How to Depot Eye Shadow
This Genius Eye Shadow Hack Lets You Save Space and Create Custom Palettes
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For makeup addicts, saving space is an essential part of maintaining a collection. It doesn't matter if we're running out of space in our Ikea Alex drawers — sooner or later we are going to need the latest eye shadow, blush, or highlighter and attempt to cram another product into our overflowing assortment.
It's at that moment when savvy beauty enthusiasts take a tip from the pros and save space by depotting. This consists of removing eye shadow (and other pressed powder formulas) from bulky packaging and popping the pans into magnetic palettes. By depotting your favorite shades, makeup becomes easily accessible and drawers suddenly have room for even more products.
Depotting doesn't just act as an organization technique — it also makes packing super simple. As you might know, it can be hard to decide which eye shadow palettes should travel with you. With this method, you can select exactly the colors you want to take with you on your trip and build a custom palette. Genius!
Read on to find out how to use this method for a more organized and transportable makeup collection.
Assemble Your Materials
In order to remove your eye shadows from the casings, you'll need a magnetic palette to place them in, like the a20 Lab Empty Magnetic Palette ($8). You'll also need a flat iron to loosen the glue, a knife to pry the pans from their compacts, adhesive magnets, and labels.
Once you've popped the small plastic casing out of the packaging, place it on a flat iron for a few seconds to heat it up. Once the plastic shell around the shadow becomes soft, press on the back of the casing with a knife until the metal eye shadow pan pops out of the plastic. Be careful: it will be hot!
If you'd rather have a smaller set of shadows, you can purchase smaller magnetic palettes like the A2o Lab Empty Magnetic Palette- Small White ($4). These are especially fantastic for traveling.
Don't feel you have to restrict yourself to just depotting eye shadows! This method also works on powder highlighters, blushes, and bronzers. Although packaging varies between brands, figuring out how to depot them should be simple and not drastically different from the technique you just learned. Happy depotting!
