I have found Z-palette a bit too expensive for my budget.

I was trying to find an alternative and I have found it in a form of a metal pencil case. You will also need self-adhesive magnetic tape ( which I get from http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Self-Adhesive-Magnetic-Tape-Magnet-Strip-12-7mm-x-1m-/260677702193?pt=UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&hash=item3cb19a1231 ).

The good thing is that the magnetic tape will stick to any surface plastic or metal which makes storing some of the more difficult to depot shadows possible.

The pencil case was bought quite cheaply on a promotion. It is all metal so the magnet can stick to it. It is quite thin, depth of a pencil and has a hinged lid. As I have 3 of them I have marked them with stickers for easier identification. The magnet is strong so the shadows do not move around. Each case can home a good amount of shadows or depoted pressed powders or blushers.

A quick DIY combination of real and artificial flowers.

Used:

Nordman Fir

Viburnum tinus

Ilex, variegated

Pittosporum

Lonicera nitida

Hedera with berries

Artificial lilllie flower

Artificial berries

Ribbon for a bow

I keep my nail vanishes in a deep, dark draw and it is difficult sometimes to see what I have and be able to recognize it at glance , that’s why all my bottles of nail vanish get an extra dot on the top.

That makes it easier to see the colors without a need to pick them up

If you like me you find yourself buying a nail vanish, that you wanted for a very long time and than realizing that the color does not really suit you, you have two options.

To get rid off it or to try to change the it.

First identify whats wrong with it. Is it to dark, too light, to cool, too warm. that will determine what action you will take. Than see if in your nail vanish collection you have any other colors that mixed with the ‘faulty’ color would make a difference. Take into account how opaque you want the color to be or whether it should have any shine or glitter.

I have recently bought a nail vanish  from Inglot in color that I could describe a moss, it looked perfect in a bottle but on my nails it looked much, much too dark. I have decided to take a risk and try to change it. I wanted it lighter so I have found a white nail vanish , quite opaque with a bit  of a sheen but no glitter and started experimenting.

Before you start pouring one nail vanish into another it is good to ruffly know the proportions in which you intend to mix them.

Take a white paper and place one drop  of the ‘faulty’ color in two different places side by side, then put a drop of the ‘fixing’ color in one of them. Take a clean cotton bud and mix the two colors together. See how you like the outcome, if you are satisfied with it, the mixing proportions for you will be 50:50. I keep one drop of the ‘faulty’ color unmixed as a guide to compare with the new one.

If the color is still to dark, add another drop of the  white one and  if  the results now are OK than your mixing proportions will be 2/3 of the light nail vanish and 1/3 of the darker one. It’s not a rocket science and ruff proportions will do.

It gets a bit more complicated if you have three colors to mix , start of by mixing a drop of each of the colors and than start adding a required colors drop by drop while making a mental or written note of how many drops of each color went into the mixture. For example 3 drops of white, 2 drops of purple and 1 drop of grey will make 3/5 white, 2/5 purple, 1/5 grey. It may be difficult to archive the exact measurements but at least you will know how to get the closest color.

All that remain to do is either to pour away and waste some of the unwanted nail vanish to have some space to top up with the ‘fixing’  color , or to have handy an empty nail vanish bottle after a used up top coat to  do all the mixing in that bottle.

Give everything a really good shake so all the colors combine seamlessly and you are ready to go.

Please  remember that it is not a fool proof method, not all types of nail vanish will mix perfectly. some may separate a bit. I always give them a good shake before each u