Let me tell you a story…once upon a time, I had so many individual pots of MAC shadows, that I filled an entire makeup trunk case. What ended up happening was that I’d use the newest ones that were sitting on top, and almost never again see the ones on the layers underneath. Of course we all know that with the way MAC comes out with collections (every other week it seems like), those shadows got burried before even being used sometimes!

Then I discovered depotting.

A long, long time ago, an MA briefly whispered to me that I could depot with a candle…just put the pot over the candle to loosen the glue, and it pops out! Stupid me (this was before youtube btw) didn’t take out the inside, and just put the poor shadow above the flame which burned off the sticker and practically caught my shadow on fire…that shadow remains, to this day, the only MAC shadow I do not know the name of (it’s dark purple).

Now that I know the iron method, it works beautifully. My parents own a sign shop that my mom runs up in the Sacramento area, so she makes the little magnetic discs that I put on the back. Once I had some of those, I went to town and depotted well over 100 shadows all in one night, with a glass of Chardoney and my best friends over for a sleep-over. It was the greatest feeling ever – being so organized and having them at the tips of my fingers…ahhhh…wait….gotta organize them….which one is where?…I have to open 15 palettes to find it….Noooooo!

Enter: ZPalette.

One of the most ingenious things, and my favorite part, about the ZPalette is that the top is clear. Omg, duh! I only wish I had found it sooner. Wow, being able to see the colors that are in each palette = a serious time saver. I understand that I’m a huge exception to the norm – I have so many eye shadows and blushes, that I do not need one palette to hold both, because I have enough of each for them to have their own. However, the ZPalette has one huge space that is not divided into sections. It can hold shadows from different brands that are different shapes: MAC, UD, NARS, MUFE, and the list goes on. You could also put blushes and shadows in the same palette, take it with you, and save time and space. Genius!

ZPalettes come in two sizes: small and large. The small ($14) holds 9 MAC-sized shadows in a square. The large one ($20) holds an impressive 28 MAC-sized shadows (7×4). No, they’re not as cheap as the MAC palettes, and if you’re getting the small…you might as well get the large! Do the math! $20 holds 28 which is 2 short of twice as many as 2 MAC palettes, so really it comes out the same money wise. Plus, the space it saves! There’s none of that inbetween stuff to take up room, and bottom line is, you need less of them! I have 15 palettes people! That’s a LOT, and they won’t fit anywhere….can’t even pick them all up with one hand. These will consolidate my massiveness that is my eyeshadow collection.

Even though they’re all that…I still wish…

…that they were made of plastic. I get that they’re all about recycling, so it’s made out of hard core paper, but I don’t intend on recycling this – I want to use it forever!

…that the magnatism was stronger. When I have the label on the bottom of my magnet on the MAC shadows, they don’t “stick” to the bottom. They will slough around. I REALLY wish they held the shadow in place better, in case I don’t have a full palette. But for now, they just need to be pretty full for vertical storage and travel…or maybe I just need stronger magnets, haha!

All in all, I love ZPalettes! The large one really meets my needs, and I can’t wait to consolidate. Plus, the creater, Zena (love that name) is super nice, and they have great customer service! Now the only problem is…what to do with the old MAC palettes? ;-)

Order them online at www.zpalette.com. Have you tried ZPalette? Will you try ZPalette? Share!

Other

When these first came out, I thought it was kinda gimicky and I don’t usually go out and get stuff from brands I don’t know and trust. After hearing about it by roaming throught the beauty blog world, I caved…and my expectations were low, so WOW did I get blown away!

I’ve actually been putting off this review for a long time because when I think about how much I love these, the words escape me, and I’m not sure how to explain myself. Seriously though, these are fantastic shadows. The colors are rich and pigmented. The texture is soft and powdery (in a good way). The color range is really good too, and I really like how Kat Von D has put thought into them. I only got three (or is that all there is?): Beethoven, Ludwig, and Gypsy. Everything from the artwork on the boxes to the beautiful packaging to the names of the colors reflects her perfectly. She paid attention to detail, and I appreciate that. I don’t think she’s one to sit on the sideline and let others come up with stuff for her to just “approve” (though I don’t know this for certain). The names are recognizable – especially if you watch LA Ink, which I do. I’ve watched her since she was on Miami Ink actually. I’m secretly fascinated by tatoos. I don’t have any, and will most likely (never say never) never get one. Part of it is the artistry – I can blend colors, but I can’t draw worth a darn! I admire the talent of tatoo artists!

There were only two things I didn’t like: one was that one cream Brass Knuckles shadow – the texture sucks on that one; and two: Lucifer is the same color in all 3 palettes, but hey with only one bad color in the 3 palette bunch, I’m still happy. :-) I highly recommend these palettes for eyeshadow lovers.

See product photos and swatches!! 

Beethoven Palette: Lucifer, Speed Blue, Razor Gray, Tequila, Sinner, Rad Purple, Leather, Galeano

Beethoven Palette: Lucifer, Speed Blue, Razor Gray, Tequila, Sinner, Rad Purple, Leather, Galeano

Sinner, Rad Purple, Leather, Galeano

Lucifer, Speed Blue, Razor Gray, Tequila

Ludwig Palette: Lucifer, Orbi, Dimebag, Tequila, Clay, Downtown, Baroque, Leather

Ludwig Palette: Lucifer, Orbi, Dimebag, Tequila, Clay, Downtown, Baroque, Leather

Ludwig Palette: Lucifer, Orbi, Dimebag, Tequila, Clay, Downtown, Baroque, Leather

Lucifer, Orbi, Dimebag, Tequila

Clay, Downtown, Baroque, Leather

Inside the Gypsy palette – isn’t it pretty?!

The Gypsy Palette: Lucifer, Stryker, Frankie, Hawkwind, Brass Knuckles (cream), Birdcage, Ego Sum, Gunner

The Gypsy Palette: Lucifer, Stryker, Frankie, Hawkwind, Brass Knuckles (cream), Birdcage, Ego Sum, Gunner

The Gypsy Palette: Lucifer, Stryker, Frankie, Hawkwind, Brass Knuckles (cream), Birdcage, Ego Sum, Gunner

Brass Knuckles (cream), Birdcage, Ego Sum, Gunner

Lucifer, Stryker, Frankie, Hawkwind

Other

That being said, I have very mixed feelings about this particular “quint” which I wouldn’t even say is a quint because it only has 4 eyeshadow colors, and one of those is only a “shine” color. In place of the 5th color is a brown gel (I think) liner. To be honest, I felt jipped! I have a ton of brown eyeliners! Ah well, I do see the value in having everything all together in one place I suppose, and to give it credit, the liner was very nice and dark, so it worked well with the palette.

The shadow colors themselves, are pretty nice. They’re not incredibly unique, but they’re very pretty. I love golds and coral colors and browns. It creates a nice soft look, which is great, but not what I’m all about, you know? The shadows are soft and go on smoothly. And on a side note…I’m really liking this lip combo! :-)

What are your thoughts?

For this look I used:

• Eyes: UDPP (primer), Painterly PP (base), Dior Amber Design quint (as suggested – including liner), Plushlash mascara
• Cheeks: Cheek & Cheerful mineralized blush
• Lips: Bobbi Brown Brown Metalic lip color + Nice Mix Up tri-color lipgloss

See more pictures!! 

Other

For this look I used:

• Eyes: UDPPS (primer), Greenstroke PP (base), Chanel Murano (FALL 2009) Quad, Bobbi Brown Caviar Ink (upper lashline), Mystery Kohl Power (lower lashline), Guerlain Lagoon Blue loose kohl (waterline), Plushlash mascara
• Cheeks: Margin
• Lips: Chanel Instinctive l/s + Chanel Pink Oyster Glossimer

See more pictures!! 

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Other

You have no idea how long it took me to gather all of these up and separate them! There are two bins full – one is for lipsticks and the other for glosses. They were in two big drawers all mixed together, plus like 6 different little makeup bags were full of some more. Getting the MAC lipsticks to stand up like that was the most difficult and challenging. I had to stuff the end of the container so that they’d stay up. Actually, I had to put them all in right side up first, then flip each one over individually, and they stayed. I really love this new set up though. Everything is so easy to find, and I can see all of the colors laid out in front of me. I rediscovered old favorites and have only found one double (of a glossimer). And yes, I pretty much know almost every single one by name…at least enough to identify it’s color family! This is my collection, and I LOVE it! Enjoy! :-)

Lipsticks

See some close-ups and the glosses! 

Lipsticks

Lipglosses!!!

Chanel Glossimers & Aqualumiers

MAC Lipglasses (Container 1)

MAC Lipglasses (Container 2)

Other brand glosses: CK, NARS, Guerlain, BE, Coach, Lip Fusion, Dazzleglasses, Shu, Le Beaute, etc.

Other

ANYway, since I bowled so badly (which bummed me out), my fantastic husband told me he’d buy me some makeup from Sephora! OMG – this happens like once a year when he volunteers to buy me makeup! Soooooo sweet (and it totally turned my mood around…can you say bonus points?)! So I bought 3 new Laura Geller baked mineral shadows and two more of her mineral baked blushes. If you’ve never tried anything by Laura Geller, you seriously need to. Have you noticed lately that I’ve been using her Pink Grapefruit blush like all the time?! That’s because I’m completely in love with it…it seriously might be my new HG, and I never would have seen that coming! It gives me the perfect color, perfect sheen, not to mention great application and staying power. I highly recommend it, but beware if you have allergies because the first ingredients are talc and mineral oils. But for me, it’s the cat’s meow ;-)

For this look I used:

• Eyes: UDPPS (primer), Rubenesque PP (base), All That Glitters (inner lid), Laura Geller Devil’s Food (middle lid), Laura Geller Mint (outer lid & crease), Solar White (highlight), YSL green liquid liner (upper lashline), Bobbi Brown Ivy Shimmer Ink (waterline), Chanel Exceptionnel mascara
• Cheeks: Laura Geller Sunswept Mineralized cheek color
• Lips: Clé de Peau Beauté #13 lipstick

See more pictures! 

Other

This Dior Bronze Couture Palette ($80) blows my mind! Yep, it’s THAT good! Ok, I’m not going to end every sentence with an exclamaition point lol. Anyway, I must rave to you about this palette. Usually these are little gimmiky things that I skip over and don’t even give a second look to. But when I was at the Dior counter, the lady helping me get my Electric Lights and Pop Diamond wasn’t an actual Dior lady, so she was a little slow. While I was waiting, I swatched this palette just for kicks, and whoa! I was so impressed!

I did a complete look using all 3 of the palette products HERE.

Included in this palette is two brushes: blush & lip brushes, both with caps. And of course the beautiful D for Dior impressed in the bronzer…simply gorgeous!

Read a detailed review of all 3 parts plus close-ups and an Overall Coloruza Rating! 

The bronzer is shimmery, but in the most sophisticated way. I’ve used it as a blush and it’s not OTT at all. It’s silky smooth and a perfect color for my NW20 skin.

The eyeshadow is creamy and looks very gold on the top, but once I used it, there is a more orange color to it underneath. It’s a little darker underneath. It’s seriously an amazing color though, and paired with some gold, orange, or brown shadows, wow what a look! I put it on over UDPP Sin, but without a Paint Pot, it did crease on me by the end of the day. I need to try with Cash Flow PP under it first.

The lipgloss is stunning! It has the most sublime texture – my lips were gliding over each other like butter. I think I reapplied 3 times during the day, which isn’t a lot, so it has good staying power. I just wanted it to look perfect and fresh all day, so I kept doing little touch-ups :-) It’s color is a sheer coral with golden shimmer – pretty sheer, but gorgeous!!

Overall Coloruza Rating: 5/5 for quality; 3/5 for price. Although I do feel that this palette is worth every penny, unfortunately I also feel that an $80 price tag is extremely steep, even for a stellar palette like this one. I think $60-65 would have been much more reasonable for a lot of people, and it’s quite sad that it’ll be passed up by many for this reason. Personally, I LOVE it!

Other

For this look I used:

• Eyes: UDPPS (primer), Greenstroke PP (base), Dior Iridescent Eyes Electric Lights Quint, UD 24/7 Zero (liner), Chanel Exceptionnel mascara
• Cheeks: Dior Pop Diamond Skin Shimmer
• Lips: Viva Glam VI lipglass

See more pictures! 

Other

If you’d like to know names – please ask! Thanks!

MAC Paint Pots

UD 24/7 Eyeliners

See so much more…shadows, liners, etc.!

MAC Fluidlines

MAC Fluidlines (closeup)

Bobbi Brown Longwear Shimmer Gel Ink Liners

MAC Liquid Last Liners

MAC Glitter Liners

MAC Technakohl Liners

MAC Eye Kohl Pencils

MAC Pearlglide Liners

MAC Dual-Ended & Soft Sparkle Pencils

Other Pencil Liners

Guerlain Terracotta Eye Kohl

Bobbi Brown Shimmering Nudes Palette

Laura Mercier Master Toolbox

Bobbi Brown Nude Lip & Eye Palette

Chanel Eyeshadow Quads

Dior Eyeshadow Quints

Yaby Pearl Paints

NARS Eyeshadows

(*Not pictured: Fyrinnae Pigments)

Other

See step-by-step pictures and directions!  Start out with your UDPP, a steak knife, a pot to put the product in (I use the clear MAC ones) and possibly a spatula to scrape out the excess with (the wand from the UDPP could be used instead), and a cutting board.

Cut into the bottle at the thickest part (the bulbus (hehe funny word!)). It takes some elbow grease! You don’t need to cut all the way through – rotate it a little and make sure you leave a little attached because it’s easier to manuver.

Bend the top back. Look at all that product!!!

Scoop out as much as you can and scrape it into the empty pots.

After you’ve scooped out as much as possible, cut off the bottom part.

Still even more product!!!

Scrape out everything you can into the jar!

Look, it’s full!!! Amaaaaazing! :-)

…and the leftovers

Look at how empty it is!

Voila! Let me know if you have any questions! :-)

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