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BINDER FOR PRESSED POWDER
Can anyone tell me what the best binder is for pressed powder. I’ve used jojoba, mct oil, glycerin & alcohol mix, alcohol alone, glycerin alone, dimethicone alone…….all with meh results. Just wondering what you guys think.
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1 Reply
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There are several binders you can use, but it really depends on what pressed powder you’re trying to make. Are you trying to make pressed powder foundation, blush, matte shadows, or shimmery eyeshadows?
Shimmers require more oil. Mattes require more dry binder and way less oil. I imagine blushes and powder foundations would be similar to mattes in that instance. Someone correct me if I’m wrong about that assumption. I’m just a DIYer and make eyeshadows specifically (for now).
TKB has a chart with a matte binder formula that I used recently that worked for making a matte shadow. I followed the base formula, replaced the mica with their C-SMAX instead, and then used a very tiny amount of coconut oil, like 5-6 drops max, before pressing. I attached a screenshot of the chart I’m talking about. I’m learning that neon matte shadows, specifically yellow, are very, very difficult.
From my understanding, zinc stearate and magnesium myristate seem to be the most popular dry binders. I’ve tried dimethicone, coconut oil, and TKB’s pressing binder and out of the 3, coconut oil was the most forgiving for me for both mattes and shimmers.
I haven’t tried jojoba oil so I can’t comment on that. I’m oversimplifying, but I would avoid glycerin in powdered products because it’s a microbe magnet and you’ll absolutely want to use preservatives with it. I wasn’t a fan of using dimethicone because my stuff tended to dry out super quickly. Could be a user issue on my part.
Sorry for the novel.
Tl;dr - Depends on what kind of pressed powder product you want to make. More oil for shimmer eyeshadows, way less for matte shadows.
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