MAKEUP POWDER REPRESS TUTORIAL - repressing/depotting/repotting 

OMG. I love her method! Just had a look at her on Instagram. The way she re-pans those chrome shadows that have a more "smoogy" consistency is amazing. I have some colour pop shadows that have that same consistency so I will definitely try her method. Thanks so much!

So glad to hear you enjoyed the video!! I spent so long researching all things "depotting" and felt there wasn't a complete video out there that explained how it works, what you need, where to get the gear from and then shows you how to actually do it. It's so worth it. Its been almost a year now that I have been using my depotted kit. I repotted 240 powders in total. Out of the 140 eye shadows I've only had one shatter in my kit. (it was a highly micronised frost pearl that might have been too fine to repress). The only powders that haven't been happy was my MAC Mineralized baked highlight in "Gold Deposit". It was super crumbly with a tone of kick back when used. I have just replaced it with MECCA MAX Skin Halo Powder Highlighter in Bronze Glow which is virtually identical and pressed perfectly.

Don't be afraid! Start with some old powders or shadows you don't care about, just for a practice and to see which grinding technique you prefer. You'll see they'll turn out great and you'll be really confident doing the rest. They only things I found didnt work were the Hourglass powders (I destroyed them) and baked products repress but they are not amazing. I wouldn't do my baked MAC Mineralized Skinfinishes again like Soft and Gentle or Global Glow. They have such a high shimmer/mica content they're pretty unstable. Everything else is perfect! Happy repressing!

Thanks so much for watching. There are so many ways to crush up the powder. You really need to have multiple tools on hand. Some sort of pill crusher/milling device, the mascara spoolie, a roller, the side of a credit card or spatula, anything you can get your hands on. Every brand and product is different and you'll notice this in the consistency when you start crushing products up. Some so straight to a fine loose powder with no effort and others are like trying to crush up rocks. Depending on the consistency of the powder, you'll find that if you use a rolling method with very soft finely milled powders or buttery powders, it almost compacts it again and it doesn't go into that "loose powder" like consistency you need for putting it into the mould. If there are an solid chunks at all that aren't loose, they will repress as a chunk within your new repress. You can often see it in the repress and it means it might be a bit unstable and more likely to crack. The storing of the products is probably the only annoying part of this process. I still haven't found a great way of organising them really well. It's unavoidable that it will always be messy. Right now I have them in small zip bags, grouped by brands, in bigger zip bags. I think ideally you'd want them in small draws perhaps? Happy repressing!

So glad you liked the video!!! Its so hard to find a complete video that includes the Arsenal moulds, Kitpak and Arbor press info all in one! You wont regret repressing your kit. Just stay away from repressing Hourglass. Still cant figure out whats in that stuff to make it not prepress. Also, I ordered some ColourPop shadows and you know the metallic powders have almost a mushy consistency? Here's a link to the texture I'm talking about..... instagram.com/reel/Ci1HxSwgsOX/ If you come across a metallic with a texture like this, if you want to repress it, spray fixy lightly on the base of the pan, no fixy on the power once its in the mold/pan and instead of using the Arbor press, press it in the mold by hand. That texture is whack. You'll find that some highlighters like Laura Mercier have that same texture too. When you use the Arbor press on them they just keep ripping apart when you try to take them out of the mold but if you do it by hand they are perfect. ANY QUESTIONS LET ME KNOW!

@@joannebentleymakeup Hello Joanne, I've heard baked formulas link MAC mineralize skin finish / hourglass powder are not for repressing, so I will leave them as is. Fixy is sold out everywhere, do you think I can do it without?

​@@michaeljaymakeup6620 You definitely cant go without Fixy. Its the glue that keeps it together in it's new form. Makeup and Glow wont be out of stock for long. Send their customer service an email and ask them to put you on the wait list. I found that you only have to wait 7-14 days for them to replenish their stock for Fixy and KitPak.

Hi there! So glad you found it helpful! Honestly.... it's so worth it. Its a very expensive initial outlay but when you are a busy working makeup artist, it is work every cent. I'm old now and I cant carry that weight in my kti anymore. I'm at the point now where I've been using my repressed kit for long enough now that some of my powders are running out. All I have to do is get the remainder in the bag, chop it up and repress it and it's a brand new full powder. Everything always looks clean. Its the best.

I do find that there is a tiny bit more fallout. But after watching this video, I think my presses aren’t tight enough… so I’m going to try her method and see what happens. If you are interested in connecting I’m @nataliebohlin_makeupandhair ❤ I’m in CA and it’s so fun to see ppl down under using the same products and techniques:) kinship 😄

Thanks so much Krystel. It takes a lot of time but once its done, its done for good. I crushed up and refilled two face powders that were running low the other day. Took me about 20 mins. It would say I spent about 40 hours in total over 4 or 5 weeks to get them all repressed?

You know what, I saw the guy that owns Artist Kit Company does it this way. I tried it, I felt for me it wasn't easier and didn't save any time. I felt like it couldn't feel the chunks in the bag that needed to be squished. Lately when I've been pressing I've been cutting some serious corners and just scrap it all out of the pan with a palette knife and chop it up quickly with a credit card.

@@joannebentleymakeup whatever works for you is always the best way 😉

OMG! I am going to try that for sure. Thanks for the tip!

Hi Pamela! I thought about that. When I looked into it you need a high precision digital scale. One that’s for measuring medicine to micro accuracy. A regular digital scale would do nothing because the powder weighs vertically nothing. It was just another expense that I decided to skip. Also because when your grinding the powder out of the compact it’s impossible to know exactly how much you need so you always have an excess that needs to be stored. Second reason I decided down the track it was pointless is because each brand has a different formula and some powders need more in the mould and some less. With my face powders alone, there was MAC studio fix, mac blot, Too faced, Jouer Charlotte Tilbury and more. Each brand and formula required a different amount in the mould to get a nice press. Winging by eye was so much easier at the end. Hope that helps!

Thanks so much! I have a recent video that is a year later where I am doing a repress of the ones I've used up. That's really informative too.

So glad you enjoyed the video! The second line is so handy. In the US some of the depotters have a cool label printer that connects to your phone. You can change fonts or use logos on your labels. You could have the actual NARS or MAC logo so its really easy to identify in your kit. That's my next purchase 😉

@@joannebentleymakeup Grishan from depot chopra has that it’s a brother I believe not sure 100%. It’s just way too pricey 😅 I love the thoroughness of the video.

Thanks so much!

Pleasure Catherine! There's not much out there about repressing so its great to share the love.

You could give it a go? I have a feeling when I was deep diving into @vanmakeupnyc on Instagram. He owns @artistkitcompany (similar to the Kitpak system). In one of his videos he mentions you had to invest in the 1 ton because the half ton doesn't give the pressure required for a solid press.

Thanks so much Barbie! Glad you enjoyed.

My pleasure!

To be honest, the arbour press was the cheapest thing to purchase. It was $99. I spent about $800-$1000 all up. It makes it so much easier and it gives you a professional looking press. Check out Hallie's instagram page @theartistsarsenal (where you buy the moulds). If you deep dive into her video's she has one where she is hand pressing some blushes with just the moulds and it looks so hard. She often has to re-do them a few times because the press keeps stuffing up. It's hard to get an even press with your hands. The only time i don't use the Arbor press it is for smooshy shadows. Colour pop do this consistency with some other their shadows where they're almost like a cream, textured powder? They are better to hand press because the mould sticks to the top of the shadow and rips it. Out of my 140 eyeshadows I only have about 5 with that consistency so I make sure I hand press those.

I have just found Hallie's video on Instagram. If you let me know your handle on Insta I can tag you in the video 👍🏼

Thanks so much for watching! Glad you enjoyed.

You definitely could achieve the same force but the problem is gravity. With the Arbour press the mould containing the pan with powder are flat on the Arbour press plate. Because they are flat and stable, force is applied evenly over the moulds internal face. With a vice (I'm assuming its a bench vice where the plates are sandwiched vertically?) the mould will have to be on its side and the powder may fall heavily to one side, giving you an uneven and maybe unstable press. It couldn't hurt to try though? The worse that could happen is it doesn't work and you'd have to buy an Arbour press.

Unfortunately I could not get it to work 😔 Out of all the 100's of represses I've done, its the only formula that I could not figure out.

@@joannebentleymakeup I just want to give you sooo much props for this video!!!

@@joannebentleymakeupthe guy that owns AKC made a post a long time ago about not repressing some stuff and I can’t find it…I found an image of things he did for a client. He left the MAC MSF and hourglass intact.

I dropped my hourglass strobe blush palette. They were so difficult to repress. I finally managed to repress them with my hands or lightly. The arbor press didnt work. They do not work with the large pans and I used the medium AKC pans without Fixy and a tiny spritz of alcohol (70%)

I know right? A bit crazy. I do love a project. The first products I depotted was my lipsticks into a Kitpak system and it worked out so well it was just too tempting to do the rest of my kit. I work so much and have such a big kit that it just makes it so much easier to carry and work with when my kit is condensed. I think the eyeshadows are the icing on the cake and definitely optional. I think condensing your face powders and blushers is 100% worth the money. 10 face powders or 40 blushers fit into that one tiny palette! For working makeup artists the functionality (for those two products especially) far outweighs the initial cost layout.

Hi Taylor. Yes I have. The baked ones I've pressed are some Milani baked blushes, napoleon blush patrol and the MAC highlighters in Gold Deposit, Soft and Gentle and Golden Global. Dare I say I haven't repressed any baked powders that are matte as yet. The only difference I've experienced between the usage of a repressed regular powder and a baked one is that the baked powders that are shimmer have more kick-off when you're using them. Hallie from @theartistsarsenal on Ingram repressed Sephora baked powders. She has a tone of them. If you go onto her instagram page is literally at the top of her page, there are three videos of her repressing those. Definetely worth the watch.