Fix Broken Makeup With This Drugstore Hack

We’ve all experienced the moment where we've bought a new beauty buy, only for it to slip through our fingers and shatter at our feet with a big smash. To say that fixing broken makeup is a pain would be an understatement. Recently, when I was arriving home from a shopping trip, I dropped my Urban Decay bronzer palette. The collision instantly broke the product, and the fact it happened right outside my back door didn’t make the situation any better. My money had gone down the drain — quite literally.

While I was unable to save that palette, the incident got me thinking about ways to fix crushed compacts. Just like many makeup hoarders, I have heaps of old products hidden in the back of my cosmetics drawer — many of which are either broken or half used.

With a little help from Awesomeness TV's YouTube tutorial and dozens of handy articles that explore different drugstore buys that might help, I decided to try to fix them with rubbing alcohol, typically used as a cleaning agent and disinfectant. It also acts as a great binding formula when it comes to putting crushed powders back together, since it evaporates and doesn’t affect the consistency of the product. Pretty cool, right? Here's how you can fix your broken palettes and compacts with it.

What You’ll Need

For this tutorial, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Broken Compact(s)
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Paper Towel
• Bottle Top
• Empty Casing (Optional)

1. Smooth Out The Broken Compact

Start by smoothing out your broken compact with clean fingers. If it’s an eyeshadow product you’re trying to fix, chances are it won't have broken off in clean chunks and you’ll be left with lots of loose powder.

By flattening it before you use the rubbing alcohol, you’re ensuring that you make the most of all the crushed pigment that’s both around and inside the casing. After all, the whole point of this tutorial is to save money, not waste it.

2. Place The Product In New Casing

This next step is optional. For those who have seriously damaged or half-used products, you might want to think about putting them into a smaller compact or empty casing.

The bronzer in the above GIF created a mess every time I used it, since it no longer fit inside its original packaging. Whenever I opened the lid of the compact, loose pigment would fly everywhere.

To fix this, I carefully removed the powder from the compact using the edge of a bobby pin. I then put it into an empty tea light case and crushed it up.

3. Pour Rubbing Alcohol Into The Compact

Next, pour rubbing alcohol into the compact. This can be done using the eye alone. Simply add a little to the compact before rubbing it into the product and smoothening it out.

You'll quickly see that it begins to evaporate and the powder will slowly start to dry.

If your product is in new casing, it will take the rubbing alcohol a little longer to evaporate. You need the formula to be dry for the next step, so I recommend leaving it for 30 minutes.

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4. Cover Your Compact

Once the rubbing alcohol is dry, cover your compact with a paper towel or face wipe.

5. Use A Bottle Top To Press Down

Then, use a bottle top to press down on the towel or wipe. Not only will this make your product flat, but it also helps get rid of any excess alcohol.

Finished Results

There you have it! Your compact or palette now looks brand new. After pressing the product down, you can remove the paper towel and use it. One of the things I love about this DIY project is that the rubbing alcohol doesn't affect the pigmentation of the powder.

The eyeshadows that I fixed are just as bright as they were before I added the alcohol, and the compact wasn't damaged in any way. Not only did this save me one heck of a lot of cash, as I didn't have to replace anything, but it also encouraged me to dig out old shadows. Take this gorgeous bronze, for instance. It's now a staple in my makeup bag.

So, what are you waiting for? Have a hunt and clean up some of those old broken beauty buys.

Images: Emma Matthews