How To Restore Damaged Makeup and Cosmetics

How To Restore Damaged Makeup and Cosmetics

Hello every frugal beauty lover!

I have been somewhat irregular on IMBB; lazy, busy and I confess I have been wasting time on surfing rather than writing *rofl*. Ramadan was blessed and Eid was fantastic; the combined weekend and 29th day Ramadan gave us six big holidays. I had fun making the most of my summer outfits and makeup and getting accolades. Personally, I am a bookworm and a big internet surfer. I keep feeding info in my brain always but the lack of confidence always dries the ink of my pen whenever I hold a paper. While I am waiting for my multiple hauls to arrive, I just thought to share an article on revival of damaged makeup with you all. Well, I also watched “Kick”! It was fun to watch but the goofs are indigestible *rofl*. Let’s take a look at the main article. The main reason I am writing this article is that I am a shaky and clumsy person and I break crockery to makeup on an everyday basis; so this article is all about my own experiences.

How To Restore Damaged Makeup and Cosmetics

Broken Pressed Powders/Compacts:

Pressed powders and compacts often break into pieces if you drop them from your hand or if you were travelling and the moment opened it, you saw tiny particles scattered all over!

How To Restore Damaged Makeup and Cosmetics

  • The simpler method is to crush all the powder chunks as fine as you can and store them in a day/night cream jar. You can use it like a loose powder with your favourite kabuki or powder brush.  You can use a mascara tube to crush the pressed powder chunks.
  • You can add this powder in appropriate quantity to your favourite day cream; mix really well with an ice cream stick or a spatula. You can use it as a tinted moisturiser when you are in a rush. I did it and works perfectly for me.
  • To restore it as a compact, keep a napkin/paper underneath and keep the powder compartment over it. Crush it well and then add rubbing alcohol. Make sure to add rubbing alcohol in small and controlled portions. Keep mixing to form a consistent paste and spread it in the pan, leveling the surface with a butter knife or foot-scale. Clean the edges with tissue paper and make perfect edges while wiping the uneven excess with an eyeshadow or concealer brush. Let it dry overnight at least and you will get the same compact as before.  Rubbing alcohol does not effect the powder in anyway and does not cause any harm on the skin.  If somehow you have added excess rubbing alcohol, take a napkin and press against the surface of the paste to absorb it, but the alcohol will evaporate sooner or later, so be patient.

Foundation:

How To Restore Damaged Makeup and Cosmetics

  • Getting the right foundation is really tricky. If you have purchased a wrong shade – whether lighter or darker, you can use them by mixing with your moisturizer to set it right.  But the best solution is to mix a lighter and a darker one together and try using it.
  • I tried mixing a darker cream foundation with a lighter liquid one, what I did is that I took a big cream jar, melted the cream foundation for 10 seconds and scooped it out in the jar. Later, I added the lighter liquid foundation in such a quantity to give me my perfect match and voila! This method also benefits me with added qualities like SPF, moisturization and so on which lacks in one single brand foundation.
  • For dried cream foundations, mix equal parts of rose water and glycerin and mix well to revive the consistency. For oily skin beauties, reduce the amount of glycerin to one third or one fourth as per your liking.

Broken powder blushes and eyeshadows:

How To Restore Damaged Makeup and Cosmetics

How To Restore Damaged Makeup and Cosmetics

  • Your elbow did an unintentional move and there goes your favourite blush on the floor! You pick it up praying it to be intact and making promises to yourself that you will be careful in the future, but the damage has been done.  Instead of being heartbroken, fix it. Keep a napkin underneath and wrap the blush or eyeshadow pan in a transparent clean plastic wrap. Crush it well and then mix small quantities of rubbing alcohol, mix, and smooth the surface with a butter knife. Clean the edges and use a cotton swab or small brush to define the outlines. Let it air dry overnight. Initially, the shade of the blush/eyeshadow will look far darker than it was, but once dried and swatched, it will look the same as it was, except just 5% increased pigmentation. There are no adverse effects on skin, so don’t worry about it.
  • On the other hand, you can store them in a pot and use in the powder form or mix them with your skin compatible moisturizer and make your own cream blush or cream eyeshadow. I know beauty junkies are always so innovative that they can make anything work from the mess.
  • You can add some Vaseline or non-greasy moisturizing ointment to powdered eyeshadow and transform it into a cream one.
  • Similarly, blushes can be converted into lip colors by adding to a lip balm with a few drops of essential oil. Heat in microwave for 20 seconds and mix to get your new lip tint.
  • Make use of light colored yet poorly pigmented eyeshadows as highlighters.

Dried or thick consistency mascara:

How To Restore Damaged Makeup and Cosmetics

  • Mascara dry out so fast; isn’t it so? Always keep them upside down, cap tightly closed and never insert the wand multiple times like you are dribbling it.  This practice induces air bubbles in the tube which will make it dry up faster.  As for the remedy, try keeping the tube in hot water for a few minutes, but the better option is to add a few drops of natural tears. Natural tears are eye drops that are used as eye lubricants and come from various pharmaceutical companies. They are easily available and have positive effects on eyes.
  • Mascara wands can be washed and saved to be used as brow combs, for applying olive oil to lashes before going to bed for thicker and longer lashes, and to clean delicate jewellery, etc.

Dried out gel eyeliner:

  • We all love gel eyeliners and it’s a fact that whether you are using a drugstore or a high-end one, it will dry eventually. Always keep them upside down, keep the lid tight and better use it this way; dip the brush and close the lid, dip and close, and so on. Never use water to soften its texture. If you want to make use of dry gel eyeliner (which is preferable over discarding it), try heating it in microwave for a few seconds before use, add a few drops of Natural Tears (eye drops) and it will perform far better than you expected, but still it won’t show results like fresh gel eyeliner provides. Not the same texture and softness, so always keep a spare one for special occasions.
  • Adding a few drops of baby oil worked for me, you can try that too.
  • You can keep it in hot water or microwave prior to use which will soften its texture.

Cheap and hard eye pencil:

  • In my opinion, if the eye and lip pencils are low priced, there is no harm in hoarding them, but these low-priced ones dry over months.  What I do is that I take a candle and light it, keep the pencil lead in the flame for a few seconds, let it cool for 8-10 seconds and apply.  It then becomes a well pigmented color with soft texture and improved intense color payoff. Wow, I just discovered my new eyeliner!

Broken Lipsticks or those shades which don’t suit you:

How_To_Restore_Damaged_Makeup_and_Cosmetics_7

This section is my favourite. Let me cover the broken lipstick issues first, though I think most of you must be far better at fixing them.

  • If you have smashed the tip of the lipstick and now it deposits uneven layer of lip color, use a lip brush. Personally, I think lipstick applied with lip brushes carry better finish, neatness and delicacy.
  • For broken lipstick bullets, fix them by slightly melting the surfaces of the broken parts on a candle flame and then placing them in shape quickly and properly. Even out the edges of the joint for better adhesion and keep it in refrigerator for an hour.
  • For lipsticks that have completely melted and messed up, melt them and store in a lip balm container to use with a lip brush. Do not forget to refrigerate the mixture for a few hours after setting in the container. Also, you can make tinted lip balms from these. See it here.
  • For a shade that washes you out, mix with a darker shade that is too loud for you and discover a new shade. You can simply melt and mix them to create a new shade or make a tinted lip by adding a lip balm too.

Thick Body Washes:

Thick body washes are a pain to dispense from the containers. If your body wash is giving you the same trouble, mix in one-fifth quantity if liquid antiseptic solution and shake. This trick will fix the consistency issue and give added benefits of bacteria removal while you are enjoying the loofah scrubbing. The moment you step out after shower, an instant freshness will welcome you that will stay longer than usual.

Dried Summer Moisturizers:

Summer moisturizers tend to dry and lose the softness and essential moisture. Try adding some rose water followed by mixing. I have used this trick for as long as I can remember, it works amazingly.

Nail enamels:

  • Dried nail polishes can be reused by adding few drops of nail paint remover. This will fix the dried consistency.
  • Add some powdered shimmery eye shadow in clear nail enamel and create a new liquid for you nail art.

Perfumes:

  • Always keep the perfumes in the refrigerator; this makes them long lasting and can be used over the years without the fragrance fading down.
  • Add the leftover perfume liquid to your body lotion or body oil instead of throwing it away. This way, you can make you own signature body scent.

Dried contact lens and eye lashes:

  • If you forget to refill the lens container with the solution, everything gets messed up because contact lens is definitely expensive. I myself did this mistake a couple of times.  I will share my bitter experience some other day, but for now, if your lens pair has dried, keep them in lukewarm water for 1-2 hours and the refill the protein remover/contact lens solution. Soak them for 24 hours and change the solution for next 24 hours soaking. After that, try them.  They should work fine now.
  • Similarly, false eye lashes can be reused by cleaning them up with makeup remover and then soaking in lukewarm water or contact lens solution for half an hour.

I hope you found the post helpful and I am looking forward to your views about reusing/reviving hopeless products. Do remember to always keep at least one empty lip balm container, one moisturizer jar and one shampoo bottle handy for rainy days.  Have a nice day ladies.

How To Choose Foundation Shade for Skin
How To Do Pedicure At Home in 5 Easy Steps
How to Straighten Hair
How to Apply Liquid Foundation using Flat Top Kabuki Brush
How to Fix Common Makeup Mistakes
How To Make Hair Grow Faster
Schwarzkopf BC Bonacure Q10 Time Restore Treatment
Schwarzkopf Bonacure Q 10 plus Time Restore Conditioner
Osmo Berber Oil Mask Restoration Therapy with Argan Oil
How To Fix Damaged Hair
Sunsilk Co-Creations Damaged Hair Reconstruction Shampoo
L’occitane Repairing Shine Hair Mask for Dry & Damaged Hair
NYX Cosmetics
Precious Ingredients in Cosmetics
Your Cheap and Best Makeup Products: IMBB Survey
Bridal Makeup Kit with Lakme Products
8 Must Have Makeup Products

IMBB RECOMMENDS

39 thoughts on “How To Restore Damaged Makeup and Cosmetics

  1. waddda post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! kudos to you Sumera for explaining solution of each and every problem in detail……… *jai ho* *jai ho* *jai ho* *jai ho* *jai ho* *jai ho*

  2. great post Sumera *clap* and to revive dried gel liners a clear silicone based primer also works excellent, recently came to know about it and it saved my liner 🙂

  3. another master stroke from u sumera.. *jai ho* *clap* *clap* worth reading and sharing post.. excellent job gal.. *clap* *clap* *clap*

  4. awesome post! very useful tips, esp. the nail polish tip. i have wasted loads of nail polishes due to drying *waaa* i’ll use this nail remover mixing tip now *thankyou* *thankyou* *puchhi*

  5. Much needed post Sumera *clap* ..this would be my first comment *hihi* *hihi* on IMBB after following it like ages *shy* *shy* 😛 but after seeing this post couldn’t skip it. *jai ho* *jai ho* *hifive*

    1. *thankyou* from depths of my heart Nikhita, your first comment is an honor for me, kit is priceless and precious 🙂

Leave a Reply to Kadambari Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *