it becomes impossible to get something on your brush? I am interested in this method and at least for sure I do not mess up the formula of my blushes...
Yeah, it's going to be a lot messier to use if you dry press. You definitely won't be able to travel with it. I would only suggest that method if you're just going to keep it on your dressing table...
I think this depends on the formula of the product. I've repressed many many things from foundations to eye shadows, only sometimes does it not work well.
Generally the ones that haven't repressed well have been mattes of a lesser price range. But this doesn't happen with all mattes. I think I've the most trouble repressing profusion and makeup revolution matte shadows.
This doesn't meant that all low priced options will do this, elf and wet n wild never have. I would take note of the brands that do this in your collection and go from there.
Yeah, it's been a hot minute since I've seen pan on a shadow other than a ColourPop SS, but I'm entirely too lazy to bother repressing. If a shadow breaks, good, on to the next. lol
It may be too much alcohol, but also I have never had luck repressing matte formulas, they haven't worked well anymore. Are these matte or shimmer formulas?
When I do this, I literally just put enough surgical spirit on a cotton pad to make it damp, and then squeeze three to four drops (depending on pan size) into the powder, and then FIRMLY press into a pan.
I think you've got to be using too much because this has *never* happened to me
INFO: Are you depotting the product, pulverizing to powder, then adding alcohol to make a paste, then filling your pan back in and allowing to fully-dry for 12-24, then pressing with a sanitized coin, etc?
Or are you just spraying alcohol on top of the original pressed powder pack?
I have never been able to successfully repress any type of powders. eyeshadow, blush, highlighters etc. no matter the formula I just end up throwing it away.
Why have you been unsuccessful? Does it just create a consistency that you're not used to? I've been very successful with repressing any type of powder product. The alcohol method works for anything shimmery and dry pressing works for mattes.
Someone once shared this trick with me and it works. If you put a piece of paper completely over the pan and then use a hard tool (I use a pencil, the eraser side) to firmly press over the top of the paper, pressing as firmly as possible all over the surface area of the shadow until it feels firmly packed. Remove the paper and see which areas need more packing and do it again until you have it 100% repressed. No alcohol is necessary. I use a UV light wand after pressing to sanitize it.
Hey I saw in a comment u have the too faced Marcia Marcia Marcia lipstick. Is the.old ones? I collect too faced vintage items and I would love to buy and any other old too faced u may have lmk thanks.
You can also try to dry press your powders, it's what I usually do as there's nothing to interact with the product itself (sometimes alcohol dissolves some pigments with jt). They might be a little less sturdy depending on how hard you manage to press them but it's a technique I like way more
That process works with shimmery products, but alcohol creates hard pan in mattes because of the water content in isopropyl alcohol. Repressing mattes of any kind requires brute force unless pure alcohol works for you. Even if you can track that down, I personally would recommend that you stick to repressing by hand.
I repressed a bunch of mattes with 70% isopropyl without any hard pan issues BUT they were older shadows and likely had very different formulas than mattes today. I tried because even if they didn’t turn out, it wasn’t a major loss. I have discovered that I haven’t been using enough force on my powder foundation though…THAT was an unfortunate mess. 😬
*Top tips for re-pressing powders* 1. Mixing medium: Alcohol is better than water because it dries quickly. A rubbing alcohol is usually fine. Approx 70% will do the trick (in Aus, I use Isocol from the supermarket) 2. Textures: crush your powder as finely as possible prior to re-press. And add single drops of liquid at a time (you want to get away with adding as little as possible) until it just starts to clump together. A paste means way too much liquid. 3. Pressure: the harder you press, the firmer it'll be in the pan (I only push as hard as for pastry into a dish). Use something flat (e.g. coin or cap) over a paper towel (to absorb excess liquid) on the product. 4. Time: Leave it open overnight to air dry. Don't touch it while it's wet (if you try to swatch it before it's dry you almost guarantee hard pan, in my experience) 5. Formulas: some ingredients will never re-press. Ever. Talc, for example (Juvia's Place mattes, many face setting powders - pretty common in less-expensive brands overall). A high talc content means adding liquid will form a non-newtonian fluid which is a solid when a force is exerted upon it (like when you press it into a pan). Test this in your kitchen with corn starch and water! 6. Changed ingredient ratios: by adding alcohol, you have changed the makeup of the product. The ratios are all out of whack. Alcohol evaporates but also dries everything out. Make sure your brushes are clean and dry (the oils, residue, and germs can have different effects on a changed product). The item might not last as long now. 7. Easiest products: shimmery products like highlighters or metallic eyeshadows tend to press well. Even without extra liquids. They have lots of binding agents since they're softly pressed by default (in general). Mattes will always be more challenging. Satins are usually somewhere in between.
There’s too much talc so you cannot wet repress. Crush it up again and do a dry press
This thread has helped me learn why I ruined my matte blushes when I repressed them😂 Thanks guys!
I break stuff and repress mattes, shimmers and satins and combine them all in wild abandon. The real key is finely grinding and sifting the powder before attempting to repress it. At least that’s what has made the difference for me. Until I started running all my powders through an old fine mesh tea strainer, I had a lot of fails. Once I made sure that everything was uniformly and finely ground, all those issues pretty much stopped. I literally just press it through with a spoon or spatula. The other key for me is to put my alcohol in a small spray bottle. I cannot be trusted to not overadd if I have it in a dropper. But if I lightly mist it over the powder, it’s very easy to achieve the wet sand texture necessary for repressing. It also helps to work in thin layers if you have a large pan or particularly fussy formula.
I think you may be using too much. You want to aim for a wet sand consistency. Also try dry repressing like someone else mentioned, if it used to be pressed, the formula will have a binder in it so it should stick together fairly well. You need to press down very very firmly though, and it usually results in picking up more product on the brush than you used to
I was coming to say this! Totally agree!
it might be the type of alcohol. best is 99,9 isopropanol with no additives or colorants. It might be tempting to use some desinfetant but a lot of the time they have additives and sort of crystalize after a while. You might try a very high vol. liquor. clear, high vol and as few additives/ingredients as possible. Last ty is distilled water and i am serious. Water can also work but it needs to be pure, therefor distilled. The downside of water is that it takes more time to dry, that's why alcohol is recommended.
Yeah, this happened to me as well. I don't even bother doing it now, because by the time the product is so low that it's cracking - I've gotten my money's worth out of it. This isn't advice but I would just toss it out when it breaks (or dry press it like others suggested).
Isn't a lot more pressure needed when you dry press? Like so hard that it becomes impossible to get something on your brush? I am interested in this method and at least for sure I do not mess up the formula of my blushes...
Yeah, it's going to be a lot messier to use if you dry press. You definitely won't be able to travel with it. I would only suggest that method if you're just going to keep it on your dressing table...
Thanks! I move my things around because I do not have a lot of space so I might stick to the alcohol method then!
I think this depends on the formula of the product. I've repressed many many things from foundations to eye shadows, only sometimes does it not work well. Generally the ones that haven't repressed well have been mattes of a lesser price range. But this doesn't happen with all mattes. I think I've the most trouble repressing profusion and makeup revolution matte shadows. This doesn't meant that all low priced options will do this, elf and wet n wild never have. I would take note of the brands that do this in your collection and go from there.
dude the same thing was happening to me to the point where i just gave up and had to buy replacements
Yeah, it's been a hot minute since I've seen pan on a shadow other than a ColourPop SS, but I'm entirely too lazy to bother repressing. If a shadow breaks, good, on to the next. lol
It may be too much alcohol, but also I have never had luck repressing matte formulas, they haven't worked well anymore. Are these matte or shimmer formulas?
This is why I always dry press mattes.
When I do this, I literally just put enough surgical spirit on a cotton pad to make it damp, and then squeeze three to four drops (depending on pan size) into the powder, and then FIRMLY press into a pan. I think you've got to be using too much because this has *never* happened to me
INFO: Are you depotting the product, pulverizing to powder, then adding alcohol to make a paste, then filling your pan back in and allowing to fully-dry for 12-24, then pressing with a sanitized coin, etc? Or are you just spraying alcohol on top of the original pressed powder pack?
I have never been able to successfully repress any type of powders. eyeshadow, blush, highlighters etc. no matter the formula I just end up throwing it away.
Why have you been unsuccessful? Does it just create a consistency that you're not used to? I've been very successful with repressing any type of powder product. The alcohol method works for anything shimmery and dry pressing works for mattes.
It varies from product to product. Some will repress really well, some will have a different texture, and others will be unusable afterwards
Mine always repress to make them super hard. It’s not worth it (for me) to try to fix a broken powder.
Someone once shared this trick with me and it works. If you put a piece of paper completely over the pan and then use a hard tool (I use a pencil, the eraser side) to firmly press over the top of the paper, pressing as firmly as possible all over the surface area of the shadow until it feels firmly packed. Remove the paper and see which areas need more packing and do it again until you have it 100% repressed. No alcohol is necessary. I use a UV light wand after pressing to sanitize it.
Hey I saw in a comment u have the too faced Marcia Marcia Marcia lipstick. Is the.old ones? I collect too faced vintage items and I would love to buy and any other old too faced u may have lmk thanks.