Repotting Eyeshadows: one person’s process

...or, actually, repot my shadows. Phyrra asked on Twitter if I’d ever taken pics of the process. I hadn’t - hadn’t though about it, actually - but that got me thinking. And hey, more content that may or may not help someone else out at some point.

I repot all my shadows that I buy - not because I dislike the original packaging, but because I want everything to be in the same size jars for purposes of neatness and ease of storage. (Yes, I’m that weird.)

If you're going to repot your products, keep some things in mind:

• you'll probably have to create labels, since labels don't always come off nicely or neatly (or don't always retain their stickum well enough to adhere to the new jars.)
• doing this will, in most cases, effectively lose your list of ingredients and any lot-number information the manufacturers may include on the label. If you have chemical sensitivities, I would highly recommend that you find a way to keep the original labels.
• this probably won't result in a lab-sterile jars; but this process is good enough for my personal-use efforts. If you're running a commercial operation, I highly recommend researching how to sterilize customers' jars and keep the products uncontaminated. I didn't bother researching that thoroughly because I don't resell these - they're just mine, for my personal use.

Required Equipment

• antibacterial / cleansing wipes
• roll of paper towels or a box of tissues
• 1 metal coffee scoop, or something with a thin prying edge (to get the sifters out of the original jars)
• empty cosmetic pots, lid, and sifter (I buy 10 gram jars from Kosmetech)
• eyeshadow in its original jar

Optional Equipment

• facial dust mask (I wear one whenever I'm repotting more than two colors. Possibly that's overkill...but a little caution isn't a totally bad thing. And they're reusable.)
• "replacement" labels

1. Use a cleansing wipe to wipe down the countertop; then dry it off with a paper towel or some tissues
   I use Lysol antibacterial cleaning wipes. Again - probably won't produce a lab-sterile environment, and would probably make a professional cosmetologist cringe. But if it kills the flu germs and salmonella bacteria, it works well enough for my purposes.
2. Use another cleansing wipe to swipe the jar interiors, lid interiors, and sifters
   These come from Kosmetech sealed in plastic; but I don't know if they're sanitized at Kosmetech's facility before being packaged and shipped to me...so since part of the appeal of mineral makeup is that whole "no environment for bacteria" deal, I take some extra precautions.
3. Leave jars/lids/sifters to dry for 10-15 minutes
4. Come back, use a different tissue to rub down the jar interiors, lid interiors, and sifters
   The cleaning stuff does leave behind a bit of residue. Wiping the surfaces down with a clean, dry tissue gets that off.
5. Put on the dust mask
   Again...if you're only repotting one or two shadows, I wouldn't worry about this unless you've got breathing difficulties.
6. Use the metal coffee scoop's handle to pry the sifter out of the original jar.
   If it looks like some product has edged its way up around the sides of the sifter, I'll tap the jar on the countertop a few times to try and settle it all before prying off the sifter.
7. Hold the "original" sifter over the new pot and tap the sides to shake loose any shadow that may be stuck to, or in the holes of, the sifter.
   You're just going to pitch these. Why waste product you paid for?
8. Carefully upend the original jar into the new jar.
9. If the product doesn't spill out on its own, you may need to tap the bottom of the original jar.
   Or lightly whack it, even. Just be careful not to hit it so hard it goes skipping out of your fingers, spills your eyeshadow, and flies across the room. That's not a fun way to 'spread the sparkle'.
10. Gently place the new sifter in the mouth of the new jar.
11. Put the lid over the new sifter, and press down, pushing the sifter into place.
    This will also keep any dustups / flyaways inside the jar, where you'll eventually be able to use it. It also saves you from making a bit of a mess on the countertop.
12. Screw the lid completely closed.
13. Apply the label to the new jar - whether you use one you created yourself, or peel the label off of the original jar.

Done. That's it. Some additional notes:

• One 10-gram jar will generally hold the contents of two or possibly even three 5-gram jars' worth of eyeshadow from your average indie MMU vendor. It will also hold 3 "small" eyeshadows from Bare Escentuals - because their jars' floors are raised quite a bit, cutting the interior capacity in half. Bare Escentuals uses 5-gram jars in 10-gram jars' clothing.
• You can buy jars from vendors on Ebay. Search around, find the best price, buy from them...but keep in mind that Kosmetech sells 500 10-gram jars, 500 lids, and 500 sifters for about $130 including shipping. That works out to a lower per-unit cost than any of the Ebay sellers I've seen or used. If you think you'll only need 100 jars, find several friends to split the order with. Alternately, you could check with your local school or activity center and see if they need a donation of craft jars, and take a tax writeoff for the jars you won't use. (If you know for a solid fact that you're only going to need five or even 25 jars, don't bother with Kosmetech. You won't be able to recoup the value. If you know you will need at least 50 for immediate use and may need the others later...order from Kosmetech.)