Follow on Bloglovin

Saturday, August 31, 2013

How To: Press Loose Mineral Eyeshadows

 
 


After my previous experimentation with using glycerin vs jojoba oil to press my mineral blushes, I have finally gone ahead and pressed all of my mineral eyeshadows! This is a more detailed tutorial with more photos than my previous post. Hope you find it helpful ^_^

Supplies:
- jojoba oil
- isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol)
- loose mineral eyeshadows
- small mixing container
- empty pans to press your eyeshadow into (I bought mine from eBay)
- something to press with (should fit into your empty pan, coins work great)
- something to stir with (toothpick or small cosmetic spatula works great)


1) Remove the sifter from your mineral eyeshadow container if it has one (will make getting the powder out much easier!)

 
 
2) Empty your loose minerals into the mixing container (or just use the existing container) and start adding jojoba oil DROP BY DROP until minerals start to clump together (careful not to add too much or will take forever to dry!). Then add alcohol, again drop by drop, until you achieve a wet-sand-like consistency.  The amount of jojobal oil/alcohol really depends on how much minerals you have, so just be careful and you should be fine!

 
2) Transfer the mixture into the empty pan


 
3) Lay a clean piece of cloth/fabric over the pan and press the coin onto it (press HARD!!). You will see that the fabric will have absorbed some of the excess liquid from your mixture.

 
4) Let dry (can speed up with light blowing from hairdryer, or just leave it out on window-sill), and place into your palette. Done!




Here are all the shadows I pressed.
 
 
 
Here are the swatches of the eyeshadows. The pigmentation from the bronze shimmer shade turned out very nice (same as before I pressed it). Unfortunately some of the darker shades did not become very pigmented (swatches are one finger swipe). They are buildable though so I don't feel I'll have trouble using them as crease shaders. If you want to use the darker shades as eye liner, you can also add a drop of water to the surface to the shadow, and make a nice paste to use as a "gel"eyeliner with a brush.
 

 

 
 
That's it for the tutorial on pressing loose mineral eyeshadows. Pretty simple right?! I'm super happy I did this as now I have a nice palette to open and use. Not to mention, I will actually use these shadows now (they previously just sat in my makeup drawer after I got too lazy to be opening those darn containers).
 
Let me know if you try this and how it goes!!
 
 

7 comments:

  1. thanks so much for the tutorial! I have a few loose pigments I received in my monthly subscription boxes and I am not a big fan of those as it's pretty messy to apply. The shades I got are quite pretty and felt such a waste to let them sit there. Now I can attempt to use them :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you found it helpful, hope it works out for you! (I used to always have trouble loading either too much or too little loose powder when I tried to use them directly and make a big mess too so this way is much better for me). oh and if your pigments aren't "mineral" makeup you can just use alcohol and skip the jojoba oil :)

      Delete
  2. You did a really great job, I always make such a mess pressing shadows! You should see my carpet lol.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks so much for this tutorial! I have been looking for something like this, forever!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for this follow-up post! I'm planning on trying to press the Silk Naturals Bare Necessities Set 3 instead of buying the UD Naked 3 palette. :) Going green, and all. I'm really glad to hear that jojoba oil works as a substitute for a binder with silicones.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is has been really helpful! Thanks! Have you tried pressing the mineral face powders? Would it work the same way?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't tried to press the complexion products, I probably won't try as I only have to open one jar to use the product whereas with eyeshadows I could be opening 4-5 jars which makes this process worthwhile for me. Let me know if you do try it and how it works out for you!

      Delete