Makeup takes up space.

Hey, guys!

As I mentioned a couple posts ago, we thought my grandma was going to be moving in with us and when that was the case, she was going to have to share my bathroom. No big deal, because my bathroom certainly has enough room for two people's stuff.

(Unless you're a cosmetics hoarder/soap addict and your grandma has toiletry stuff she's kept since like, the 60's)

So I was trying to figure out ways to make more room and the simplest solution was "move your makeup." The soap, shampoo, towels, etc. needed to stay where the shower was. MAKES SENSE. But I could definitely move my personal makeup stuff upstairs. I did before during the flood, and it worked fine. The only thing was then, I shared space in my brother's bathroom (he was very generous). And since this was kind of going to be permanent, I decided it needed to be out of his way.

Well. I graduated. And I have a desk which I no longer actually need for homework. I put two and two together and moved my makeup to my desk!

This actually works BRILLIANTLY for me because the counters in my bathroom are SO BIG. They're tall and they're wide, which makes it hard for me to get close enough to the mirror to see what I'm doing properly. After teasing me about it for a months, my Mom bought me a vanity mirror so I could pull it closer. It helped, but it doesn't change the fact that those counters are made for incredibly tall people.
It's also great because I've always wanted a vanity table, a place where I could SIT and do my makeup. And now I can do just that!

Anyway, blah blah blah, all that to say: I moved my makeup upstairs to my desk and I want to show you how I organized it!
(As always, click pics to enlarge!)


The primary organizational tools I used were a set of those tiny drawers, a pencil cup, and an acrylic medicine cabinet organizer. Not too bad! You can get all that stuff at Target or Walmart and it's way cheaper than the absurd makeup organizers that go for upwards of $50. Ridiculous!
The clock is one of my favorite things and it was on sale for $4 at Target! After two days of leisurely sitting and applying my makeup, I realized a clock was absolutely necessary to keep myself in line. ;)




I like this thing because it has a big space in the middle which fits some of my larger powder compacts. On the side, it has some smaller compartments which are useful for mascara, concealer and eyeliner.




That's the mirror my Mom bought me. It gets better use up here! And to hold my palettes I just used a letter organizer.




These mini-drawer sets are dorm room/desk essentials. I used some leopard contact paper from Duct Tape (it was like $1) to decorate the drawers a bit. In the first drawer I keep my foundations (L'Oreal Magic Smooth Soufflé and CoverGirl Aquasmooth for days when I don't want to put forth a ton of effort. Both are fantastic!). In the second drawer, I keep my collection of eyeshadows (mostly from E.L.F.), and in the top drawer I keep my eyelid primers and my Too Faced Natural Eye palette because it fits.




I LOVE this pencil cup to hold my brushes! It has three little dividers, so I can put my eye brushes, face brushes, and miscellaneous brushes all where they belong. I also used a strip of that leopard contact paper to tie it all together. And Hello Kitty because she's cute (after years of repressing my feminine side due to narrow-minded thinking that all pretty "girly" girls were mean and stupid, it's been nice to get in touch with all that).



It works really well for me. And I LOVE being able to actually SIT and do my makeup. And I've always wanted to be able to do it near a window so that I could get natural lighting, and voila! It's been wonderful.


And for those of you wondering where I keep my lip stuff....



I went to Home Depot and got one of these things, because makeup organizers for women are expensive, but tool organizers for men are CHEAP. Riddle me this, marketers and corporate America! But anyway, I got one because I used to keep my lip stuff all over the place (in purses, on my dresser, in my bathroom, in random boxes in places that never see the light of day...) and I never knew exactly what I had. Consequently, I ended up using the same lip gloss every single day. Now I've organized them by color so that I know what I have and where to look for them. It's been incredibly useful.


Thank you for indulging my vanity. I realize this might seem incredibly vapid and materialistic to a lot of you, but I adore makeup (always have, actually). It's something that I love to play with and "collect" I guess (but I'm too cheap to have a legit makeup collection), and I was just SO excited that I got it all organized!

If you ever have any makeup questions or suggestions or anything, leave a comment! It's one of my favorite things to talk about!