Hard pan. It’s almost certainly something you’ve experienced, even if you weren’t sure what to call it. It’s that hard crust that forms over your powder makeup products.

If you’re particularly industrious, you’ve probably tried to scrape off that layer with some kind of tool. But if you want a cleaner, quicker, less wasteful way to get rid of it, I’ve got the only tool you need.

Yep, it’s your friendly household invisible tape, in all its green plaid glory.

Here’s how you remove hard pan with invisible tape.

1. Peel off a piece and press it down into the spot on your powder that’s hardened.
2. Pull up the piece of tape.
3. Repeat if necessary.

Truly, that’s all there is to it to take your makeup from this…

…to this

A Few Details

Want to prevent this from happening in the first place?

Here’s what causes hard pan:

• Oil from your fingers or brushes touching the pan.
• Dipping wet brushes into the product.
• Having an eyeshadow or other product that just naturally skews toward hard pan. (Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour blushes are a good example of this.)

That means, to combat this, you’ll want to clean your brushes more often. You could avoid using your fingers to get a more pigmented application or avoid buying the Tarte blushes.

But with a trick this easy for fixing hard pan, why deny yourself life’s small pleasures?

Hope that’s helpful!