Confession time: my #1 impulse buy for makeup are drugstore eyeshadow palettes. I think because I started with eyeshadow, any time a new drugstore palette comes out I immediately want to take a look at it – and with the way that drugstore products are improving, over the last year I’ve had way more ‘hits’ than ‘misses’! The problem with this is that the packaging for these products can be crappy and/or take up a lot of space and even when the eyeshadows are awesome I often forget to use them ’cause I hate the hassle of taking them out! The best example of this I can think of are the Wet n Wild trios – I find the plastic cases flimsy AND hard to open, and since I don’t use the included applicators, they’re often a waste of space!
I don’t own a flat-iron so I use the tea-light method of depotting (which means that the cases end up as melted plastic so if you’re planning on Back 2 Mac or a similar program you may wish to look up a different method)
1) Make sure your palettes have metal pans
2) Remove all paper stickers/plastic stickers from back of packaging
3) Hold eyeshadow plastic packaging down over tealight 10-20 seconds over each area – be careful not to let it smoke or ignite!
4) Use a metal spatula to test when the eyeshadow pan can be gently pushed out onto a clean paper towel (eyeshadow side down) once the plastic and glue are melted
5) Place metal eyeshadow pan/depot into palette!
I’ve no great fondness for the WnW packaging so I didn’t mind that the packaging ended up mangled post-depot. It’s important not to push too hard if the glue isn’t melted – depending on the eyeshadow the pressure may shatter the pan (I had a couple of casualties with this set).
The end result is worth it though 🙂
I bought my palettes from http://www.etsy.com/shop/anothersoul. There are lots of options but I loved that hers came in different patterns!
Do you de-pot?
sakura, lovely. 
You are so well organized! I should follow your lead!
It’s definitely a nice way to spend an afternoon! Feels very productive 🙂
I depotted all of my Wet N Wild palettes too. Felt so good when I did.
Ummm…where did you buy your palettes from?
Haha I got my palettes from http://www.etsy.com/shop/anothersoul – I didn’t realise the link was totally missing!
It was So sastisfying to recycle the plastic WnW packaging haha. 😀
Your palettes have such a pretty floral pattern….def more enticing than the plastic ones that drugstore e/s come in.
It sounds very shallow but I would never de-pot my higher end shadows or the palettes that I think have cute packaging (Majo Majo, etc) but anything else is fair game!
That pink palette is so cute!!! Haha I still have my giraffe one I need to fill up. After my love you long time blush depotting disaster I’m scared to depot again.
I think for a blush it’d be better to use a flat iron to melt more of the glue at once… IDK I’m too chicken to do more than eyeshadows with relatively small surface areas. Haha.
YOu’ve done a grand job on this de-potting adventure!
You have also inspired me to decorate my uni palettes!
Thank you my dear!
You should take pictures – can’t wait to see the decorated version!