How To Make Eye Shadow (Pressed)

Mica Powders are pigments which are large largely made of Mica that have been colored with matte powders.  For example.  TKB's Oriental Beige is a blend of Mica, Titanium Dioxide and Iron Oxide. 

Matte Powders are pigments which are either pure (100% iron oxide, or 100% Ultramarines, for example), or have very little added fillers (for example TKB's Monochrome Pigments).  

This means:

Mica powders tend to be lighter weight and non-sticky like sand.  So, when you press them, you need to add powders which will help the grains stick together when you press them.  We recommend our TKB MyMix Press Base or simply Zinc Stearate.  

Matte Powders tend to be heavy and sticky like clay or soil. This means that you do NOT want to boost their stickiness and so we discourage adding our TKB MyMix Press Base or Zinc Stearate.  Instead we suggest you add filler powders which will loosen things up and make the colors spread more easily.

If you don't, you end up with a cake which is really hard and gives no color payout.

One reason that Matte Pigments fail as a pressed powder is because they need a texturizing base which will help them be loose enough to give color payout, but also help them bind and stay pressed.  In the following image, you will see a recipe which is a good base for pressing matte powders:  

In addition to the dry base, you will also need to wet your pigments as usual before pressing.  You may use TKB's MyMix Clear Pressing Medium or Jojoba Oil, or a medium of your choice.

Another recommendation by our customer Linda, is a blend which is 68% Mica (yes, this will make the colors somewhat less matte), 15% Zinc Stearate, 8% Silica Microspheres and 8% Magnesium Myristate.  

Here are examples of a formula for a Matte pressed powder submitted by another customer, Kitza.  You will see that the designer included some colored mica to help loosen the product:

If this image is hard to read: 

1. Phase A (30% Pressing Base SynTwist 5)

• SMAX Mica / 19% / 0.28g
• Calcium Carbonate / 3% / 0.04g
• Kaolin Clay / 3% / 0.04g 
• Allantoin / 1% / 0.02g 
• Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate / 1% / 0.02g (not available on TKB website as its own component; please search this on our website and all colors that have this will appear in the results) 
• Zinc Stearate / 3% / 0.04g 

2. Phase B (20% Pigment 23) 

• Ultramarine Blue / 15% / 0.23g 
• Hydrated Chromium Oxide Green / 5% / 0.08g

3. Phase C (TKB Pigment) 

• Colorona DARK Blue / 40% /0.60g
• Blue Ice / 10% / 0.15g 

4. Binder

• TKB's MyMix Pressing Medium / 99 drops 
• Preservative Cap-2 / 1 drop 
• Note: pre-blended and added as needed 

5. PROCEDURE

• Combine Phase A ingredients in a blender and mix well 
• Add Phase B and grind until uniform 
• Do a Drawdown test to check for streaking 
• Add Phase C and stir until well mixed 
• Add Binder drop by drop until you get a crumbly, sand consistency 
• Run through a sieve 
• Pres into 26mm eye shadow pan 

If this image is hard to read: 

1. Phase A (57% Pressing Base C20 + 3% Satin Pearl Mica 

• C-SMAX / 40% / 0.60g
• Calcium Carbonate / 7% / 0.10g
• Zinc Stearate / 7% / 0.10g 
• Magnesium Myristrate / 3% / 0.05g 
• Satin Pearl Mica / 3% / 0.05g 

2. Phase B (20% Pigment 21) 

• Ultramarine Blue / 17% / 0.26g 
• Ferric Ferrocyanide / 3% / 0.05g 

3. Phase C (Pigment) 

• Blue Iris Mica / 20% / 0.30g 

4. Binder 

• TKB's MyMix Pressing Medium / 99 drops 
• Preservative Cap-2 / 1 drop 
• Note: pre-blended and added as needed 

5. PROCEDURE

• Combine Phase A ingredients in a blender and mix well 
• Add Phase B and grind until uniform 
• Do a Drawdown test to check for streaking 
• Add Phase C and stir until well mixed 
• Add binder drop by drop until you get a crumbly, sand consistency 
• Run through a sieve 
• Press into 26mm eye shadow pan

 For more information on pressed powder makeup, please click here to be redirected to our blog post tutorial.