Salvage broken cosmetics...

Make-up is a lot of fun. The creative lot gets to play with different colours, styles and enjoys trying out new tricks.

But opening your kit to find broken, dried out or melted products brings one shock and anxiety. Irrespective of how much we spent on the cosmetics, we have all dropped a lipstick or an eyeshadow palette and cried about it.  Well, fret not. You can mend your broken make-up products using the following tips and use them the way you intended.

Dried up nail paint

Add a couple of drops of acetone in the dried up nail paint bottle, close the lid tight and shake well. However, make sure you don’t get overexcited and use too much acetone. You might end up messing up the consistency of the nail polish, making it too diluted.

Broken foundation

Pressed compacts often break into pieces at the slightest fall. Here is how you can restore it. Put all the broken pieces of the compressed powder in a plastic bag, crush the chunks into fine powder as much as you can and put a portion of it back in the original container.

Now, add a few drops of alcohol on the powder to dampen it and add another layer of powder on top. Repeat this until you fill the container. Smooth the powder and press down on it with a tissue paper. Finally, remove the tissue and clean the edges of your container. Leave your compact open and let the powder dry overnight.

Broken lipstick

As far as beauty accidents go, few things are more frustrating than accidentally breaking a brand new lipstick. There is an easy way to mend a broken lipstick: wear clear gloves and remove the broken piece of lipstick, swivel it up as far as possible.

Using a lighter, heat the base of the lipstick till it melts slightly. Now, pick up the broken piece and place it gently on the base of the lipstick. Let it stay that way till it cools and voila, it’s (almost) as good as new!

Dried up mascara

It’s an amazing feeling when you get to flutter your perfectly done up eyelashes. But when the mascara goes dry, it becomes impossible to use and could possibly ruin the rest of your make-up. There two methods that you can use to fix this problem. Put a little of any generic eye-drops into the mascara tube, close it and swirl the wand a few times. Or, close the tube tightly and dip it in hot water. Keep it there for few minutes until the heat melts the mascara. Take it out and the product is now ready to use.

Broken eyeshadow

Gather all the broken pieces of the eyeshadow and put it in a plastic zip-lock bag. If there are different colours, use different bags. Crush them with a spoon until you get a fine powder. Pour some drops of water in the cleaned container then put the fine, dry powder in it. Again, add a few more water drops. Place a tissue on the eyeshadow powder and smooth it down. Now remove the tissue and leave the eyeshadow to dry. Unlike the powder compact, you don’t need alcohol to fix broken eyeshadow.

(The author is cosmetologist and founder-director of ALPS Beauty Clinics and Academies)