Hi, @Allthingsgirly67!!
I have found that de-potting my shadows has really cut down on the clutter, and I use a wider range of my shadows more regularly, because I don't have to go through a bunch of little compacts to remember what I have or find what I want.
I'm not sure what all you are asking, but if you want to know how to de-pot makeup to prepare it to be put in a Z-palette, you can check YouTube for the various methods used:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=depotting+makeup
I use a method that involves heat to loosen the glue between the pan and the compact, because I find that I'm less likely to crack the shadow trying to get it out. If you do crack the powder while de-potting, you can soak the product with rubbing alcohol and press down on it with a paper towel to re-press it. Then let it air dry overnight and it will be fine. I haven't broken any shadows using a heat method though. The only time I break one is when I'm trying to pry it out of a compact and I haven't used heat to loosen the glue first. The first time you try de-potting, you may want to try it with shadows that aren't your very favorites, just until you get the hang of it.
As far as purchasing Z-palettes...Z-palette is not the only brand you can buy. Many stick with it because it is an established brand, but other brands of magnetic palettes are available from other sources, like Amazon. Etsy even has some homemade versions.
If you want the Z-palette brand, you can buy it from their website, Ulta or Beautylish, as well as some other sites.
Z-palette offers little metal pans for you to fill with melted lipstick or to press pigments into, but many people de-pot products that are already in pans. Sometimes those pans are a metal that will cling to the magnetized palette as is, and sometimes they are not and require the metal stickers Z-palette sells. They may send along a few of the metal stickers when you order a palette, but you may want to purchase the additional metal stickers just to be sure you have enough. Also, the round ones are kind of big and work for larger shadow pans and smaller blushes. If you're mostly de-potting little eyeshadow pans, you may want to get the squares, which are smaller.
Another thing...Z-palettes have a particular depth that works for most products, but some eyeshadows, blushes, bronzers, etc. are domed and will not fit into most of the Z-palettes. But Z-palette sells a "dome" palette that is deeper to accommodate those products. If you're doubtful which one to buy, you may want to spend the few extra dollars to get the dome version, because it will work with just about every product.
If you want to remember what each shade is called, you can either take a fine Sharpie and write it on the bottom of the pan or metal sticker, or you can draw yourself a little diagram on a card or paper to keep track of shade names.
Hope that helps.
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