How to upcycle old eyeshadow

Supplies gathered.

Gather old eyeshadows and see which ones you can pry out of their cases with minimal effort.

Some eyeshadows can easily be pulled out using tweezers or a kitchen knife. Stick blade between metal and plastic and apply pressure.

You may have to warm eyeshadow base over a candle for ten seconds or so to soften the glue on the bottom. This also softens plastic slightly and can allow knife a tweezers more room to pry.

Photo of eyeshadow tin being pulled off of plastic base after glue has slightly melted.

All my depotted eyeshadows, plus three refilled tins of "new" shadow that I mixed myself from the little ones I couldn't de-pot.

You can buy decorative duct tape at craft stores at Beverly's and at Costco, but I got lucky and found mine at the dollar store. :D

Cut magnet sheet to match inside bottom half of CD case. Peel off backing and stick firmly to plastic case.

Cover magnet side and back side (and front if you wish) of CD case with duct tape.

Place depotted eyeshadow tins on covered bottom and enjoy! If you find some of your tins aren't magnetized, as I did, simply cut leftover magnet sheet in little pieces and stick to the back of tins.

Tip: Some of your eyeshadows won't be depotted so easily, and you may want to scrape them out of tin and put them in another, or combine them to make a new shade!

With a knife, scrape the eyeshadows that can't be depotted into an old compact. Crush hard shadows with knife bottom, mix with fork, add oil, and pack into tins. Press down hard with spoon.

Tip: You only need a tiny amount of oil to cause the loose powder to cake together when you press into the empty tins. Coconut oil pictured above.

All the empty plastic cases I am recycling. I've got so much more space in my make-up kit now!

Tip: if some of the compacts you're recycling have mirrors in them, pry them out using the same techniques. They may have some sticky glue still on the back- just press on other side of CD case.

Cover outside of CD case in cute duct tape and add stickers.

Enjoy your space-saving, all in one place, rearrangeable magnetic upcycled eyeshadow palette!