I recently went on vacation and I found one of the hardest thing for me to do was pack my make-up. At the start of my packing attempt, I had about five palettes of eyeshadow, in addition to, all my other face make-up, which basically filled up a train case. Since air travel is a pain and having to make weight doesn’t make air travel easier, I manage to narrow down my shadows to two Kat Von D palettes, but I still had a bunch of scattered compacts for my foundation, bronzer, finishing veil, blush, concealer, and etc.
Ever since I came back from vacation, I’ve been looking for an “all-in-one” travel palette that wouldn’t take up a lot of space. Many brands have been coming out with a bunch of face palettes lately, but these “all-in-ones” never seem to contain everything I want. Even the bareMinerals READY To Go Complexion Perfection Palette didn’t have the colors I wanted. Furthermore, I have all of the items in that palette in their full sizes. So I don’t need to buy anymore foundation to clutter my vanity table. I have too much makeup as it is!
I figure the only way to have a perfect palette for me, is to customize it myself. I had thought about making my own magnetized free-style palette, but I’m lazy. Also if I customize things myself, I always end up spending more for some reason. Also lately I just don’t have time to do any craft projects..
I had thought about picking up the free-style palettes from Stars Makeup Haven since I’ve purchased from them before, but I decided to pick the Z-Palette because it has a window on top. I have several palettes from Stars Makeup Haven and they are well made, but it gets annoying that I have to open the palette each time to see which colors are in each palette. I don’t label these palettes because I interchange shadows in those palettes periodically depending on my mood.
So I bit the bullet and ordered three Z-Palette 4U sizes (Black, Aqua/Yellow, and Faux Blue Leather) since I was looking to make customized palettes for traveling. Also Beautylish had the Faux Blue Leather palette which was not available at Z-Palette.
These Z-Palette are made of cardboard, but they are very well made and sturdy. They also have a nice glossy finish that allows you to easily wipe off any loose powder along the edges with a damp towel. The glossy finish also gives the palettes a sleek and cute look. The plastic window pane on the cover is also very sturdy and strong. Lastly, the magnets hold the cover down securely, and I’m not worried about the cover popping open when I sleep the palette into my purse.
Basically, these Z-palettes are very well-made and sturdy. They are definitely something I don’t mind depotting my precious makeup for, and I am someone who prefers leaving things in their original packaging.
The black palette ($17) is perfect for a sleek and professional look. The Aqua/Yellow palette ($17) is a cute and fun pattern for us gals who don’t love pink. The Faux Blue Leather z-palette ($20) is slightly bigger in thickness because of the pleather and a bit more expensive than the two “regular” palettes, but the Faux Blue leather is beautiful. The material has a soft feel to it and the color has a metallic sheen to the baby blue color. It is probably my favorite of the three colors. I kind of wish there was large version of this color.
All of these palettes also come with 15 metallic stickers for any of your depotted shadows that don’t have metallic pots. Of all the things I’ve depotted so far, only one shadow had a pot that didn’t stick to the magnet.
At first I thought $17 was expensive for magnetic palettes made of cardboard, but these palettes are so well made that I’m now a fan of these palettes. If z-palettes comes out with more designs that aren’t animal prints or hot pink, I’d spring for the larger size. I wish I had knew about z-palette when they had their limited edition Cherry Blossom palettes earlier this year. I hope they make more next year! I definitely would love to try out the sizes of their larger palettes.
Now, if only Bare Minerals recycled their eyeshadow pots, I would be closer to having a manageable makeup stash.
Dimensions of the 4U Palettes:
Outside 6.25″L x 4″W x 0.56″D
Inside 5.56″L x 3.25″W x 0.25″D
I fit full-sized bareMineral READY foundation, bronzer/ luminzer duo, and blush into one 4U palette, and I still have room for a several eyeshadow pots at the bottom.