So you have a Z Palette or another magnetic palette but the pans you depotted are aluminum? If the pans are too small for the metal stickers then what do you do? iashleycouture recently posted her solution here on Makeuptalk.com which I've used and it works like a charm!
You will need:
- Small metal washers. I used 3/16" (4.7 mm) washers
- Glue - Contact cement, Gorilla Glue or super glue works. Ashley used nail glue, I used Gorilla Glue.
- Magnetic palette
- Pans you want to use
I used Gorilla Glue because it "bonds metal, wood, stone, ceramics, foam, glass and more" according to the label. The downside to using Gorilla Glue you have to wait for it to dry while with super glue it sets more quickly. I'm not sure using hot glue will work as well due to the fact you're gluing metal to metal and so the hot glue bond won't be as strong.
I used a a 3/16" (4.7 mm) metal washer but there are smaller washers. The smallest shadow pan I used were from Coastal Scents that came in my Ipsy bag a few months ago and the 4.7 mm washer fit just fine. I paid less than 70 cents for a bag of 33 washers at Walmart but I know a bag of similar size washers from Lowes and Home Depot are under $1 but you get more. The washers I used had two different sides - one side was completely flat while the flip side had a rounded edge - I used the flat side with the glue.
Since I used Gorilla Glue there was an extra step I had to take per the instructions on the bottle. "Gorilla Glue is cured with moisture. Lightly dampen bonding surfaces with water." I simply spritzed the washer and the back of the pan with water then applied a couple of drops of Gorilla Glue before sticking the washer to the pan. Once I placed the washer on the back of the pan I wiggled the washer to remove any air then allowed to dry. (Note: in the picture I did not add water to the washer or pan.)
Once cured it's ready to put in your Z Palette or any magnetic palette.
Over all I think this is a fantastic method if you don't have the round or square metal stickers from Z Palette or if the metal stickers are too large for the pans you want to use. Remember, this method will only work if the palette you're using already is magnetic. If you're using a palette with a metal interior such as an ELF quad pan you need to use magnetic stickers.
You can buy thin magnet strips from a craft store for under $3 which you can cut down to fit what you need. Another method suggested by another member at Makeup Talk is to use the thin magnets that sometimes come on your phone book or pizza boxes, simply cut it size and glue to the item you want to become a magnet but that's a different DIY.
There are two downsides to this washer method. The first is the wrong size washer. What ever your smallest pan is you need to get washers that fit that size. Too large of a washer and obviously it's not going to work. The second downside is using the wrong glue. While Gorilla Glue bonded really well it takes several hours for the glue to dry, I would recommend if you do this either to use Super Glue which dries quickly or do this in the evening so you can set the pans aside to allow the glue to dry. Also because the washers have a hole in the center the glue is going to come up through the center so you want to make sure to clean that up while the glue is wet since once dry it's pretty difficult to remove the excess glue.
Big thanks to Ashley for sharing her idea with us here on Makeup Talk!
