How To Press Mineral Eyeshadow

I promised to write a how to on pressing minerals so here it is :)  Curious about pressing loose eyeshadows & pigments? See my post here

To press minerals, you need to add a binder. There are a variety of binders you can use. You can use MAC's mixing medium, pure glycerin, beauty from the earth pressing medium or Biosilk silk therapy. I decided to go w/ - BioSilk silk Therapy. I went to Sally's to get the generic version for $8.79 - Ion Silk Drops.

I got my pans from beauty.com - these are smaller @ 18.5mm x 4mm instead of the traditional 26mm pan. You can find the 26mm pans @ Coastal Scents. I used Sweetpea & Fay's mineral eyeshadow in fresh oil.

You need the following Materials

Rubbing Alcohol

Mixing Tool (I used one for clay)

Dime (for 18.5 x 4mm pan) or quarter (for 26mm pan)

*2 - Dropper Bottles (for rubbing alcohol & binder)

Small Bowl Or Jar (I heard a shot glass works really well)

Pan
Minerals
Binder of your choice - see above

Clean, lint free cloth (I used a scrap of jeans)

Small Spoon

Empty Palette (I used a Z palette)

Organza Bag (optional)

1. Pour minerals in bowl

2. Add 7-15 drops of your choice of binder - just enough until it starts clinging together.

3. Mix in a few drops of alcohol in the bowl, mixing as you go. You want this to look smooth. Keep adding alcohol it until it resembles a wet dough consistency.

4.  Spoon mixture into eyeshadow pan. Spread it as evenly as you can. Try not to overfill. Let it set for 30 mins.

5. Lay your cloth down gently on top of the pan and let it soak up the alcohol. Once the cloth is saturated, move the pan under another dry patch. Repeat until your cloth stops soaking up alcohol.

6. Lay your coin on top of the cloth and line it up with the pan's edges - it should fit just right. Press down until you see alcohol bleeding around the edges. Move to another dry spot & repeat. Keep pressing until the cloth isn't soaking up anymore alcohol. 

7. Optional - Lay down the organza bag and coin over the pan and press down until the pattern is transferred. 

And there you have it - pressed mineral eyeshadow!