Z. Palette Review & Depotting Madness

Hello Everyone

Today I wanted to gush a little bit about one of my favorite products I own: The Z PALETTE:

Some of you may already have heard of this but lets elaborate for those who have yet to experience the world of magnetic palette's.

What it is:

Its basically a sturdy cardboard box with a magnetic bottom, a see-through window, and a magnetic lid to hold it closed.

What it Claims:

According to their website, the creator of the palette (Zena Shteysel) works as a makeup artist, and was sick or organizing her smaller palettes and makeup all the time, spending hours in the process to find the things she needed.

National makeup organizations began to realize this problem and started to make customizeable palettes.  The problem with this was they only fit the pans of that particular brand (See: MAC, Urban Decay palettes).

Zena decided the makeup world needed a universal palette where you could put any pan you like into it.

The Pros

- It certainly works!  I have combined 3 palettes into one.

- The lid flips over back onto itself so its like you are actually painting with a palette:

 

- The clear window lets you see all your goods.

- Fairly strong magnets, nothing has fallen out and I've had it for a few months now.

The Cons

- Its made out of cardboard and I keep it in the bathroom.  I'm afraid one day it will start to lift.

- Don't combine glosses with powders!! lol it get messy.  Maybe if they put a few dividers in it.

- You can see in the corners where it wasn't completely covered with the red (shabby)

What I Think

I did a lot of research on which one of these to buy, mainly because if any of you own any of the Urban Decay's Book of Shadows, you know how FRIGGEN BIG THEY ARE! I decided on the Z palette mainly because of the price.  It was $20 and I think UNI palette was around $30.  

I love this palette because I have all sorts of stuff in one place and it is easy to find.

Definitely a 4/5

On a side note I also bought a pack of magnetic square stickers for the Book Of Shadows because they said the palettes came with round ones.

The Price:

As I said earlier the one I bought was the "Large" size so:

"Small" Palette: $14.00 (3.8" X 3.8")

"large" Palette: $20.00 (8.06" X 4.8")

"Pro" Palette: $25.00 (8.06" X 5.44")

Metal Stickers: $6.00 (30pk)

It all seems fairly resonable until you ask them to ship to Canada lol.  I believe this tiny thing was around 10-12$ to ship.  Con artists.

So what did I fill my palette with???????

Lets De-Pot.

First up on the chopping block:  Urban Decay's Book of Shadows IV (which shall now be known as BOS)

This little Gem came with all sorts of useless trinkets (a speaker) The only redeeming quality was that it was VERY pretty.  

Here Its is. Nice and bulky.  But it does have some of my favorite shadows in it.

Second up on the chopping block:  Benefit POWda WOWza (thanks loosebutton):

Now this Isn't as offensive as the BOS but I was trying to streamline so I needed to cut a few players from the lineup.

Clockwise from top right: Coralista, Bella Bomba, and Hula bronzer. I must say I own many blushes and Coralista is one of my favorites.

Third up on the chopping block: Too Faced Naked Eye palette

This contains 9 eyeshadows all to try and give you the "neutral" look

BTW I'm pretty sure this came out before the NAKED Palette By Urban Decay.  This little bad boy was one of my first purchases from Sephora.  What a happy memory.

So how do you De-Pot something Sarah?

Well ladies I will give you my honest opinion.  I have read dozens of reviews on how to depot your palettes and most involved picks and rubbing alcohol and all sorts of other stuff under the sun.  And what did I learn when I finally got a go at it?

Grab a butter/steak knife and PRY THEM OUT OF THERE.

Everyone on these tutorials made it look so easy.  The amount of glue that is at the bottom of the BOS was insane!  Just take your knife and apply it to the sides and gently lift.

Here are a few tips I learned:

1. The people over at Z Palette must be laughing their bag off for selling us those metal stickers.  EVERYTHING I DEPOTED WAS MAGNETIC ALREADY. hahaha jokes on us.

2.  Don't try and rip off ALL of the glue on the bottom.  You will drive yourself insane (I nearly did).  Instead, take the larger, lumpier stuff off and then apply a piece of paper to the bottom (I used the sticky part of a post it) It will still stick!

3. Take it easy.  This was a genuine pain in the ass to accomplish.  So take your time, try not to break your shadows, and look at what you get out of it:

WAY better right?

This one is a little fuzzy because it is next to impossible to get a picture of this thing with the window closed

 Sadly the Book of Shadows didn't fair out so well.  I may have taken out my aggression on its inability to let go of the shadows (P.S. I took the mirror out as well, never know when you can use it right?)

  

FIN.