I finally came to terms with the fact that my makeup collection needed a new home. A more loving, functional and practical space to be stored.
In my quest for the perfect makeup storage containers, I turned to the trust "Container Store" (now that's a no-brainer!). I searched online and found these mini plastic drawers. At just $9.99, I couldn't believe that these drawers would be the magical storage device I was looking for, so I headed to The Container Store to check them out. (By the way, for anyone who doesn't have a container store near them, it is like the Holy Grail store for organization fanatics...my advice is to enter with caution. I never go there without my husband, because if I did, I'd spend hours just looking at containers, touching them, and imagining them in my home...not good).
I took some photos so I could show you all how everything turned out. Here is the "before" shot:
As you can see, I used to keep some of my makeup in this long rectangular basket. It worked OK, but it took up a lot of space, and it wasn't as organized as it could be. I kind of just threw everything in there all of the time. There were no separators and I had to keep all kinds of products on the ledge (on the outside of our shower) so the area always looked messy! Plus, I had to have all of these additional storage containers for things like mascara and lip gloss. As Tim Gunn would say "Make it Work!," and so I did...
Now, to the wonderful new storage system:
Ahhh, so organized and refreshing. Just looking at it makes me glow with pride. Now, onto the individual drawers, to give you a better idea of how I categorized everything:
The very bottom drawer contains skin creams, eye creams, spot treatments for pimples, etc. I only use these at night, so I put them at the very bottom.
This is my lip gloss drawer. Notice they are all PINK? I don't stay from what works, that's for sure (or maybe I'm just too afraid to try something else!)
Here are my mascara (notice my beloved DiorShow) along with some eye pencils, eyebrow pencil and eye brightening pencil.
Here are my eye shadows and my beloved MAC Fluidline gel liners (totally HG!). I don't wear eye shadow on my lids (I use MAC's "brun" to line underneath my eyes- it looks softer than gel liner). I only use eye shadow if I am going out, which explains my smaller collection. I'd like to start wearing it more often, but everytime I put it on, it feels like "too much" for day (on me). I always see other people who can pull it off, but I can't seem to. I'm more of a liner girl (never leave the house without it!)
Ahhh my beloved blushes. So wonderful and again, PINK! I do have a peachy-pink in there too! The plalette underneath it is actually an eye shadow and bronzer palette. It is by Too Faced, from their Holiday collection, called French & Fabulous. I plan to review it soon. It is a gorgeous palette and it has a Marie Antoinette theme, so of course I just had to buy it!
Lastly, the top drawer contains my MAC studio concealer (the best!), NARS bronzer, my MAC quad (so far, only the "brun" e/s is in there) and a MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in "porcelain pink" (gorgeous!). I also have the LORAC Tantilizer bronzer in there, but have not used it thus far. It looks a bit too shimmery for the day time.So that is the drawers, so far. Note that I bought two sets of the drawers, for 6 total. I just stacked them on top of eachother.
There's a side-view of the containers. Notice I have a glass container on top containing some of my brushes. In previous photos, you can also see I have another empty glass container on the ledge, which will soon hold the Sigma brushes I just ordered (I will review them as soon as I get them). They are supposed to be as good as MAC brushes, but for much less. A lot of the YouTube beauty gurus have just raved about them, so I'm excited to use them! I ordered the set of 12, minus the brush roll because I already have a brush roll type thing I use when I travel.
Here is another close-up. I did replace my camera batter, but had to use it on manual mode (no flash) to get these photos to be clear.I also wanted to show you all my bathroom cabinet that holds a lot of my products (hair stuff, lotions, self tanner, face masks, etc). I like that it is all hidden behind those doors, because I have a lot of products I don't use on a regular basis and don't want them making my bathroom look cluttered.
Firstly, here is the bottom of the cabinet. It has little cubbies to store stuff. On the very left, I keep Q-tips in a glass container from West Elm, and in the middle I keep some perfumes (D&G Light Blue, FCUK for Men and Burberry Brit). Then, I just have some towels rolled up that I don't even use...they kind of look messy, I need to fix those.Onto the cabinet's contents:
As you can see, there is quite a variety of products. I used to keep my cleansers near my sink area, but in my attempts to go as minimal as possible in that area, I've decided to make the effort to put them away after each use. It will take some getting used to, but overall I think the lack of clutter will be worth it.I know that some people like to "show off" their products and have them really easily accessible- and I would be one of those people, if it were not for my very limited sink space. My husband and I each have our own sinks, but truth be told, I'd rather only have one if it mean having more counter space. Our massive shower makes up for it, but I keep saying when we get a new house, I want a massive bathroom with tons of shelving and counter space.
How do you store your cosmetics? Leave me your storage solutions in the comments below! I hope this was helpful to anyone looking for a bathroom storage solution for their makeup and products. I can also do a post about my nail polish and hair tool storage if that would interest you all! I even have special drawers to store medications in! (I know, I know, obsessive!)
Thank you SO much for reading, I appreciate each and every one of you!
xoxo,
Veronika.