*UPDATED WITH PICS* Pressing Loose Shadows?

[nfig]

Does anyone do this? I find loose shadows to be such a mess but I really love my SN shadows and was wondering if people do this with their shadows. If so, how do you do and what types of supplies would I need to do it? Thanks!

[kitten1711]

Hi nfig,

I'm probably not **that** much use when it comes to what exactly to do, but I know what supplies you will need (I have watched way too many YouTube videos and there are loads which show you how to go about it, but I must admit that I have never pressed shadows myself):

- empty shadow pans (and an empty pallette to store your newly pressed shadows in to protect them)
- pressing medium of some sort
- a coffee tamper, coin or other flat item to apply pressure to the pressing medium/powder shadow mix to compact it
- a ribbon, gauze or other fabric to apply between your pressure device & the medium/shadow mix; this will emboss a pattern on your shadows (you could always just use cling film/ceran wrap if you're not bothered about having a patterned surface).[/list]

You can buy empty shadow pans, palettes and pressing medium at any number of online stores.

I agree that loose powder eye shadows can be a bit messy, but I choose products from Silk Naturals because they don't contain all the additives and chemicals most 'regular' pressed shadows do; much of what is added to regular shadows are binders/wetting agents to help the powder stick together once the eye shadows are pressed so they don't fall apart in your make up bag - many of the pressing mediums available online are choc full of the same nasties, so I am more than prepared to put up with a bit of brightly coloured mineral dust rather than apply a boat load of synthetic ingredients to my eyelids; other people use some type of alcohol as their pressing medium but I suspect that would result in somewhat brittle, crumbly pressed shadows which means you're back to square one with them being messy.

Good luck if you do decide to press some shadows though - it looks like a time consuming job

Txx

[Xarata]

it IS time consuming and a little messy, but not really that hard. Not everyone presses their shadows the same way and some people bake them and some people don't (i don't bake mine). Pressing CAN (but doesn't always) affect the finish and the intensity of the color. You'll need a pan- you can buy them at coastal scents or elf either by the pan (which isn't really all that useful, unless you just want to rotate colors through one compact) or by the compact. I just have a travel compact with 3 shadows and a blush. Egerandi presses all of her eyeshadows i believe.

You'll press between 1/2 of the jar to the whole jar of powder. I use the EZ press medium from coastal scents. I know other people use aloe and alcohol. Using just alcohol tends to make them brittle (and therefore breakable). You just mix up the powder with the pressing medium til it's like sandcastle sand then pack it in the pan, lay down a paper towel (or a ribbon if you want hatchmarks) and push a quarter into it (a quarter is the exact same size as the inside of most pans). You can bake them and let them cool (in the oven or with a flat iron) or you can just let them sit a day or two. Like the prev. poster said though, pressing adds things back into your makeup that you probably were trying to avoid when you switched to minerals in the first place. That's why i only pressed a travel compact- it's convenient for travel but i don't like them pressed for everyday. When i made my compact i bought colors specifically for pressing- i still have loose jars of the same colors.

*The pans are usually magnetic and you have to be careful if you press a lot to make sure you buy the same type. There are magnetic pans with iron in the compact and there are magnetic compacts with iron in the pans. They need to complement each other or they won't stay in.

[WendyD]

I've pressed some minerals with jojoba and alcohol. The alcohol evaporates away, so the jojoba is needed as a binder. If you have the palette, I know that some people like to make their own "pans" with aluminum foil - a quick youtube search will show you how to do it.

[nfig]

Thanks for all of your help/suggestions. I ordered the supplies last week and pressed all my silk naturals shadows last night. They came out really great and I was surprised at how easy it was! I enlisted the help of my DH (what a great guy!) and we were able to press 13 shadows in an hour (my 6 month old fell and asleep on the couch so I was working like mad with what little time I had!). I used some this morning and they are as vibrant as ever =)

[nory87]

Yayyyy, maybe you can post some pictures of you pressed eye shadows!! I want to pressed some of my but I am nervous about, and mess up my beautiful eye shadows!!!

[nfig]

I will take a picture tonight and post them tomorrow!

[Cupcake]

I'd love to hear your method. It's not something that I've attempted recently, and as my SN collection is pretty precious to me, I'd love to follow a proven method rather than risk experimenting. Photos would be awesome, too! Well done

[nfig]

I'd love to hear your method. It's not something that I've attempted recently, and as my SN collection is pretty precious to me, I'd love to follow a proven method rather than risk experimenting. Photos would be awesome, too! Well done

Well I bought the supplies from Coastal Scents, including their pressing medium. I didn't buy their mixing spatulas, the reviewers said toothpicks worked better so that's what I used. This is what I did:

1) Took sifters off the shadow
2) Used 12 drops of EZ Pressing Medium (some shades required a bit more depending on the texture of each individual shade) and I just did this right in the eyeshadow jar
3) Mix up the shadow and pressing medium using a toothpick, being sure to scrape the sides every now and then. I mixed until I got a crumbly powder.
4) Once it was mixed up nice, I sprayed my shadow pan with 91% alcohol
5) Pour the shadow in the pan until it is evenly covered with a thin layer of the shadow
6) Using saran wrap to cover the shadow, press it down using a quarter
7) Repeat 2 more times until the pan is full (I used 26 mm pans), the 3rd layer is where you can add your own hetch marks, I didn't bother with this
8) Let sit overnight before using or bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 1/2 hour (I baked mine)

Voila! You have your new pressed shadows!

[Cupcake]

Yay! That sounds like something even I could manage! What's the purpose of step 4 - spraying with alcohol? Is it just to sterilise the pan, or do you need a little pool of the alcohol liquid in the pan for a reason?