How to: Depot lipstick tutorial

I've received a lot of comments about my new lipstick palette. So I felt it would maybe help someone if I created a post on how to do it yourself. Basically a lipstick palette is self-made from your own lipsticks. Why do it? Because it saves space and time. If your a makeup artist you carry around with you several lipsticks - I have about 18 currently. That's a lot to carry from place to place. Also it's time consuming trying to find the right shade. If your on a photoshoot where time is limited you need to be able to access the right shade quickly. 

What do you need to depot?

A PALETTE

Here I have used a bead box from Hobbycraft (£3 a bargain!). There are many palettes out there. Most people buy there's from eBay (search for pill case, bead box, nail tip case, etc) but I prefer to be able to touch and feel what I'm buying first. I chose this palette due to its sturdiness (is that a word?). It has a slide fastening so no chance it will ping open. It's also transparent so I can see all my colours with the lid closed to stop contamination. 

A palette knife - mine was from Crownbrush

IPA - to disinfect the palette and you lipsticks before depoting

Lipsticks - if you have several of one brand you may prefer to depot them accordingly but for me I depoted mine to with matching shades

One thing I wasn't prepared for was the heartbreak of taking the lipstick out of my beautiful Inglot casing. The more expensive the lipstick the prettier the packaging but I needed the space. 

You really don't need a lot to depot, I'm surprised more people don't do it! You may have heard of the melting method - don't do it! It may sound appealing and give a smoother finish to your palette BUT, & it's a big but O_o, it changes the consistency and often the colouring of some lipsticks. I would hate to melt a MAC & then find the shade is completely different and doesn't slide on the lip as evenly anymore. All you really need to do is dig out the lipstick and mix it into the palette until smooth. I used a small palette knife to mix mine.

To be able to see which lipstick is in which pot, it's a good idea to peal off the label on the bottom of the tube and stick it in the palette. Some lipstick tubes have the info printed directly onto the packaging. In those cases I write the make and shade on a white sticky label available from your local stationary or supermarket. 

What do you think? Will you give it a go? You don't need to be a makeup artist. This method is great for broken lipsticks and for making the most of the bottom of you lipsticks. 

oX Wendy Xo