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Have you ever depotted a beauty product?
Have you ever depotted a beauty product? What have you depotted? (Or de-tubed, de-panned… whatever!) What’s your method?
I used to depot my MAC eyeshadows, but it’s one of those things that I haven’t had time for in years so I just keep them in pots, but it IS something I should do at some point to conserve space. I used the oven method the last time, so I could do like 10-15 at a time!
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Same answer as you, Christine – I used to depot many MAC eyeshadows but now I only use a handful of staple colours which I keep in their pots. It was so satisfying to return them all for Back 2 MAC. I did the candle method which I learned on the mac_cosmetics LJ.
I have depotted TONS of my eyeshadows and blushes. I use the flat iron method. I really fing that it saves space and makes me more aware of what I have. I do find that the nicer the packaging, the more hesitant I am to depot something.
I used to depot my MAC eyeshadows as well, but I found it hard to keep tab on the shades I already have, so I ended up having doubles. 🙁 It was also easier for me to travel with products that are in their original packaging, I wouldn’t have to worry about them getting cracked.
Oops! I meant tabs. 😀
Used to depot everything. Using a candle or just prying it open with a pin or something small like that. But I also just haven’t had time. Some things I don’t mind having in a pan nowadays anyway.
I do for all my MAC Shadows. I stupidly tried with a NARS blush and broke it..
With my bigger shadows from other brands (Gorgeous Cosmetics etc) I used old CDs and stuck the shadows to a CD – placing them in a case of their own!
I never have, though my drawer of eyeshadow is starting to make me want to!
Nah, I’m far too lazy for that.
I think the best I’ve done is moving some loose eyeshadow into sample baggies, since I know I have very little space for the rest. (I currently move between countries)
I tried to depot a carbon ones from a mac lesson palette thing.. and crushed in completly since then im avoiding depotting at all costs 😀 Also do i magnetic palettes too expensive.. even z palettes
So funny, I just bought a couple more empty palettes from eBay for this purpose two seconds ago! So yes, I depot my makeup. I travel a ton (my son’s five months and has been on 10 flights!) so if I want to be able to take a variety I need to depot.
I have Unii Palettes for both travel and everyday, and plain ones from eBay for “overflow”. I bought adhesive magnetic paper and lined the inside of them so stuff sticks. I also just covered them with some leftover decorative contact paper so now they match my dressing room!
Never. It looks far too complicated and there is so much potential for damage to the product (I see it all the time when people show their eye shadow collections….you can always see at least a few that are cracked at the edge, that they’ve had to re-press, etc.). Honestly, I just can’t be bothered. If I can get an eye shadow in a “pro pan” form, I go for it (though I wish the MAC Canadian site would get back the empty 4 pan palettes…it has said “coming soon” for months). If not, I live with the product in its original packaging. For blushes, there’s really no need for me to even want to depot but I can see for makeup artists that having many blushes in one palette is only logical.
I’ve de-potted hundreds of products and NEVER broken or ruined a single one. It’s a huge space-saver. And, I too, wish MAC would get their palettes in stock “soon” like they say;)
I depot all my MAC shadows and powder blushes using the candle method (again from m_c on lj!) and and occasionally the non MAC shadows, too.
I have depotted my MAC eyeshows with a flat iron in the past but have not really been buying eyeshadows of late as I built quite a collection in the space of 2 years and am now all about trying to make a dent in my lovely collection!
Not something I have done, but need to consider doing.. I’ve been meaning to look this up as I have a number of MAC shadows that need depotting and now I’m all intrigued about the ‘oven method’… Does this affect their performance? … twice baked keeps popping into my mind.
I didn’t notice any difference when I did it!
I depotted all of my Nars eyeshadows, and bought a few MAC shadows already “depotted”, and I keep them in a Z-palette. I have a ton of other quads, etc., that I left in their original packaging, but having my entire single-eyeshadow range in one place helps me actually remember what I have and that I should use them!
I’m not sure i have much to depot. Most of my stash is UD and they pop out (or are large pallets) what do you do when you depot a product? What do you do with the liberated pans?
HAHA Christine, I’m the same. I have a bunch sitting here that I haven’t felt like depotting. But it is such a space saver.
I’ve depotted the majority of my eyeshadows. I found that I didn’t get full use of them and only stuck to one palette to make a look. Now having all my eyeshadows together in zpalettes I can just look for a color I want. I’ve depotted urban decay, too faced, benefit, Mac, nars, and a million others. I also depot some blush and bronzer but I wish I hadn’t because I much prefer those in pots. I tend to use the flat iron method.
I’ve depotted all my Mac eyeshadows and blushes and put them in the new pallettes. I prefer them depotted. This way I know what I have and am not searching around all the time. I use the lighter method. Smells bad but works really fast.
I depoted my older UD shadow so they can fit in the new buld your own palette. I never made a full depoting. I’d love to because I have a MAC shadow that’s alone in a pot, but since it’s LE, I’m too scared of ruining it.
I’ve depotted all of my MAC eyeshadows and a lot of blushes (using the candle method). I have so many eyeshadows and it’s the best way to keep them organized and to keep track of what I have. I’m thinking about depotting the rest of my blushes as well just because of how much space they take up. The only thing that’s stopping me is the LE packaging.
MAC shadows! I’ve depotted about 30–some successfully, but most with some degree of damage to the shadow. I just depotted Farasha yesterday using my blow dryer! It fascinates my 9 month old son.
I used to depot all my Mac eye shadows (I have about seven 15-pan palettes, mostly full) but I find I kinda “forget” about colors when they’re tucked away in the palettes and use the new single pots way more often. I probably just have too much eye shadow.
I’d been collecting MAC eyeshadows for 15 years and just recently decided to depot them all and put them in palettes. I ruined a couple of them but the space I saved was immense.
Oh yes. Nearly every single mac product I own, excluding lipstick.
I’ve only depotted inexpensive eyeshadows and blushes so it cause too much damage if they get destroyed in the process. I use the alcohol-no-heat required method. Works wonders! FrmHeadToToe has a tutorial.
doesn’t cause too much damage i mean.
I recently de-potted all my MAC and UD eyeshadows using this method too! I gained so much space back in my make-up case and now that I can see them all in one or two palettes, I want to use them more often because I can remember what I have.
I also had to start a database of what I own so I won’t buy duplicates again but I figure I can buy a small palette for weekend travel for the few dupes I did find.
No I havent, too scared!
I tend to switch around with palettes and singles monthly, and try to put them on the top shelf so I can use different things.
But I do forget about certain products so its tempting, but again, scared!
….And since not everyone knows what Im talking about when I say “top shelf”, Im talking about the cabinet in my bathroom. 🙂
funny that you ask i just depotted about 25 Mac shadows
within the last two days! I wanted original Mac palettes but
they were too difficult to acquire.So i went with a Z palette
instead, despite the fact I heard they fall apart & can go NO
where around water (like by your BR sink) due to water damage.
I wish they would make them out of something else besides
cardboard. They are pretty cool otherwise.
Anyways i would like to keep depotting stuff, but cant manage
to depot my Mac in special containers. Also the OCD person
in me had a hard time seeing the labels get torn and scuffed
once removed from the pot. I then started to use tweezers which
seemed to help and work better than my thumb nail haha.
You can easily remove the label completely by placing the label side down on a warm flat iron and gently lifting. I was worried as well, but it truly works!!
If you don’t mind forgoing the clear front I reccomended getting plastic ones from eBay. I have a ton of makeup and dont want to have to shell out for 30 unii palettes, plus they take up a bit of space on their own. I thought about z palettes myself but didnt like the no water rule and i also didnt want to pay so much for something that was just for storage. The ones I buy are like $5 each and about 5″x7″. They aren’t magnetic so I bought magnetic sheets from amazon, 10 for $27 and they’re huge. So it works out to be about $6 or less per palette!
Yes, before MAC allowed the return of the refill pans, I depotted my eyeshadows using the flat iron method I found on YouTube. I also depot my lipstick into a refillable palette I purchased a year ago from Sephora.
I -always- depot my single eyeshadows (although I am a little sad when it’s a single with nice packaging, like Burberry) because for me it wastes too much time hunting through singles for that one color I’m looking for.
I also depot a lot of my eyeshadow palettes, especially if I don’t like the packaging and/or the packaging wastes a lot of space.
I find I can usually get them out just by simply prying with a knife (only lost a couple cheap Nyx pans that way, not a big loss) but I have resorted to melting out the back with a candle if its a bigger pan as I’ve found those are more likely to crack or break – I’m sure it has something to do with more surface area.
I store my depotted pans in Z Palettes – love the clear top so I can see into them, plus the variety in sizes and designs is nice! I actually have a lot of fun “arranging” the pans so they look nice together and also fit most efficiently…. it’s kind of like putting together a puzzle, actually : -p
I love de-potting my eyeshadows! I like using a lighter to get the tin out of the plastic – it heats really fast. I place MAC containers on a flat iron to get the original MAC label off. One inch magnets are perfect for MAC and many other brands. Then you return the empties to MAC!!!
I have depotted NYX Single Eyeshadows to put into one palette for more convenient access and storage purposes.
No, I haven’t…for one, I tend to buy eyeshadows only in palettes, so there’s nothing really to depot there, and for another, I’m always afraid of damaging the product. I’ll keep my products as they are, even if it does take up more space.
I just finished a cream in glass pot and gave that pot another life by potting in a face cream that was housed in plastic pot. I think it is better for the product. I used to crack open eyeshadow palettes too when getting rid of them. You know, when there’s only 1 shade you likey….
Any time I can I depot. Some brands make it too difficult, so I’ve learned a few lessons there. No Dior, and no Bare Escentuals depotting.
I have about 9 or 10 Z-palettes and counting. I depot all of the large Urban Decay palettes (not the naked palettes, since the packaging isn’t overly bulky).
I use the oven method. 2 minutes at 250 (Fahrenheit) get’s them out every time. It’s great because I now use colors that I’d forgotten about and since I organized them by color family I can see everything easily. That is especially true for the bulkier products (like the Urban Decay BOS).
No, I’ve never bothered. Too worried about damaging the makeup! I only have three main eyeshadow palettes (UD 15th Anniversary, UD Naked 1, and BareMinerals The Star Treatment). I like the organization of those colors together, so I’m fine leaving them as-is.
Please share the “oven method” with me! I have depotted exactly 1 Mac eyeshadow using my flat iron and it was such a big deal that I gave up. I have the Z palettes and could really use the space. I’d love to do 15-20 at one lick 🙂
I haven’t done it in probably 3-4 years, so I really don’t remember any of the details! 🙁 I just remember I put them on a cookie sheet but have no idea what temperature or anything!
I recently had to bake out some UD single eyeshadows because there was no way I would have been able to pry the pan out from its plastic casing (yeah, they were the older token style). I think I googled online and found people recommending an oven heat of 350F for about 5 min. You may want to check that out but YouTube is a wealth of information for de-potting all sorts of styles of eyeshadows, blushes, etc. Not all are heat methods either which is good because I don’t own a flat iron and would prefer to avoid candles or lighters.
I have never depotted anything and never will, the packaging is part of my makeup, at least to me.
I’ve never depotted anything and I’m not sure I ever plan to. The thought of going at the pretty packaging of ANY product (ok, except maybe drugstore brands. Sorry! :P) makes me cringe a little. Packaging is VERY important to me so I keep it all, no matter how much space it takes up 😛
depotted all my urban decay pallets, they are just so freaking bulky! i use the 90% alcohol to loosen the adhesive. heat free!
I actually just finished depotting “Patina” before reading this post! I depot all my MAC eyeshadows, but no other brand because its too much of a hassle sometimes. I tried it with my one NYX Shadow and because I use the candle method the smell is absolutely nauseating! I like how it saves so much space! I have a large MAC pallette and I really like how convenient is it for travel and how it can hold up to 40 if you arrange them right 🙂
I used to depot my face powders from CoverGirl and put them into the LE leopard print compact but I use MSF now and I don’t see the point of depotting that or blushes just because I usually only need to take one or two travel sized ones with me, not a whole pallette full O.o
What I don’t understand is why it has to be so difficult to depot shadows. Urban Decay and Sephora seem to have twigged to the fact that they should make it easier. I don’t see why MAC can’t do the same with their single shadows, especially those that do not come in “pro pan” form (or even if they do, stores like The Bay here in Canada that do sell MAC don’t get the pan form of shadows so if I want to buy locally, even if it’s a colour from the permanent line, I have to get it in the little compact. It also irks me to pay more for something I don’t even want in the first place!
The only time I’ve (sort of) de-potted something was with my Urban Decay BOS4. I got so sick of never using it so I got ahold of a metal DVD case without an insert and hacked the eyeshadows out of most of their cardboard drawer (so they’re still a cardboard surrounded flat sheet of shadows, but only on one side, if that makes sense). Then I superglued them into the DVD case. I am actually pretty proud of myself, it was cheap, they still have the cardboard as a kind of shock-proofing and the DVD case fits in my bag and the original BOS box.
I’ve depotted a few things. I’ve done some Phys Formula round duos and a Lancome single. I also did a cheap palette of shimmery shades from ulta with the BULKIEST packaging ever. I just used the Elf custom eye palettes that are sold in Target and online. You can just pop out the round spacer for their shadows and then you have an empty palette; add some adhesive magnet strips(or rubber cement) to the shadow pan and palette and you’re all set. They aren’t the smallest but they keep the shadows together.
I’d like to get a Z palette, MUFE or unii palette sometime, they look quite nice.
I’d love to tackle my WnW trios some day.
I’ve depotted a lot of my drugstore eyeshadows. It’s fun to do, like arts ‘n crafts but with makeup. I’m obsessed with making my stash as compact and streamlined as possible. I used the no-heat/alcohol method with one MAC e/s pot, a sleek 36mm pot, and a miscellaneous beauty box e/s pot that can accommodate either a 26mm or 35mm pan. I kept these pots intact so I’d have something to house singles if I didn’t want to bring along a full palette. My system is working very nicely for me. Now I just need to find something that can house a 36mm pan!
I’ve depotted almost all of my single shadows that allows me to depot them, filled 17 large/pro z-palettes. Most of my blushes are not depotted because I like the packaging or I think it’s more travel friendly. I’ve filled 2 z-palettes though with different brands! Love having them in a palette, even if they don’t get enough love…
Can anyone recommend a good, cheap palette to buy? I’d like to give it a try!
I “depot” lipsticks when they break in the tube – so not to waste them as they are expensive – I press them in a little pot (like the tiny Sephora ones) but I have to admit in the end I never use them as it’s time consuming applying lippie with a lip brush etc..
Then I use to “clean” every single bit of foundation in their tube or bottle when near to their end: I transfer them in a wide mouthed pot so that I can access the product better (and use every single bit left!).