Abstract: Novel appliances for the application, distribution, manipulation and/or removal of different types of media, including art and craft media, may be removably attached to conventional and commonly-available tools, such as palette/painting knives, brushes with hair/filament tips, and other media manipulators such as those having a polymeric contacting surface on their working end. The appliances are adapted for superimposition over the media-engaging working-head formations of the tools, and have media-engaging characteristics which differ from the native media-engaging characteristics of the working-head formations of the tools. Tools to which such appliances are attached in accordance with the invention are also disclosed.

Abstract: Pressed powders, such as cosmetics, are more effectively retained within a pan-like container having a bottom, at least one side and a top opening that defines a recess area to receive the pressed powder. Surface features are defined on the inner surface of at least the bottom of the container in order to create a generally lateral force component that the container applies to the pressed powder material to resist cracking of the pressed powder material in response to removal of a portion of the pressed powder material from the top opening. In one embodiment, a non-thermally activated adhesive layer is positioned generally along at least a portion of an inner surface of the bottom of the container.