ReVamp; The Art of Changing

Ok, so since my vacation started, I've been lagging on preparing for the trip. Been too preoccupied with drinks and parties and days spent recovering from drinks and parties.

But now it's countdown: 3 days and I gotta get on this shit. Washed all my laundry last night and set out the clothes I'm planning to take. Got a hair trim and found another silver hiding within my coif. Which is good for two reasons.

1. I love silver hair.

2. Loving silver hair means not dying since it will cover up lovely sliver hair.

So, the dye job I was planning to do is off which means one less item to tick off my list. And now I am currently killing time (and dealing with a flooded back room!) until the shops open so I can buy things. Suitcase and books for the plane and maybe some new makeup.

Ah, segway. Another little thing I needed to do was figure out how I was going to take along my Airspun loose powder, that time tested holy grail for vintage ladies. The best face powder on earth (and also maybe the cheapest) doesn't travel well so I decided to press it. With a little help from some makeup blogs and The Fedora Lounge, I was surprisingly easy.

 You need cosmetic powder, mixing bowl, something to press your powder into and alcohol (I used rubbing alcohol or surgical spirit) I've read use of vodkah and other drinking alcohol but why waste good liquor?

 Throw your powder in a bowl. I ended up using about half the powder in the container because once you add the alcohol, you lose a lot of volume.

 Add the alcohol a bit at a time and mix until its at a pasty consistency. At this point, I got a little nervous because the color changed so darkly. No worries, it dries back to it's original color.

 Scoop the paste into your pressing pan. I'm using my Stratton compact (with a broken mirror!) Goop it in, then wet your finger with the alcohol and use it to smooth the paste into the corners and even out the top.

It took mine overnight to dry. Halfway through, I took some scrap fabric and pressed it into the pan and applied pressure to help even out the surface. I added a little stamp of a Fleur de lis cause I'm corny.

Voila! Instant pressed compact. This works for any powder make-up and is especially helpful for eyeshadow or blushes that have busted and crumbled to dust.

Edit!

I don't know how I missed this post by Vixen Vintage but she has a tutorial for pressed powder that rocks. It looks like I just copied hers photo for photo (promise I didn't!) but her post is much prettier and more detailed then mine. Check it out!