I didn't know about "pan form" (or palettes or colors) or 'back to mac'.. This guy came in original MAC casing; big and bulky.
Print suffered the consequences of one of my experiments... so here I am attempting to both depot and 're-press?' him.
I'm really not an expert with these things... BUT I've managed to scour the internet for tidbits of useful info that I have compiled into this one big recipe for eyeshadow success.
A great tip (imo) is to go through the instructions before the 'ingredients' list. This way you'll get an idea of what you're attempting.. and you can make the necessary adjustments.
You'll Need:
- broken shadow =/
- flat iron
- knife or something to crush it with
- a sharp tool to wiggle it out of the pot
- rubbing alcohol
Depot the shadow (if in pan form skip ahead)
If your shadow is cracked...So apparently shadow pans are glued to their plastic containers... Before you can take the pan out, you're gonna wanna loosen up that glue with some heat.
Here I'm using an old flat iron. (Notice it's not touching the wood.) But you can also stick it in the oven, put it by the heater... place it by some hot soup?
Leave it in there for a few minutes keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't blow up or catch fire.
Check on that glue and set the pan free.
(I used the blade from an Olfa Touch-Knife because it's flat and not flimsy so it holds up against that heavy duty MAC glue.)
Carefully wedge your tool between the metal of the pan and the plastic container and take it all around the pan several times. If this is too hard put the pan back into the heat and wait another couple minutes.
Tilt the tool at a 45-ish angle and trace that circle again. Wiggle the blade gently to speed up the process.
Keep on tracing that circle (notice the cap is facing the other side) until it's lose. Wedge it out and set it aside.
Check the bottom of the pan for glue residue. You don't want it sticking to something else now that you've taken it out of the case.
(Once the glue cools you can remove it with some alcohol)
If your eyeshadow isn't cracked..
Did you know you can remove the plastic pan and put That on heat instead of the whole thing? This melts the glue quicker and prevents burnt labels. 
See where that arrow is pointing?Most single shadows have a plastic pan housing the metal pan. Urban decay's is a bit tricky, I don't recommend this for UD shadows.
Take your tool and wedge it into that ridge vertically. You don't want to stab at it sideways like in the picture up top.. that'll just make ugly marks on the plastic.
No circling needed here. Just insert, wedge, and pop.
Re-press the shadow
"Before it gets pretty it's gotta get real ugly"Take your metal pan and poke the powder inside with something. Here I'm using a plastic bobby pin.
You don't have to poke too much. Just enough to break down the big chunks of shadow.
I also did all this atop a paper plate. Once I was done poking, I picked up the plate, folded it taco style (without the pan inside) and shook the fallout back into the pan.
<--- = x_x
I tried the whole "put it in a plastic bag" method but it didn't work for me.
The shadow got stuck to the plastic and I wasn't able to really break down the powder properly.
Finally, take some rubbing alcohol (I used 71% generic, but I hear you can also use vodka?) and drizzle it into the powder
Pour the rubbing alcohol into its cap (about halfway for rite-aid bottles) and then pour in just enough to cover the shadow.
You can also use an eye dropper or a measuring spoon...
Swirl the mixture around a bit so the alcohol is mostly mixed in. This makes sure all the shadow is compacted
Tap it a bit to make sure there's no 'air bubbles'. I don't actually know if this makes sense... but it doesn't hurt. Just be sure not to splash alcohol everywhere.After a few minutes it looks like this.
Take a quarter (anything that fits inside the pan) and cover it with some cloth (or a tissue or a..)
Use this makeshift shadow-presser to press down on that shadow.If you're lucky enough to have circle stamps small enough to fit, use them to press!
Experiment with cool designs, take pictures, and send them my way.
I'll be sure to give you a virtual pat in the back and perhaps a physical giftie.
Scrape the paste that forms around the edges and put it back in the pan. Press again. Lift...
Just set it aside where it wont be messed with for hours (5 hours should do fine if you're in a pinch for time. I recommend leaving it for a day or two just to be on the safe side. You don't want traces of alcohol on your eyelids).
Once it's dry you can safely clean up around the edges, the bottom... write on it, print up a label for it, play with magnets, put a sticker...
and either put it back into its container or into a palette.
man that took longer than I thought. It's 3 AM now, I'm gonna call it a night.
