Salvage bad press?

[puggerfly]

So I pressed my first few shadows, and while the shimmery shades came out great, I think I may have ruined my brand new mattes (kensington and chase) with too much pressing medium (5-6 pumps). They're still usable if I really scrub the brush across them, but the color payoff is too faint. I wish I had found Oxana's other pressing video, about using even fewer pumps for mattes and supplementing with alcohol for a softer press, before I jumped in!

Anyway, what I'm wondering is if I could crush up the too-hard press, mix it with a second jar of shadow & maybe only one pump of medium (for a total of 7ish pumps/ 2 jars), and wet the rest with alcohol, then re-press? Theoretically that would make a double batch with an overall lower ratio of medium to powder, which would hopefully make the final result softer. Does that make sense? I figure that if you can repair old pressed powders that have cracked just by adding alcohol and re-pressing (because they already contain binders), that this may work... or I could just be ruining another jar!

Thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions?

Thanks

[karen]

How long has it been since you pressed them? Let them dry another day or so- they do soften up a bit. They'll look and feel dry overnight, but they'll be hard to use until they're fully dry.

Also, sometimes there's a little skin that forms on the top. If you scratch it with the back of your fingernail lightly it will break that crust, and what's underneath should be very usable with a brush.

It's made to be durable so you can travel with it, but it definitely shouldn't be too hard. If they're really tooo hard then I think I'd break them up add just a little more powder, and re-wet it with rubbing alcohol.

[puggerfly]

Hi Karen! Thanks for your reply.

It's been a couple days. I thought they seemed to be getting harder with time, but it has been really humid, so maybe that's just perception. I'll see what they're like in another couple days and also check for a "skin" as you suggested. "Worst" case scenario, I'll just have to place another order. Wouldn't that be awful

*I also wanted to add, just in case it wasn't clear, that this is in no way a criticism of the product; just a case of user error meets personal preference.

Thanks again for your input. Have a great evening!

[karen]

No worries! I tested the heck out of it, but there are always differences in preferences, and local climate.

Give it a little scratch, and I'm betting it will be ok. I'm so sorry it's been tricky for you!