By Amy Lawrenson

This morning the worst thing happened, my favourite powder eyeshadow broke.

Okay, it’s not the worst thing that could happen but it was pretty annoying. Now, usually I begrudgingly throw a broken powder compact away - be it an eyeshadow, powder or bronzer but this time I decided to come up with a fix. Partly because you can’t always afford to replace a broken product and also it’s such a waste – since there is usually plenty of salvageable product left.

Here’s my quick-fix guide to mending a broken powder compact:

1) Use a cotton bud or in my case a Kirby grip (it’s all I had to hand) to break down the powder into small granules.

2) Usually I use some rubbing alcohol and a dropper here to fuse the powder together. Using the alcohol binds the powder together and helps to prevent any bacteria growing in the compact. I didn’t have any to hand so I just carried on regardless and hoped for the best!

3) Take a tissue and lay it over the crushed granules.

4) Using your fingers, press down on the tissue to pack the loose powder into the compact.

5) Take away the tissue and ta-da! A compact of solid powder once again.

This is just a quick-fix - it's not perfect and the powder without the rubbing alcohol is likely to breakdown again but it’s far better than condemning my favourite eyeshadow to the bin too soon...