How To Depot Eyeshadows and Use a Z-Palette

Long ago, I began my journey into the terrifying world of depotting. Before Z-palettes, Unii Palettes, or even the modern reinterpretation of the MAC Pro Palettes, I purchased a 15 shadow MAC Pro palette and depotted my single MAC eyeshadows. I felt so accomplished.

Doing so involved wax paper on top of my flatiron, heating the bottom of the single MAC eyeshadow pot, which allows the glue to loosen/melt slightly, and then prying the tin out of the packaging with a small metal spatula. 

This week I got the itch to combine even more of my favorite shadows. I found that I would have a favorite eyeshadow in a large palette, but would never use it because palettes take up too much room, especially just for one particular eyeshadow in my routine.

This time around, I purchased a Z-Palette, removed the MAC shadows from the old MAC pro palette, placed them in the Z-Palette, and then began depotting my favorite shadows from my large collection of palettes from other brands. 

Among those used included the fabulous and buttery shadows from the Cargo Vintage Escape palette (so amazing!), the Zoeva Rose Golden palette (there's an amazing shadow in it called Copper is King), Coastal Scents Revealed 2, and the Too Faced ♥︎ Sephora palette.

This time around, since I was depotting from palettes and some where made of tin, some were made of cardboard, and heat might be dangerous, I took the same isopropyl alcohol that I had on hand for fixing smashed powders, and carefully dropped it into the space between the eyeshadow tin and the packaging, one drop in each corner. I let that sit for a few seconds, then took my flatiron and held it over the eyeshadow tin, without touching the packaging.

Then I took a prying tool (a makeup spatula or, if you're careful, a box cutter/razor blade will work) and started prying the tin from the packaging. Some palettes were demolished in this process, and I'm okay with that. (Sorry, Zoeva.)

Have you ever tried depotting your eyeshadows? I highly recommend it! It's so nice to get rid of all that excess packaging!