Eyeshadow palettes are always the ultimate in the beauty world. Back when I was in uni and just getting into makeup, all I wanted was to own the coveted (and now discontinued) Urban Decay Naked Palette. I finally came full circle in 2017 when I was kindly gifted not one but the whole vault of Naked Palettes by the brand, which to this date is one of my personal blogging highlights. High-end eyeshadow palettes are some of the most expensive beauty items on the market, averaging around the £40 mark, so it would seem that the last thing that I would want to do would be to tear them apart, right?
Despite so much lusting after them when I was first getting into the beauty world, I never actually purchased a full price, high end palette with my own money. For the price of them, I never truly found one that completely fulfilled my wants and needs from a palette. Although I did enjoy the Urban Decay offerings a lot, it was more the beautiful packaging, the overall luxury experience and the formula that I was drawn too, rather than the colour stories. I ached for something more.
In October, I had some birthday money to spend, and it was right around the launch of the newest Urban Decay offering, the Naked Cherry Palette. When I saw it in store, I instantly knew the rosy tones would contrast perfectly against my my hazel eyes, whilst complementing my burgundy hair. I decided to do some research before biting the bullet, and thinking about it I really just liked the idea of this palette. I had a look through the shades in my existing palettes, and found I already owned some burgundy tones and peachy shades. Instead of spending £40, I decided to add the the Revolution Re-Loaded Newtrals 3 palette to the mix for some pinky mauve matte shades, which was an absolute bargain at £4 and really nice quality.
I began thinking about my most used shades in my existing eyeshadow palettes, and the ones that I would call upon if I were ever to make my own palette. Ones that came to mind instantly were Low Blow from the Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette*, and Tiramisu from the Revolution X Soph Palette. That got me thinking, and I delved into researching single eyeshadow brands, particularly Makeup Geek. I thought about creating a custom palette of go-to single eyeshadow shades, however upon pricing it up, I didn't want to pay £50+ to duplicate shades that I already had in my collection
In the meantime, I watched Hailey Evans' talk about how she wanted to create an unbranded makeup collection and depot her eyeshadow palettes in her decluttering video. It really inspired me to do the same, although I had depotted a couple of eyeshadows from some old palettes a few years back, and that Z palette sat untouched for well over a year. Despite being a little worried it'd be something I'd come to regret, I really was enamoured with the idea of depotting my entire palette collection. I popped some empty palettes on my Christmas list, and couldn't wait to start depotting!
So far, I've depotted the Urban Decay Vice XX Ltd*, the Naked Smokey* and the Naked 2*, as well as my 3 Revolution Re-Loaded palettes (Iconic Division, Iconic Vitality and the Newtrals 3) and most of my Crown Rose Gold palette. I also decided to get a small Z palette to make a go-to matte palette made up of some of my most-reached for matte shades from the Revolution X Soph palette. It has been such a brilliant addition to my everyday makeup basket, being really compact and I never fail to do an eye look without it. I depotted most of my eyeshadows into Extra Large Z Palettes, and then I have a Large Palette which I'll use as my current palette.
I currently only have a couple of pre-made palettes left in my collection. I have a couple of shades left in the Crown Rose Gold that I was finding tricky to depot. I also still have the Naked Heat Palette, which I am planning to eventually depot, but it seems like one of the more difficult palettes as the shadows seem really fragile. I am planning to keep two palettes whole, the Urban Decay Naked 3* and the original Naked Palette*, as I do enjoy using those in the summer. Now that the Naked Palette has been discontinued, I think it's one that I'd like to keep intact, especially as I'd wanted it for years!
It's been 3 months since I depotted my eyeshadow palettes and the only palette I've used since is my large custom one. I'm so glad it's integrated so well into my makeup routine, and it's really inspired me to create new combinations. I've actually been delving into colour too, so it's made me a lot more creative! I'm now able to concentrate on the shades I really love, instead of all the filler shades that a lot of palettes have. As I have my small custom palette of the Revolution X Soph shades, I haven't found the need to add matte neutrals to my large palette, so I've been able to pack it full of different colour stories. Having my own custom palette has helped me get more use out of some shades in 3 months than I have in 3 years! It has given me more appreciation for great eyeshadow formulas now that they are out of their packaging.
Going forward I'm really excited to see how my palette will change with the seasons, and I think I'll be playing more and more with colour this year. It has also reduced my desire to buy new palettes. Instead I can concentrate on adding individual shades that I'm missing. I did however pick up one new palette today, the Revolution Re-Loaded Deep Dive, and although I'll probably keep it in its original layout, I will probably depot it once I've had the chance to test out all the shades. Being £4, there's none of the guilt of tearing it apart, and it's even worth it if I only use one or two of the shades. Look out for a second post coming soon sharing what's in my current custom eyeshadow palette!
What do you think of depotting and creating a custom palette?
* Denotes items kindly gifted by brands for consideration for feature. This does not influence my views.
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