Makeup Project: Lipstick Palette...

Can you believe it's April already!?  How's your long weekend?  I hope you had a blast.  In my case, I went home to the province and stayed with my family. We haven't tried going out during Holy Week, unless it is to hear mass or to check out the "senakulo."  So yeah, I  mostly stayed at home, doing what I do best...sleeping and eating!  (laughs)  So don't get surprised if you'd see me all plumped up!    Besides, vacation is all about that right!?  

^_^

Well, I also did something productive naman.  Aside from reviewing for an upcoming exam (wish me luck, please!), I also did something that I've been wanting to do so for a long time. 

I am not much of a lipstick person, but I still buy for my clients' use...well, of course aside from my usual MAC Peachstock (my forever favorite shade!) I also get samples from friends from makeup brands so I have quite a collection already.  My fellow makeup artists would know that bringing lipsticks during makeup gigs can be such a pain.  Aside from they'll be taking too much space, it also takes a lot of time re-opening (and closing) the tubes to check out the shades.  Of course, it helps if you've memorized the shades already, but it's still a lot better if you get to see everything at once.  In this case, to have your lipsticks depotted and put in a lipstick palette is your best bet.  And I'm pretty sure most of you have done that already.

I tried putting my depotted lipsticks before in a pill case, and it did work for me.  But the OC me won't stop there.  O sige na nga, the maarte me..I mean!  I wanted my palette to look more maarte...errr, professional and presentable.  Okay, I'm not saying that using pill cases is not presentable ha...it's just that, I want my makeup stuff to look all kikay. And fine, Maarte!

^_^

I've tried looking for "real" palettes but those that I've found are not available locally.  Good thing Digitaltraincase has something that I need...

Japonesque 35-Well PRO Lipstick Palette

It's black, shiny and just the right size. 

Even the lock looks so sleek! And it works, too!

the inside...

left side has 21, small-sized slots

and the right side has 14 bigger slots

It also has a plastic divider so the shades on the two sides won't mix together when you close your palette.  

I've posted photos of the finished lipstick palette on Instagram and some of you have asked how I did it.  So here's how:

Step One: Prepare the materials

You'll need the lipsticks, of course!

^_^

 a candle, spoon and a knife

Step Two:  Chop off a portion of the lipstick .  It's better to start with small portion and just add if you see there's still space in the slot.

Step Three: Put it on a spoon, preferably something you no longer use for eating.

Step Four: Put the spoon over a lighted candle and melt the lipstick slowly.  Take time in doing this because you don't want your lipstick to burn...or boil, because if it boils, you'll get bubbles and these bubbles don't go away easily.  I know because my palettes have bubbles, because I got too inip!

Move away the spoon from the candle if you see that you're melting it too fast.

Step Five:  Once the lipstick has totally melted, wait for a few seconds for it to cool down then start pouring it into the slot.

Okay, that one at the top middle got bitin!

^_^

Please don't be impatient like me...see those bubbles!?

And I did say to wait for a few seconds before pouring the liquid, right?  Because I discovered that when it's too hot, the slot tends to rise up and become flat.  I've read some blogs saying that it's the lipstick that expands when it starts to cool.  I discovered it myself, it's not the lipstick that expands..the slot, which is made of plastic, rises up when it gets too heated.

Take a look what happened with this one slot:

Noticed how it became flat?

And then of course, you'd still want to know what shades are in your palette.  I didn't label the shades when I used a pill box before, because I thought I've memorized them but later on, I just forgot the shades that I've used and it's frustrating whenever somebody would say what nice color it is and yet you won't be able to tell them what shade it is.

So, labelling is really important!

^_^

Step Six: Write the shades on label stickers like the ones above.  I got these from National Bookstore.

Step Seven:  Put the labels on the plastic divider in the palette.

Now, to avoid getting the lipstick on the labels you need something that would keep them from getting dirty...

Now this is where this clear tape comes in...

Cut a portion of the clear tape...

And put it over the labels.   Of course you'd still get some dirt on the labels when you open and close your palette but with the clear tape, you can just wipe it off.

and here's my finished project:

(Arggh, that empty slot is such an eye sore...sniff)

And here's some of my salvaged lippies...

And here's the pretty mess I got myself into:

Messy, but I really enjoyed it!

^_^

Aside from it can be taxing, melting the lipsticks can be such a waste too...because you won't be able to transfer everything that you've melted into the slot.  If you don't want that, you can just chop off a portion of your lipstick, put it into the slot and using a spatula, just press it until it gets a bit flatter.  I've also read that melting the lipstick tends to change its quality, that I haven't checked on.  I'll try to compare the quality of the melted lipsticks with the ones on the tubes and I'll update you of course!

By the way you can get this Japonesque Lipstick Palette for Php1450.  They also have Z-palettes with metal pans that you can put in a microwave to heat (just the pans) instead of heating them over a candle.

By the way, you can check out their new site Digitaltraincase.com.  It's still in progress but you can already do your shopping there!

'Til my next makeup project!

^_^

 Please like me on Facebook ( IambrigittePage ) and follow me on Twitter (Iamsutil) and Instagram (Iambrigitte)