DIY Z Pallete

I recently got some MAC refill eyeshadow pans and then realized i had nowhere to store them, so i looked online and found some really awesome eyeshadow z pallets, all of which, with shipping were pretty expensive and also meant that for weeks my eye shadows would have no home. So i did the next best thing and made my own, i looked over sevral online tutorials and there are many to choose from. Here is my take on it:

What You Need:

- Unwanted Hardcover Book - size should be the same size you want your palette to be, choose one where the spine is not to big.

- Ruler (metal works best)

- Double sided tape

- Foam board (same size as your book)

- Scalpel (Scissors will work ok, but will be less precise and the lines less clean)

- Magnetic Sheet ( i got mine at an Art Shop for $4.95, but if you have a magnetic calendar lying around that will work too)

- Decorative Tape (optional)

1. Open your book flat and cut out the center portion (the pages) so that you have only the shell of the book left.

2. The center part might have some threads or glue so be careful while cutting, i found a scalpel worked best.

3. This is how your book should look when it's been gutted. I used this time to stick down the ragged edges with some decorative tape to make it look a bit cleaner.

4. Measure one side of your book against the foam and cut to size if necessary.

Be careful while cutting, foam can be quite brittle and if your knife isn't sharp enough it will catch. If you can use a new blade as it will make it much easier and neater. ( i learned this the hard way)

6. Your foam board and half book should be the same size now, be sure to check the fit before moving forwards to the next step.

7. Measure out an inside square (or rectangle as the case may be). I made mine 2cm in on each side, it;s possible to free hand this but measuring will make the end effect look better.

8. Cut out the central square (or rectangle). Be careful not to cut to the edges, this piece will make the base frame of the palette. 

9. Measure your magnetic sheet to size, mine was a self adhesive one so i was able to draw on the back paper before gluing it down.

10. Double check the sizing and make sure both the frame and magnetic strip fit, cut anything down that needs it.

11. I wasn't happy with some of the ragged edges in my frame so i covered it in the same decorative tape i used earlier to stick down the ragged insides of the book.

12. Stick everything down, my magnetic strip was self adhesive and for the frame i used double sided tape, hot glue can also work but a regular glue stick won't grip hard enough and might move around.

13. Decorate to your hearts content.

Fit your depotted eye shadows however fits best, aluminum pots like those used by MAC and Australis will need to have a piece of magnet stuck to the bottom to stick while others will simply stick on their own. The only thing i need to add is some velcro straps or ribbon over the side to keep it closed.

Here is another quick palette i made from a cd case, all i did was take out the plastic piece that the CD sits on and then decorated it all pretty like with my decorative sticky tape and then stuck the other magnet sheet i had in the bottom. 

Depotting Eyeshadow: The Journey

So i depoted some of my eye shadows.  As you can see it turned out pretty well and they are all nice and ready to go into my newly made Eyeshadow palette, but since i only had 4 eye shadows to go into it i figured it was a great time to depot some of the rest of my stuff. Since there are a a million and one tutorials out there about how to do this I'm just going to give a brief overview and list of the areas that caused me the most trouble and what to expect while doing this. It can be a bit hard so if your unsure or you love a certain eyeshadow too much then it's better to be safe then sorry.

1. I used a candle to heat my eyeshadow pans, i tried a hair straighter but it took too long and was for me personally too hard to judge when it was ready. With eyeshadow that had packaging similar to Essence the best tell was when i saw a ripple go through the sticker on the bottom and a part of it would fold or bend so i knew it was ready to go. I only sustained one small burn on my finger while doing this, becareful the pans are metal and get quite hot.

2. If you timed it right then the sticker should peel off like a breeze, and hopefully doesn't have any burn marks on it. Some eyeshadow pans have a hole on the back of them where you can push them to dislodge them from the case but despite what some tutorials showed me the Essence packaging has a hole on the back but it doesn't go all the way through to the pan so poking it will do you no good. 

3. Invariably what you will need to do is stick a blade (scalpel) or specialized tool in between the pan and case and wedge it out. In many cases the heat will have loosened the glue enough that at least one side will have a wider spae where you can jam the blade and wedge the pan upwards.

!!! If you start to see the powder begin to crack STOP. Go back and heat it up a bit more.

4. You might need to use our fingers to wedge the pan all the way up as remember there is still hot glue trying to pull it back down. While it's still warm get rid of as much of the glue as possible, it will save you a lot of stress, mess and nail breakage later on.

5. The best way i found to get rid of hot glue one it's dried is some rubbing alcohol and cotton eyar buds swirled in a circular direction followed by a plastic spatula to move it off. If that fails your nails will work but they will get dirty and cracked, as i found out.

I had the most trouble with this  MUA eyeshadow single as instead of loosening the glue underneath all that seemed to happen was the pan would become softer so when i would wedge the blade between the pan and case the pan would bend causing the powder to crack. This one was a complete loss, but if this happens keep the pan - you can either try fix it or make your own pressed eyeshadow out of pigments.

* This shadow of eyeshadow seems to be more crumbly then other colors, not sure why but the Essence eye shadow i had that was almost the exact same color also shattered when i did this, though not quite as dramatically.

The hot glue was quite thick, but so was the bottom of the case which was part of the problem with the MUA. Be careful if your trying to depot these. Do not rush and take your time.

The left over mess, lots of plastic to recycle, and far less plastic clogging up my makeup draws. This is not going to be for everyone, the reason i did it was mainly because i found i had eyeshadows in palettes that i never used because they were packed away. 

Here are some quick notes about which eyeshadow brands proved particularly difficult to depot:

MAC - Easy

Essence - Easy

MUA - Very Hard

Dior - Super Easy

Savvy - Impossible

Gosh - Moderate

Australis - Moderate

Revlon - Super Easy

Gold/Plum Eye Makeup Tutorial

Hey Beauties, i decided to take a shot at doing a tutorial with some of my eyeshadow recent and not so recent as eye makeup has very much been my focus, especially since i purchased 10 of the Color Infallible eye shadows and have been over the moon about them since.

Products Used:

MAC Rubenesque paint pot

Color Infallible eyeshadow in Goldmine

MAC Amberlights

MAC Star Violet

Essence Cappuccino, Please!

Urban Decay Blackout

Models Prefer Liquid Liner in Brilliant Brown

Physicians Formula Eye booster in Ultra Black

Maybelline the Falsies mascara

1. Starting with a makeup ready face, ie. foundation and primer in this case it was Ponds BB Cream as foundation and Illamasqua Hydra Veil as a face primer.

2. Apply MAC Rubenesque as a eyeshadow base to the base of your eye lid. Not into the crease. Smudge it out so it's not too thick.

3. Apply Goldmine to the lid by patting it on with flat and rounded brush.

4. Apply Amberlights to the crease and corner of the eye, going over some of Goldmine.

5. Apply Cappuccino, Please! to the brow bone and blend out slightly, apply some to the inner corner and blend out.

6. Apply Violet Star to the upper lid and blend out into Amberlights and Cappuccino, Please!  Finish off with black eyeliner, i used Physicians Formula Eye booster in Ultra Black on the top and Models Prefer Liquid Liner in Brilliant Brown on the bottom lashes. Lastly top with  Maybelline the Falsies mascara.