How To Repair a Broken Blush or Eyeshadow The Only Average Way

Recently, I was at my local Ulta store and received a sample of Cargo blush.  As I was walking into my house, the bag slipped from my fingers and fell, crashing to the ground.  Everything that i had purchased was just fine, with one exception.  The pretty Cargo blush sample that I had received was a broken mess.  I shed no tears, though, because I had learned a trick a long time ago: how to repair a broken pan of shadow or blush!  I can't wait to share this simple trick!

Things you need: 

• rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol)- the higher the content the better; I used 91%
• toothpick or other tool to crush and smooth the broken powder
• cloth to press the powder, and a coin if one will fit nicely in the shadow pan
• The broken makeup

First, take your toothpick and break up the rest of the makeup in the pan.

Then, use the toothpick to evenly distribute the powder in the pan.  Try not to spill, but if it's a new product, that is hard to do!

Add a few drops of rubbing alcohol, and mix the powder with it until it makes a paste.  Add more alcohol a drop at a time, if needed, to create the paste.  You want the powder to absorb all of the alcohol, with no puddles in the pan, and no dry spots either.

Smooth out the paste with a toothpick as best you can.  It doesn't need to be perfect, but try to evenly distribute the paste in the pan.  This will make the pressing easier.

Cover the pan with a clean cloth.  If you have  a coin that fits just inside the pan, place it over the cloth.  Quarters work well for many eye shadows.  Press on the cloth covered pan with gently but firm pressure.  You are trying to absorb the excess alcohol, as well as bind the powder together.

Remove the cloth, and the shadow should look smooth and solid.  If not, try pressing again.  The pattern of the weave of the cloth will transfer to the top of the newly pressed powder.  Let the pan sit and dry overnight (or a few hours in the sun).

All done!  Your shadow, powder or blush should work just fine now.  I will say, that this process sometimes can intensify the pigmentation of a product, so the color may not be exactly the same as it was before you pressed it.  However, a little change in shade is a small price to pay to save your broken makeup!

Have you ever tried to fix a broken pan of makeup?  What process did you use, and was it successful?  Shalene's daughter likes to grind makeup into the carpet, after it's broken.  I don't think there is a save for that, but hopefully a good carpet shampooer will at least remove it from the carpet!

Until next time, my lovelies, stay Average!

DIY Magnetic Palette The Only Average Way

Hello my lovely friends!

A couple months ago, I received a mini magnetic palette from GlamRx, and I learned how to Depot makeup.  Since then, I've been depotting various things to put in my palette, and now I have more things depotted than I have room in my palette for!

I priced out buying a magnetic or sticky palette online, and they all look a little pricey for my cheapskate budgeting self.

So, I decided to try my hand at making one!  It looked to me that the basic supplies that I would need are a box (the palette shell), glue, and a magnet.

I did some research online, to see how others did it, added a few thoughts and ideas of my own, and came up with a game plan. I set out for my local Dollar Tree to see if they had what I was looking for.

Before I went to the store, I raided my collection of useless dustcatchers to see if I already had what I was looking for.  I sort of collect tins, but none fit the bill for what I wanted to do.  Off to Dollar Tree, I went!  I tried to find a little metal box, that wasn't to deep, but my DT wasn't going to make it easy for me.  I couldn't find a tin, but then I walked by a display of hardcase credit card wallets.



Hard case credit card wallet from Dollar Tree

 I pondered over this for a minute, and a thought came to me: I could make this into a TWO sided palette!

Paper inside the palette, and the straps I yanked off :)

Once I got home, I pulled the elastic straps off of both sides of the wallet, and then traced it onto a piece of paper.  I cut the paper down until it would fit exactly inside the box.

I then took an old promotional magnet (with a calendar from 2012 on the front), and traced my paper onto it, twice.  I cut out the magnet inside my cut line, and put them inside the former wallet.  Ok, so my plan didn't work out QUITE so well, and I needed to trim the magnet to fit- I had forgotten about the little bumps where the elastic attached.  Whoops!

Palette with both magnets in it.

Once my magnet pieces fit into the bottom of the former wallet-now palette, I glued one in place.  I tried regular school glue because I'm too lazy to bust out my glue gun.  Yeah, that didn't work so well- try super glue or a glue gun!!

The glue dried, and then I popped the other magnet into place, and glued that one as well.



See how great the magnet works?  These suckers aren't going anywhere!

I put some depotted eyeshadows into the palette, and it worked great!  I closed it up, and then pushed the button to open it, and it opened up, but the shadows on the top did not stay in place. So my two sided palette is now a one sided palette.  But that's ok.  
What did I spend on this project?  ONE DOLLAR.  I'm going to use this plain little palette to store depotted things that I don't want in my GlamRx palette, to keep them dust free and protected from the tiny fingers that plague my household and can destroy anything that they touch!

I DO want to mention that the magnet that I used is a thicker one- they seem to work better than the thinner ones.
Then, one day, while I was out shopping for Girl Scout supplies, I saw it. 

Hello Kitty, I Mustache you a question!

I saw the coolest little mint tin EVER: a Hello Kitty with a mustache! Oh, I HAD to have this.  I put it in my shopping card, and paid for it separately at the register ($3.99?!). Once in the car, I popped it open, and my BFF Missy SQUEED when we saw that the candies inside are tiny mustaches!  

Missy and I had a fantastic time playing with these little candies, and she asked me why I had to have this tin.  I told her that I want to convert it into a tiny palette for my purse!  She agreed that it would be super cute- as my enabler, that is her job :)

Once all the candies were eaten (I have two kids- it doesn't take long.  On a side note, my tiny love calls "mustaches" "Stick Beards".  That will NEVER EVER get old!!!), I rinsed the tin out and left it to dry.

All my supplies (except scissors.  You'll need those too!)

I repeated the same steps above: trace the tin bottom onto a piece of paper, cut the paper to fit, and then trace the paper onto a magnet.  I cut the magnet out and fit it into the bottom of the tin.  It fit very snugly, and I didn't even need to glue it!

Super cute palette with 3 Yaby eyeshadows in it!

I hope you enjoyed this OnlyAverage tutorial!  I thought that if you subscribe to Ipsy and don't want to mix powders and creams in your GlamRx (or other) palette, you might benefit from my experience!  Plus Stick Beard Hello Kitty is WAY too cute to NOT share!
Have you ever made a magnetic palette?  Are you a DIY Princess?  Leave a comment, and let me know!  If I were to do a giveaway for a Stick Beard Hello Kitty homemade palette, would you enter?


 
 
 Disclaimer:  The products listed above were purchased by me, with my own money my husband's money.  I was not asked nor required to write this review, and the thoughts above are my own.  The Ipsy link IS a referral link (I get a freebie if 2 friends subscribe, but any other link in this post just goes back to my own blog.  I was not compensated in any way for writing this review. 

 

Depotting Makeup the Only Average Way

Hello my lovelies!

I've been requested to help you out with a short How-To post, on how to depot makeup, in this case eye shadows.  I recently received a GlamRx Freestyle Palette in my March '13 Ipsy bag (read all about it HERE), and promptly went to town depotting some of my items so that they can go in this cute little palette!  I will also talk about how to make aluminum pans (like Coastal Scents and Wet 'n Wild) magnetic and work with the GlamRX Freestyle Palette.

What is depotting?  Depotting is the act of removing makeup pans of product from the original packaging, leaving you with ONLY the product in the pan, and without a lot of bulk.  Many people purchase large palettes and depot all of their makeup, to save space and see everything all at one time.  I chose to depot the products below so that I can use my new GlamRx Freestyle Palette, but this tutorial would work for anyone depotting for any reason.

I do want to say, first off, that this is NOT my original idea, and that there are thousands of sources on the internet to help you do this.  I've watched and read quite a few, and this is the method that worked well for me.  This is NOT the only way to depot product, and it won't work for every brand, but it's a great place to start, and google away to see what other great ideas there are out there (many of which include using a hair straightening iron!).  Please be sure to read my How-to all the way through before you start.  Thanks!


First things first- you need to gather all of your supplies.  Here is what i used:

1. Lighter or a candle.  The lighter worked well for me, but a candle does the same thing.
2. Small flat spatula or steak knife.  I used a steak knife, but anything slender that will fit between the shadow pan and the packaging will work.
3. Old refrigerator magnets, on the thin side and flat.  I used a couple that were old business card styles, that were outdated.
4. Labels of some sort.  I used the pan itself, or the labels that were on the actual products.
5.  Sharpie (or comparable) marker with an extra fine point (only if you want to write on the pan/magnet itself).
6. The product you want to depot
7. Goo Gone, or other glue remover
8. White school glue

I know that seems like a lot, but really, it's not.  Plus, depotting just a few little pans only took me a few minutes!

The first thing I'll depot is the Coastal Scents quad that I received in my February Ipsy bag (review HERE).  I've already depotted 3 of the shadows, here is how I did the final one.

THE POP OUT METHOD (risky, but worth it)

Coastal Scents shadow mini pot, this color is Sunshine

First, remove the label sticker from the back of the pan, trying not to tear it (we will use it later!).  Then, open the mini palette, and fold back the plastic away from the pot, gently.  Push on the bottom of the plastic below the pot you are working on, and carefully ease the pot out.

Out of the plastic!

Once you pop the pot out (again, being really careful! If you are afraid to break it, try cutting the plastic away with some good scissors or try the flame method I'll describe below), use Goo Gone (or any glue remover) to remove any traces of the old glue from the bottom of the pan.  I used a q-tip to apply the glue remover.

Aluminum pans will NOT react to the magnet in a magnet palette.  We need to fix that!  If you are unsure if the pan is aluminum or not, simply place the newly depotted pan into your palette and see if it moves around, or falls into your hand when you cover it up and flip the palette over.  If it sticks, you are good to go.  If not, on to the next step.

Trace your pan onto a  magnet.

 Trace your pan onto a refrigerator-style magnet.  Here is one I received with my husband's new phone (although I never actually figured out WHY), and it already has a sticky size (hence the white backing).  Be sure to trace in a color that will show up on the magnet-pencil works well also.

Check out my BELOW Average circle tracing skills.  It's ok to laugh.  Really.

Once you have traced the pan onto your magnet, cut the circle out, inside the traced line.  You want the magnet to be the same size as the pan, or just a bit smaller.  

My cutting skills are slightly better than my tracing skills.

Set the shadow pan onto the magnet to check for fit.  If the magnet is larger than the bottom of the pan, trim your magnet piece a little, to try to make it fit as close as possible.

A little dab will do ya! (even if the picture is blurry!!!)

Use a little dot of School Glue to attach the magnet to the bottom of the pan (if you don't have sticky back magnet sheets).

All stuck together!

Finally, flip your shadow pan over carefully, and apply the glue magnet to the bottom of the pan.  Press to secure and allow to dry.

 THE HEAT METHOD (a bit more danger, but works well)

This method of depotting is the one I have seen most commonly.  Honestly, I probably would have tried this with the CS shadows, if one of my pots had not already been loose and falling out of the plastic packaging.

Forgive the weird shadow in this photo- I'm not sure how it got there!

This Clinique sample palette I received last summer was just sitting in my makeup bag, so I thought I would test out the Heat method of depotting.  First, remove the label from the back of the packaging.  You'll need it later to transfer the colors names to the pans (if you like).  

Hold a lighter to the bottom of the pan, but not touching the pan (melted plastic is bad!!!).  Your goal is to heat the glue slightly, but not set the packaging ablaze.  You can also you a candle for this method, but a lighter for a few seconds worked very well for me.

You can see where my flame was a bit too close to the plastic.

As you can see in the above picture, I got my flame too close to the plastic, and it blackened it.  The glue will still be loosened, but BE CAREFUL because the back of the packaging will be VERY HOT! (use common sense in your workspace, please!).

Gently remove the pan from the packing.

Using a knife or other thin, metal tool (mini spatula?), insert the tip in the largest gap between the pan and the packaging.  Move the blade around, and see if the pan will wiggle.  If it does, the glue is loose, and you can GENTLY and CAREFULLY lift the pan out of the packaging.  I flipped it over and let it fall into my hand. 

Be careful when putting your blade into the gap- be sure it's really the gap!!

Repeat with each pan in the palette that you wish to remove.  DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE THAT I MADE!!!!  As you can see here, I misinterpreted the edge of the palette and the plastic, and put my knife into the actual makeup pan.  I lot a small corner of product, but it could have EASILY gone the other way, and the whole thing could have smashed to bits.  Be extra careful with pans that are very close to the edge of the packaging, and be sure that you really are inserting your blade where you want it to be, and not what "looks right". 

This palette had a significant amount of glue on the pans, so my Goo Gone really got a workout here!  Just take your time, use a qtip and rub, rub, rub; the glue will eventually go away.

Check your pans, and see if you need to add a magnet.  If your pans are of a magnetic metal already, you are good to go!  If you need to add a magnet, refer to the steps above, where I use the Coastal Scents as an example.

LABELING THE PANS

If you don't want to label your pans, then you are all set (once the glue dries!).  If you want to label your pans with a color name and/or brand, continue to the next step.

Cut out the name of the shadow, making it as small as you can.

I'm super lazy, plus I didn't have any label paper here, so I just took the label from the back of the shadow set, and cut out the name of the color.  I could mark them as Coastal Scents, but I know what brand these pans are, so I wasn't worried about that.  You can mark them any way you want to! For the shadow names that are very long, I cut each word apart and stacked them, top to bottom, on the bottom of the pan's new magnet.

Nice and clearly labeled.  Plus, I don't have to interpret my handwriting.  BONUS!

Once the sticker is placed on the bottom of the magnet, you are good to go!

Sunbeam joining the rest of this adorable palette!

If your pans are without a magnet, or you don't care to put stickers on the bottom, it's easy to mark the brand and colors with a ultra fine tip Sharpie (or comparable) permanent marker pen.

Use your label to transfer information to the pans, if you like.

Just use the information from the label that you removed from the back of the packaging to record the correct information onto the bottom of the pan.

Filled mini palette in NO TIME FLAT!

And here we are, a pretty little palette, with lots of awesome shadow goodies inside it!  

If you run into trouble depotting your shadows, or have any questions, I would be HAPPY to help you sort it all out!  This was my first foray into depotting, and now I sort of wish I hadn't given away a whole stack of old(ish) shadow sets to a friend- I want to depot them!  Um, not that I have anywhere to put them. I guess I should go and get me a Z-Palette or something, huh.  Oh, goodie--more shopping!!

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial, and would love to hear your thoughts on it!  Leave me a comment, especially if you have tried these methods, and had different results, or would like to share any tips or tricks that you have picked up.  I AM Only Average, after all.  I'm bound to have missed something.

Enjoy, and stay beautiful!