Moon Mousse Magic Makeup Repair Kit Review – Does it Work Better than Rubbing Alcohol?

By Kimberly

Does the Moon Mousse Magic Makeup Repair Kit Work? When it comes to putting broken powders together the traditional way, I’ve had mixed success. For the most part, it works and leaves the formula intact to perform the way it did before the repair. The traditional method is to crush up the powder, mix it with isopropyl alcohol until it resembles wet sand, and press it back together. Using 99% alcohol and very firm press will typically yield the best results. I’ve noticed the powders crack and crumble more when I do not press very firmly, use 70% alcohol, or use too much alcohol (where your product looks more like mud than wet sand). Trial and error will help you learn how to master the right amount of each. At 70%, it takes longer for the liquid to evaporate. From my experience, the longer the product sits wet in the pan, the more likely it will crack and dry out once it finally returns to powder form.

Repaired products never look as good as they did before the break, but they can perform at or about the same level. Alcohol evaporates quickly, and it typically does not change the formula of the product you use it on. Rubbing alcohol, as it is also called, is almost pure alcohol. When it gets diluted, it usually uses water to do so. That means there are very few ingredients to change the structural compound of the product you are working on. Rare exceptions do exist, and I cannot tell you which combinations will trigger them. There are times when you will use alcohol to repair some of your makeup products and they will not perform as they did before. My only guess is the alcohol bonded with something in the original product’s formula to partially change the structure. This is rare, so I think it is worth the risk on unknown products. If you know rubbing alcohol alters the formula of something, do not use it again.

I ordered a product from Hautelook that arrived broken. Hautelook is a discount site where products are only available for a short period. By the time the product arrives at your house (up to a month after you order it), it is no longer available for purchase. You have two options when this happens. The first is to return the product to Hautelook (they pay for return shipping) and get a refund, and the second is you can keep the product damaged. How much you want the product and how good of a deal you received on it usually play a factor in your decision. My product was a 0.14oz Kevyn Aucoin The Pure Powder Glow in Shadore. As this product is long gone from the Hautelook site, I cannot link it from there.

Beautylish sells it for $37, so that is the link I used. That means Hautelook sold me an item I can buy at regular stores for full price. It was not a discontinued item, as many of the products it sells are. If I returned the broken one I paid $9.97 to Hautelook for, I would have to pay $37 to a full-price retailer to replace it. My thoughts were I could kill two birds with one stone by keeping it. I could finally test the Moon Mousse Magic Makeup Repair Kit, which retails at Ulta for $15, and still have an intact blush for less than the full-price (assuming the Moon Mousse worked). Those thinking Hautelook is risky, I can tell you that is the only item I’ve ever received across multiple orders that arrived broken. The odds of getting a broken item are about the same as any other retailer you purchase from. Of course, the main difference is you can get a replacement on broken items with other retailers. That is not an option with Hautelook.

I sat on the broken powder for a few months waiting to see if Ulta would have a sale on the Moon Mousse. While I was sitting on it, the pink shade in my Makeup Revolution Triple Baked Rainbow Highlighter Unicorn Heart (no longer at Ulta Beauty) shattered and fell off. This is a product I am certain arrived intact, because I always check. My niece actually discovered it broken, because she was opening some of my highlighters to see what they looked like. She asked me which ones she could swatch, and I told her which ones I had already used. Any (like this one) I had not used yet, I asked her not to swatch. When she opened it and saw that the pink shade broke apart, she looked at me, smiled, and said, “can I swatch it now?” The only thing worse than broken makeup is makeup breaking before you get a chance to use it but after it arrives. That makes you responsible for the break and prevents you from trying it in its optimum state to see how it performs.

After that discovery, I knew it was time to put both powders back together. The one thing that the Kevyn Aucoin powder had going for it is I already own the formula in another shade. That means I know how beautiful that powder performs when it is intact. While there is some variation in formula from color to color, it is generally safe to assume you will like the formula (even if the color is a miss) on a product you are already familiar with. Since all the other colors in the Makeup Revolution Highlighter are still intact, I can compare the repaired shade to the other shades to see if the Moon Mousse alters its formula.

The Moon Mousse Magic Makeup Repair Kit is a $15 kit that gives makeup lovers a choice when it comes to putting powders back together. They can try this as opposed to pure alcohol. It is a vegan mousse that claims to use all-natural binders to compress broken pressed powder cosmetics without altering texture or color pigments.

The ingredients in this are: Hamamelis Virginana (Witch Hazel) with natural grain alcohol, Decyl Glucoside, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender Oil), Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba Oil), Cocus Nucifera (Fractioned Coconut Oil), and Tocopherol (Vitamin E). Not only does that include a form of alcohol in witch hazel, but it has a lot of oils. That means you are adding a lot of things into your powders.

The kit comes with a 1.7oz bottle of Moon Mousse, a double-sided circular press tool, a double-sided square/rectangular tool, and a spatula. All of the tools are plastic and not super sturdy. They will do the job, but those of you lucky enough to have metal tools will find those work better.

The directions seemed easy enough and for the first round, I followed them to a T. I swept the powder back in the pans, broke up the powder with the spatula, pressed the powder with the tool (well, on one), dispensed enough mousse to cover the surface area, left them overnight, and tried to repress them in the morning.

It was difficult to follow the exact directions for the Makeup Revolution highlighter, because of the pan shape. No pressing tool could get in there properly and most of the crushed powder fell into the hole on the side. I could not recover it, because the smaller container does not remove from the bigger part. My fear was other colors could beak if I tried as this is obviously delicate powder.

I was not able to use the tools to press this, and I was unable to repress it with the tool either. Nevertheless, what little I managed to save was sticking nicely to the pan. It also showed me that this is very bulky packaging. The powder does not even start until the edge on the pan, so there is no real insert. Whenever all powder sits on top of a pan, it is a lot easier to break. This is a poor design, as cute as it is.

I do not really notice a difference in the way the purple (in original form) and the pink (repressed via Moon Mousse) shades swatch or wear in this palette. It leads me to believe the Moon Mousse kept its promise and did not alter the formula.

I am wearing the purple on one side (left) and the pink on the other side (right) in this photo. Other than a slight difference in color, everything looked and felt the same. In this picture, I am also wearing the Kevyn Aucoin blush I repressed. Keep reading for my thoughts on that.

It was easier to follow the directions exactly due to the shape of the Kevyn Aucoin pan. I pulverized the remaining powder.

Then, I used the large square to repress it.

Then, I covered the product with the mousse. It does not say how much mousse to use, and I quickly learned this was not enough.

When I tried to repress this the next morning, it was very dry. All the repressing tool did was lift more powder and cause more damage to the cracks that had already formed. Clearly, this attempt was unsuccessful. I decided to try it again. This time, I watched some Youtube videos to prep me for it. I started with the one the brand created. That is clearly a shimmer, and my shimmer powder reset fine. My goal was to find one to reset a matte powder. Thankfully, this Youtube video did both.

The ladies in the video suggested ignoring the directions a bit. I took their advice and kept mixing and repressing the powder while it was wet. This allowed me to see that the mousse has a hard time penetrating the matte powders. Technically, I had already seen that. While the foam was instantly sucked into my shimmer powder, it took a lot longer for my matte powder to absorb it. Even when it did, there were layers that the foam never hit, despite using a lot of product. To combat that, I kept mixing until the liquid mixed with every bit of powder. It had the sand-like consistency I look for when I mix powder with alcohol. Then, I repressed it while it was wet. The original directions have you repress it in dry form, then repress it once again the next day after the mousse dries. You never press wet powder when you follow the directions.

With this method, I did get much smoother powder. I also woke up to see a large crack in the middle and all around the sides. Clearly, this did not work. After trying and failing a third time using a hybrid of the first method and this one, I decided this mousse does not play well with matte formulas. It dries the powders out, changes the color, and the oils inside the mousse make it harder to pick up color. If you’ve ever hit hard-pan, you will understand what I am explaining. Funny enough, the oils in our skin are what causes hard-pan, so it makes perfect sense that the oils in the mousse can lead to hard-pan. If I try this mousse to reset this a fourth time, I fear the powder will be unusable. Thus, I am going to reset it a final time with traditional alcohol. To get the most out of this product, which only has a 12-month shelf-life, I will use it for any shimmers that break. Mattes will get the traditional alcohol repair.

If you look at the photo of me above, you will see the Kevyn Aucoin cheek color in Shadore that I repaired using the Moon Mousse. That was after I reset the pan the second time using this product, and it was already hard to pick it up. It was also very powdery compared to its buttery sister. Because I own this formula in another color, Neolita, I can tell you how Shadore is performing is not usual for this product.

Yes, some formulas change slightly from color to color as I mention above, but it took 2 passes to get Neolita that bold. This is already a dark color, and I have to use a very light hand to even wear it with my skin tone. You can also see how smooth and pigmented it is. After 5 passes with Shadore, it is patchy and lacks pigment. I never got to use it before the repair, but I assume it would have performed around where its sister product does without the Moon Mousse wreaking havoc on it. Thus, I can say this mousse ruined the blush. Here’s hoping alcohol can save it, but it might be too late.

What do you think about Moon Mousse? Let me know below. Unless you really dislike alcohol in your products (most of which evaporates), I would not recommend buying this. Once I’ve used the rest of what I’ve purchased or it expires, I will not use it again. Save your money and buy a bottle of rubbing alcohol. You can typically use household items as repressing tools and save as well. Have you tried this? Do you have a method that makes it work better with matte formulas? I’d love to know what you think. View my main page for the guide map to the site and deeper deal exploration.

Disclosure: Affiliate Links