Impressing With My Powders and Pigments

By the miracle of scheduled posting I'm here when in reality I am probably lying on a sun lounger oh bliss! Anyways don't worry I've written a few posts to keep you amused whilst I'm away, starting with this one. A little while ago I decided to go ahead and try and press my loose powder shadows and blushers. I think I got the bug after my little attempt at pressing MAC pigments, I have loads and loads of powder shadows, pigments and blushers and to be honest I wasn't using them, loose powders just seemed a bit fiddly and too time consuming for everyday use so pressing them seemed to be the answer. Obviously it isn't as simple to press mineral shadows as it is to press MAC pigments, with MAC you just need a bit of alcohol however with mineral shadows and dazzle dusts you need a bit of filler, normally silicone alongside the alcohol, so I followed this tutorial from the lovely Lipglossiping use the same products as she does here. Generally I found it to be pretty successful but I learnt a few lessons along the way - first of all mattes are nearly impossibly to press, I found the more shimmer the better the result, I also learnt patience wait until they are dry before attempting to touch or press them otherwise disaster will strike. Another tip I would pass on is to be careful when adding the liquids a few times my mixture was way to wet I had to add more pigment to make it usable, and lastly be careful with them twice I dropped unpressed shadows and blushers on the floor and twice I dropped the pan when mixture was wet big mistake! I might be just a klutz but it you want to try it take care. I bought the alcohol and biosilk from ebay and the pans and palettes from Stars Make Up Haven who are great and usually include a freebie often one of their shadow singles :) On to the part you've all been waiting for pics of my handiwork - first of all blushers I've included some swatches for you so you can see how pigmented they are even after pressing, and I've made my pics a bit bigger than normal too x

Top Row From L-R - id Bare Minerals - Promise, Avon Mineral Blusher - Blushed, id Bare Minerals - Frisky and id Bare Minerals - Confidence

Bottom Row - First Light Minerals - Mistral

Pretty huh - bit of a colour theme developing there tho lots of peaches and corals :) OK eyeshadows - this palette isn't full yet but I still have a few to press and I'll probably need another palette to finish them all off but here it is at the moment, again with swatches :)

1st Row L-R - ELF -Natural, ELF - Earthy, ELF - Girly, id Bare Minerals - Poise, Space, ELF - Partier, id Bare Minerals - Motivate

2nd Row - id Bare Minerals - Pure Joy, ELF - Earthy, id Bare Minerals - Delight, Collection 2000 - Hazy Daze 20, id Bare Minerals - Bravo, Barry M Dazzle Dust - 91 Silvery Black, and Barry M Dazzle Dust - 51 Mushroom

3rd Row - id Bare Minerals - Purist, FirstLight Minerals - Bali Sunset, Collection 2000 -Stonewash, Space, First Light Minerals - Cornish Copper, Space, Collistar Lurex Pearl 2

4th Row - NYX Loose Pearl - 19 Mink Pearl, id Bare Minerals - Strength, Barry M Dazzle Dust - 3 Pink Gold, Boots Natural Collection -?, NYX Loose Pearl - 20 Mocha Pearl, Barry M Dazzle Dust - 101 Buff, and Barry M Dazzle Dust - 29 Yellow Gold

I hope you enjoy these pretty splashes of colour. Any questions on anything please let me know xx