M•A•C Lip Palette

I've been putting off this DIY lip palette for a few years now. Every time I got all my lipsticks ready, I just stared at them & backed out because I didn't have the heart to rip them apart.

Call me crazy but broken lipsticks hurt my heart & the thought of deliberately breaking a perfectly brand new tube of lipstick just crushes my soul! It's taken me years but I finally had to bite the bullet & just get this over with because I've been procrastinating way too long & my bag of lipsticks in my Züca are taking up too much space. 

Follow along as I share the process of making my own M•A•C Lip Palette.

First things first — 

Products Needed:

M•A•C Large Palette + Lip Insert (I prefer the 24 palette over the 12, but use whatever works for you)

LIPSTICKS!!! (Any brand, Any color, broken or brand new) 

Spatula + a mixing palette to work on

Paper towel 

Alcohol

Q-tips

Labels 

Candles + Lighter (optional)

Spoon (optional)

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My original plan was to melt down 24 shades of lipstick but after being inspired by some M•A•C senior artists on Instagram, I skipped the meltdown process & decided to double up on space. I mean, 48 shades of lipstick in ONE palette is definitely a space saver & perfect for on location gigs! I chose not to melt down the 48 lipsticks for this palette because it probably would've taken me all day to complete. Melting down the lipsticks just allow the lipstick to stay locked in place as well as create a smooth overlay finish in its new home - basically making your palette look more polished & "brand new". I am a little OCD/perfectionist so the thought of uneven/messy lipstick really bothered me but I realized they weren't going to stay smooth & perfect for long anyway.

So the first thing I did was line up & organize the colors I wanted to put into my palette. I'm a huge freak on schematics and just wanted like colors to be in one place. After I had a good idea on where the colors were going, I started a hard copy schematic list. I listed the name of lipstick + texture. 

I cleaned the lip palette with alcohol prior to using.

Then one by one I processed each lipstick. For my brand new lipsticks I carefully cut off the tip using my spatula & scooped out product from inside the tube. You'll be surprise how much product you can dig up. I like to tell my clients to invest in a lip brush because there's a lot more lipstick left in the very bottom. Once I dug up the product, I placed it in its designated area & use my spatula to press down and flatten the lipstick into place. Since I didn't melt the lipstick I was able to separate 2 shades in one section with no problem. I also didn't need much lip product to fill my palette. I probably used a little more than 3/4ths of product that remained in the tube. After I dug out the lipstick I carefully inserted the bullet (top) part of the lipstick into the tube. Now you can never tell I depotted my lipstick Looks sort of brand new. Which is a plus because I now have lipstick for my personal use & one for my clients. 

This process will definitely get messy so be sure to have some alcohol & paper towel handy to make transitioning + cleaning up easier. 

Some of the lipsticks started to get really soft so once I was done I placed the palette in the refrigerator for a few minutes to harden. 

Once the lipsticks got a little more solid I used my spatula to smoothen out any lumps. I also cleaned up along the sides using Q tips saturated in alcohol. 

And tada! my very own lipstick palette is complete. I have to say, even though this project on ripping apart my precious lipsticks was a little heartbreaking, it feels wonderful seeing most of my little M•A•C babies together in one happy place! 

48 Lip Palette (Made with Love) By: Rose Rosales

The best, most sanitized way to use your palette is using your spatula to grab product & using a lip brush for application. You can also use your mixing palette to create different colors.

Tip: If you're a makeup artist starting your makeup kit & planning on going this route for lipstick palettes, I recommend pairing up with another artist or friend & splitting the lipsticks. M•A•C lipsticks run around $16 a piece & well, if you do the math $16x48=$768 (w/o tax — that's a lot of $$$ for a palette!) 

Tip: Recycle your M•A•C containers for more lipstick! Click here for more info on recycling.

What are your favorite lipstick colors? Xo