How To: Depot UD Deluxe & Sephora Eyeshadows

First off, I made a new signature for the bottom of my posts. I felt like I've had the older one for awhile, so I'm switching it up a bit. :) I have now reached 200 followers (THANK YOU!!) and will hopefully find time to start the giveaway this week. I say hopefully because I don't know how much I will be updating this week. I have plans three of the nights and I'm sick with a cold and allergies. Oh joy. The giveaway is coming though, I promise!

Now, here is my tutorial for how I depot Urban Decay Deluxe eyeshadows. I have one loose Sephora eyeshadow and it is depotted the same way, so I'm throwing that in the post too. These, I'm very happy to say, require no heat and take no time at all to get out of their casing! I would suggest using a hair straightener to heat the labels to peel them off, if you want the original ones. I just used some of my own labels to save time and energy.

- something with a sharp point (I use a knife)
- magnets
- labels (optional)
- palette to put the items

Here are my two UD shadows that I will be depotting.

Taking the point of the knife, place it in one of the corners and very gently start to wiggle the pan up. Do it slowly because you don't want the shadow to break. There is only one small droplet of glue in the center making these pretty easy to wedge out.

I placed a magnet and my label on them. Something about having to write in small spaces makes my handwriting sloppy. The perfectionist side of me hates it, but the other side of me says "Who cares!" and that side usually wins. ;)

Now, here is the eyeshadow from Sephora. I got this last year as part of the birthday freebies that they give.

Just like with the UD ones, you just slide the knife gently into the gap between the pan and casing. The glue is nearly non-existent on these and mine popped right out.

I hope that this was helpful!

How To: Depot MAC's Old Quads

Today's post is coming a little late. Our cat decided to use me as a punching bag and attacked my left cheek right under the eye with her claws. So my eye has been swollen, burning, and all of that fun stuff since the early afternoon. Yayyyy. The swelling is finally going down enough to see a bit more, so I'm putting down the ice pack to type this entry.

I already showed how to depot the newer quads, so I thought I'd show how I do the old ones. You can still find quads packaged like this at CCOs. The best part? No heat is required!

-empty palette to put the eyeshadows in
-labels and magnets
-knife
-alcohol

This is my Shadowy Lady quad that I recently purchased.

^Using the knife, wedge it into the line between the inner and outer packaging. I find it easiest to pry up right where the latch is in the front. Twist it around to get the plastic to "pop" out. You'll hear it!

^Now you have the trays out and the little metal casing that holds the eyeshadows. They are glued on. I use a medicine dropper to drop some alcohol around each of the pans. You can choose to just dip your knife in the alcohol and wedge it under the pan to loosen the glue. I choose the dropper method because while I'm working on one shadow, the alcohol can be doing its job on the others.



^It is up to your MAC store, but mine will take back the quad packaging for Back to MAC. The trays fit right back in.

^Then, I slapped magnets and labels on them and put them in my palettes. Easy! And it took less than fifteen minutes!

Hope this helped someone. :) Now, off I go back to the land of ice packs and evil cats!

How To: Depot MAC's New Quads

This is hopefully going to help show you how to depot MAC's newer pre-packaged quad design.

The new quads look like this:

What you will need is:
a towel to protect your hand (not needed, but recommended)
a long-handled lighter
a sharp knife
magnets and labels for your palette

First step is to cut out the plastic casing from the back. I sometimes have troubles with this part and get my husband to do it. If the plastic is being difficult, use the lighter just under it to get it warmed up. Your knife should be able to slide in and start popping it out. Hold on to the plastic part, if you need to know the name of the shadows for the labels later.




Step two involves the lighter. Open up the quad and hold it by the plastic lid, so that your hand is far from the heat. Taking the lighter, hold it under one of the eyeshadow pans where the yellow part of the flame is close enough to the plastic to heat it. You don't want the flame to actually touch it. I recommend doing this near an open window, so if it does touch the plastic the fumes will go outside.

It should only take a few seconds to get the plastic bubbling. Check with the top of your knife to see if you can get the shadow to pop out. If not, hold the flame a little longer. The knife should easily go right through. Below, you can see how the melted plastic looks with the hole from the knife.



Before and after:


And finally, step three. The easiest step! You simply put a magnet and label on your newly depotted shadows and pop 'em in a palette.


I generally prefer depotting with a hair straightener, but these quads just won't allow that method. This is the only way that I know of to depot these. If you have an easier way, I'm all ears! Though this method does only take minutes once you get the hang of it. I've done three so far and it does get easier!

If I was unclear about a step or you have further questions, ask away! Again, I do hope this was helpful. :) One more thing...these are not a part of "Back to MAC", as far as I know.

How to Depot Eyeshadows

I know this method works for MAC and Urban Decay and I assume that it would work for several other similarly packaged eyeshadows. I do use heat with this method. The one that requires no heat takes more effort than my lazy ol' self will allow! ;)

You'll need: a hair straightener, a sharp pointed knife, scissors, and magnetic tape or magnets. Magnetic tape can be found in most craft stores. I got mine at Michael's.

Using the knife, pop it into the plastic as shown. You'll hear a click and just pop the whole black pot out. If you knife gets glue on it at all, alcohol will easily take it off.

I use my really old hair straightener for this step, because I don't care if it gets anything on it. I have never had the problem, but if you leave them on for too long the plastic can stick to the plates. If you are using your current hair straightener, you can just put down a piece of wax paper between the shadows and plates. Place both of the pieces from the previous step onto the straightener.

While they are getting warm, cut out the pieces of magnets that you will need. Just big enough to cover the back of the eyeshadow pan.

Check the pan with the label. If you move your knife under the label, then you can go ahead and peel it off. If it is not coming off easily, stick it back on the heat. After the label is done, you can put the plastic package to the side.

Don't be impatient with this next part. Take the shadow off of the heat and pry your knife right between the pan and the plastic tray. If you can lift it easily, it is ready. If it starts to bend in, put it back on the heat for a moment. If you try to pry them up when the glue is not heated thoroughly, your eyeshadow will chip off. It's happened to me a few times. It's not a big deal, but by a completely vain standpoint...it's not as pretty. :) Then, take the plastic tray and snap it right back into the packaging. Check with your MAC first, but most will allow this to count towards the Back to MAC program without the metal pan.

Put the magnet on, followed by the label. Then, pop it into your palette.

Finished product. I depotted Crazy Cool and Shock-A-Holic and put them in my Pinks and Purples palette. You can see where I rushed through some of my depotting where the chipped off spots are.

This is very different from the method used to depot the new MAC packaged quads. If I get one during the Fabulous Felines Collection, I will show you how to do that. It's much more complicated, unfortunately. I learned the hard way how to do those during the Spring Colour Forecast Collection! Hope this tutorial was helpful to some of you!

Look #2- Silver Starlet

Here is my second look for the Maybelline Dare to Inspire Contest. Thank you to those of you that have voted and keep voting on your favorite looks each day! I thought I would try one of the marbleized eyeshadow duos. I'm trying to do these looks with as little of the products at a time as possible. No one wants to go out and buy three different palettes just to get one look! I feel like the whole purpose of the packaging of these is to get that point across! I cannot complain one bit about the color combinations that Maybelline has chosen!

I prepped my eye using MAC's Painterly Paint Pot. You can do this using just your foundation or concealer, if you don't have any other primers.

Using an eyeshadow brush, I used the right side of the duo Silver Starlet first. These eyeshadows are powdery, so I sprayed my brush with MAC's Fix+. You can use a spritz of water or a bit of Visine to get the same effect. This way the shadows go on a little easier with less fallout and it gives an extra gleam to the light color of the shadow.

Using my crease brush, I dipped it into the silver side. I used a windshield-wiper motion to blend it into the crease. I used my tapered pencil brush to get a more precise angle on my outer corner, but that is optional.



I used the XXL Pro 24 Hr Bold mascara. Step 1 adds the volume. Step 2 is a waterproof coat that seals in the volume.

I then used the Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Charcoal to line my upper lash line. This is a very neutral look that you can wear day or night!

Green With Envy

Here is my first look for the Maybelline Dare to Inspire contest! You can find out more about the contest in my previous post.

UDPP to prime my lids, a fluffy eyeshadow brush, a tapered crease brush, a tapered pencil brush, gel liner, volume mascara, and the Green with Envy quad!

After priming my lids, I used the eyeshadow brush to apply the third color from the left to my lids. Using the pencil brush, I used the last color for the "v" on the outer corner and blended it in. With the crease brush, I used the second color and used a windshield wiper movement to blend it. I chose not to use the highlight color on the left, because it would have added too much shimmer to my liking.

I coated my lashes with the first end of the mascara and allowed it time to set. Then, I applied the second end.

I used the gel liner in black to liner my upper lashes. I'm still not very good at working with gel liner, but this formula is easy to work with. I'm getting better with practice! I used the brush that came with the product, because shocker of shockers...it's not that bad of a brush!

For a daytime look, I skipped the gel liner on the upper lid. I don't like to go really heavy on eyeliner during the day. I added it for a nighttime look, making this a very easy look to take from day to night!

Don't forget about the Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner Giveaway in my other post! :) Also, I'll be sure to review the products in a later post.

P.S.- Again, I was sent these products to create tutorials and review from a marketing company!