Today’s blog post will be devoted to a palette that looks like a right old mess. This little hopscotch gathering of eyeshadows is what’s inside my Z-palette. Most of these shadows are depotted singles from miscellaneous drugstore brands. So a few years back I decided I had too many singles and depotted the lot. I used to have 3 (!) Z-palettes filled with depotted shadows. By now, only 1 survives.
Just look at that thoroughly disorganized mess!
So Z-pallettes are a nifty little invention where you get an empty palette that you can then fill up with shadows yourself. They were the first brand to really come out with this type of palette and I decided to condense my single shadow collection into three palettes at the time. As you can see, the depotting process did not always go as smoothly, which is sadly why I hardly ever use this palette. However, this does contain some of the more unique drugstore shadows that I own, which is why I just can’t get rid of these.
I used to have one palette filled with NYX shadows and a few random bits. Then one was devoted to Sephora shadows because I could pick those up on a 3 for ā¬10 deal. So I tried many. And the last one I filled up contained Essence and Catrice shadows. As you can see, I dwindled down the lot and only hung on to those shades that I would potentially dig through my stash for as they are something highly specific.
The brands in here are mainly NYX, Catrice and Sephora. But there is the stray ancient L’Oreal shade, there’s one by ELF, MAC and also one random berry shade from a Sephora quintet as well as the one Essence eyeshadow I decided to hang on to. These are all shades that I hardly have anything similar of in my ginormous eyeshadow collection. Let’s have a closer look.
Catrice:
In the Army Now – Don’t Touch My Mosserati
Top of the Cops – C’Mon Chameleon
Yes You Tan – Bring Me Terracotta
Let’s start with the Catrice shades. All these shades have now been discontinued or were limited edition. I know Yes You Tan and Bring Me Terracotta were limited. The rest came from the regular line, but since Catrice changes things up so frequently, there is no telling which of these is still available. The selection ranges from a good khaki green, to a fun green with gold reflects, a navy blue and a blue/ brown shade that is similar to MAC’s Club. Again, none of these are very everyday shades, but they are pretty colors nonetheless.
Catrice Mirror Mirror – L’Oreal Platinum Beige
Sephora Pinup Show no. 13 – ELF Raspberry Truffle
MAC Jest – Essence Party All Night
Moving on to this patchwork of shadows. Top left is one of the most stunning silvers you will ever find, which is the only reason I hang on to it. Platinum Beige is an ancient L’Oreal shade, but it is just too pretty to say goodbye to as well. I remember buying this back when I first got into make up. Sephora’s Pinup Show came from a quad but this shadow was my sole reason for purchasing it in the first place. Since I never used the others, I took this one out and just kept that.
The ELF shadow cracked so badly upon depotting that I had to repress it which is why it looks a little worse for wear, but the shade of this is stunning. They sadly no longer do this, but is probably the best affordable burgundy shade. MAC’s Jest is too similar to Naked Lunch for and since I like that a little bit better, I just never got round to using Jest. But I love it too much to say goodbye to it. Finally, Essence’s Party All Night is quite possibly one of the most perfect taupe shades. The shine on this is gorgeous!
NYX:
Frosted Ocean – Ocean – Frosted Lilac
Rust – Walnut
Who remembers these square NYX shadows? I remember everyone raving about Rootbeer and that is a shade I now no longer own. I kept a few that I loved, but I had so many I just didn’t use anymore. I pretty much bought all of these in trios which I put together myself. But the result was that I would only ever use that trio together and never mix and match. I remember owning a stunning olive green at some point, but it just sat there and by now I have so many olive shades that I couldn’t justify keeping it. These shades I kept as they are more unique. Walnut may not look like much but the reddish undertone this has, is something I have not yet been able to find in any other shadow. I did a full overview of all my NYX shades back in the day.
Sephora:
Sunkissed – Fame & Fortune
Suede – Mejane
Last but not least: Sephora shadows. Like NYX, I used to own many more (click here to see that). The reason why I got rid of so many of these is because the pigmentation was a bit meh. Especially the glitters packed nothing but chunky glitter and no pigment. Fame & Fortune was the exception, which is why I kept it and you just never know when you might need a turquoise with silver glitter now don’t you? Mejane was another exception: a deep olive green with a very dark base with multi sparkle, there is just nothing like it on the market these days. And Sunkissed and Suede used to be my two favorite shades to wear if I was going for a no make up look. I still pull those out from time to time, but now we have Naked palettes for doing just that of course.
How do you use your Z-palettes?