Fixing broken pressed powders - isopropyl alcohol to the rescue

I bought the Rimmel London Stay Matte pressed powder last year with my sister and she dropped it as we were walking back to the car. Of course, the powder broke into pieces as it hit the car park concrete ground.

Here is what it looked like:

  

I have heard from a few people that using alcohol will compact the powders together but wasn’t sure which type of alcohol is the best one to used. A few months ago I watched jodik76 on youtube and she demonstrated how she fixed her broken pressed powders. She used isopropyl alcohol which is a common secondary alcohol (type of alcohol where the carbon is attached to two other carbons). She did a really good job and it looked simple enough so I decided to give it a go. I also bought the Isocol rubbing alcohol since it’s the most accessible isopropyl alcohol product I can get here in Australia.

Quick facts about isopropyl alcohol:

-  It’s a soluble solvent which can be dissolved in various non-polar compounds (molecules where the charge are evenly distributed and that no negative or positive charge exist)

- Evaporates quickly

- Non-toxic (compared to other solvents)

All the facts above sound perfect for compressing the powders. I used two plastic art palette knives I've bought years ago when I was doing art in high school. Firstly, I crushed the powders further so it looked like it has been finely milled.

Yes it’s messy haha, I don’t know how Jodi did her so neatly. It got messier as the alcohol was involved.

Jodi spread the powders really nice and made it really smooth. Here’s the best I could do:

Horrible! I know, I tried so hard but I could not make it smooth. I finished pressing the powders around 11:30pm and left it to dry overnight. I let it dried for 15 hours (checked at 2:30pm the following day) and this is what it looks like:

 I compared it with another Rimmel powder (in different shade) that I had and even though it is not as nice, I think I did an A-okay job.

The one on the left is the perfect, unbroken one in the shade 005 silky beige. The right one is the one I tried to compacted it back to normal in the shade 003 peachy glow. In my opinion, the powder is not as pressed compared to the original state but maybe it is because I put too much alcohol in. However, as I swatched both powders on my skin, they are relatively similar in consistency. I forgot to take a picture of me swatching so sorry about.

Overall, this technique is still an amazing method to fix any broken pressed powders. So if you broke your pressed powder not to worry, isopropyl alcohol to the rescue! If you guise tried it or have a better technique please let me know by commenting below J (Hey that rhymes! Haha).