Yes, I have done a lot of de-potting.
I learned to do it on YouTube. It's good to watch general de-potting videos before you begin, to get a sense of the basics. It may also help you learn what not to do.
One thing to do first is to make sure your product is not already held into a compact with a magnet. Some palettes have pin holes on the back so you can pop out shadows. Others--like some Colourpop palettes--don't have pin holes, but the shadows are magnetic. I have heard of people putting a strong kitchen magnet over the pan to pull a shadow like that out of the palette, but have not tried it myself.
Plastic compacts I usually hold over a candle flame until they are soft (some people use a flat iron you would use on your hair; I've not tried that). Then I push a bamboo skewer or a large pin up under the compact where the pan sits and the pan will raise up. Then I can ease it out gently with a butter knife or something. If there is residual glue on the bottom of a pan that can't be pulled off easily, I set the pan in a little Pyrex bowl with a very small amount of alcohol in the bottom and let it sit. (If I accidentally get a little alcohol in the powder, it does not ruin the powder.) Then I can scratch off the residual adhesive with a butter knife or with a nail tool or something.
Some plastic compacts (like Mac or NYX) require you to pop out the plastic the shadow is seated in before you attempt de-potting.
Cardboard packaging involves slicing the cardboard around the shadows. You have to use an exacto knife to cut away the cardboard and then gently pry the pans away from their backing.
Bronzers, blushes and larger shadow pans are more difficult, because they are often similar in depth but larger in surface area. So they tend to break more easily.
The best way to know how to de-pot a specific brand is to search YouTube for videos on de-potting that brand. But most products are housed in either plasic or cardboard palettes, so you may not need to do that.
Some pans will already be magnetic, but if you need the magnetic stickers (you probably will), get more of the little squares if you have standard-sized shadows. The round magnets are larger and work for blushes, bronzers and larger round shadow pans. They stick out on the sides if you try to use them on most eyeshadow pans.
Hope that helps.
I know it sounds like a pain in the butt, but I actually find it quite fun. It's also super-satisfying to throw away a bunch of random compacts that have been cluttering up your space.
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