Saving Space To Fit More Lipsticks

Making most of the makeup bag real estate is tricky business. I can spend hours shoving things in and out of my tiny bag till the “jigsaw” is complete without an inch to spare. While everything going in seems “essential” one does have to be judicious especially when there are xx lipsticks that you don’t have the heart to say no to! Makeup palettes are your best friend in such times but if like me you don’t own that many… custom palettes come to the rescue!

This Friday I entered MAC with just one thing on my mind, a 2-pan MAC eyeshadow palette. I have seen countless bloggers with this dinky little pan filled with the perfect pair of eyeshadows for everyday and I was determined to have one for myself. I already have most of my MAC eyeshadows in pans (See them here) and a 4-pan palette as well, but there is just something so practical and satisfying about a 2-pan palette that I just had to have it. Any excuse will do!

I filled it up with two of my favorite “all over the eyes” colors, All That Glitters and Soba and armed with a good blending brush a.k.a MAC 217 I am sorted for on-the-go eye makeup. All that glitters is a pale champagne with peachy shimmer on my skintone which is amazing at adding “light” to the eyes. I love wearing it with either a plain brown eyeliner (MAC Coffee eye pencil) or something more bronzey like MAC’s Teddy (almost time to repurchase!) and its one of my favorite eye makeup looks!

Soba wasn’t a color I started wearing until late last year. Inspite of how ummm.. “normal” it looks in the pan its anything but! A perfect sand color which when dusted all over the eye evens out all discolorations and makes me look well rested and beautiful. its a true neutral brown which is just a touch deeper than my skintone and thereby a perfect everyday color!

Left To Right: MAC All That Glitters, MAC Soba

I am BIG on blushes and really cannot step outside with atleast some color on my cheeks. Given my over-fed blush stash, its now almost essential for me to wear blush everyday just so that I can keep going through them! Since carrying blushes in their original packaging might not be the most sensible thing to do considering the weight of the pans and the mirrors in the compacts, I decided to pull them out and fit them in a Z-palette.

The palette currently holds MAC’s Peaches, a pretty solid peach but sadly a little stiff in the pan; an old Makeup Forever Sculpting Blush in #10, a peachy pink with a hint of shimmer, very pretty and spring appropriate (See it in action here); and Benefit’s Dandelion (deluxe sample) which I love as a subtle highlight and a blush when I am paler. All three of these need to be used up and having them bundled together is a good way to make a dent!

The actual palette isn’t a great quality for travel, its cardboard and very cheaply made. The see through glass on top is flimsy and would definitely break at the slightest pressure! Nevertheless, it holds my blush pans nicely and being practically weightless doesn’t make the carriage heavy. I could probably look for a better constructed palette but since most of the others come with built in slots it wouldn’t serve my purpose when I have differently shaped pans. #ClassicFirstWorldProblems

Clockwise From Top: MAC Peaches, MUFE #10, Benefit Dandelion (square pan)

Now I need to go find the lipsticksX10 that go with these. With lot of space comes a lot of confusion!

Have a great Sunday everyone!