Tuesday 28 February 2012

Jim'll Fix it...

... actually Jim, I'll take it from here. Thanks.

I recently won 2 gorgeous MUA single eye shadows from the Lovely Laura (http://whatlarryloves.blogspot.com/ ). The Postman must have been jealous, because while everything else (the two Lipglosses and the Nail varnish) were pristine, the shadows, Oh the shadows... those were smashed.

I almost, almost, fell to my knees and looked to the sky and cried. Almost.


I had already read loads of posts on how to rescue shattered powder eye shadow. I hotfooted it over to my pharmacy and picked up a bottle of Surgical Spirits (or rubbing alcohol). It cost me €2.91 for 125ml. Awesome.

Then I gathered my tools, and sat down at the table. Then I got back up and went to wash my hands. Then I sat back down again.


Why the Aldi Ground Coriander Bottle you ask? Well. Its a good question. The top of the bottle is the perfect size, it fits snugly into the pan (the silver container that the eye shadow fits in), and this is what I am going to use to re-compress the powder and restore it into a usable format.

So. I used a small syringe and filled it with 1.5mls of surgical spirit. Then I replaced the cap on the bottle of spirits. The stuff evaporates.

Then I took a sheet of kitchen towel, folded it in half,


 then in half again (so its in quarters)


and then shaped it around the lid of the spice bottle, in readiness.


Only then did I dare to open the shadow, and I carefully tapped the loose powder back into the pan as carefully as I could so that I didn't waste any of it, cos they are gorgeous colours!

I dripped the surgical spirits onto the powder, mostly soaking it so that there was a teeny bit of liquid in the pan. I didn't use the whole 1.5mls, I only used about 8 drops. I did try to distribute the drops evenly over the powder. You want it damp, not soaked.


Then I pressed the kitchen towel covered spice bottle on top of the powder and pressed as hard as I could to compact the powder. I held it there, pressing pretty hard for about 30 to 40 seconds to allow the kitchen towel to absorb as much of the surgical spirits as possible.


Then I somewhat carelessly removed the spice bottle and the kitchen towel and smudged the first one. Damn. But I was a lot more careful when I did the 2nd shattered eyeshadow and it came out great. The kitchen towel also left a pretty pattern. Happy accident.


I left them open on my dresser to dry for 48 hours before I attempted to use them so that the spirits could evaporate completely. The only thing that remained was the slight smell of the spirits. Not exactly a deal breaker for me cos I don't mind the smell. But some people might.


The actual shadow is now much less powdery and less likely to fall out. So I am not sure that it worked to restore the shadow it its exact original state, due to the fact that surgical spirits does leave a bit of residue.

I am now wondering if the application of a bit of heat would help with this. Like maybe putting it onto my straightening iron on a very low heat for a few minutes.


In hind sight, I recon vodka would do instead of surgical spirits, it won't leave the smell behind (and if you used vanilla vodka it would smell like vanilla I imagine), I don't think it would leave a residue and I generally always have vodka in the house.

Although, the vodka doesn't last long...

4 comments:

  1. Yup the SAVIOUR of many my shattered products! Works wonders!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ahhhhh stupid Irish mail!!! Sorry again! At least you could rescue them! x

    ReplyDelete
  3. I did not know about this! Amazing!

    dp
    x

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...