My Makeup Storage

Hello everyone. Hope you're having a nice (or at least tolerable) start to the week. This will probably - or hopefully, I should say - be my last week off, as I should be somewhat normal by the end of it in terms of my recovery. I've had pain on and off, perhaps because I've returned to being semi-active, but otherwise I think my healing is on track. Yay.

Anyway, this past week I've been wanting to change my makeup storage, because I had two small organizers that were totally full and the rest of my makeup/palettes were scattered throughout my room. I'm the type of person that likes to have everything of a certain category together in one place - in this case, my makeup - so I really wanted an effective, but affordable, way to bring all my makeup to a single part of my room. In this post, I'll be showing my previous storage, as well as my new storage, and mention the total cost of each. Hey, they may not be the most stunning or rigid kinds of storage ever, but as you'll see they serve their purpose and didn't hurt my light wallet in the process.




When I just started getting back into makeup again, I kept my products in a makeup bag. What I didn't like about this method was that finding a product required some searching, and on top of that I was not able to visually monitor my collection in a way that would promote the most use of it (and help keep spending habits at bay). My first upgrade, thus, was the following:

It came bare - I added the stickers. $4.99.

I found this little storage container (without the stickers) for $4.99 at my local dollar store. It's pretty much a rectangular container with five drawers. I decorated it with stickers that I had in my dresser from when I was in middle school (my friends and I all went through the Sanrio/Morning Glory phase - anyone else out there that can relate, haha?) so that it wouldn't be so plain. The next picture shows how long the drawers are:

Note the La Vie Est Belle perfume bottle and Mitchum deodorant stick for size reference.

This container served its purpose for a while, but eventually my collection expanded and it had no more space. As such, I went to another local budget store and purchased a small version for $2.99:

Again, I added the stickers myself. $2.99.

The only difference is clearly the size - this container came with three drawers as opposed to five. I ended up moving my eye products in here and dedicated the other to lip products, which are my favorite products (hence why I own a lot).

This was suitable for some time - months, in fact - but not only did I start having some products scattered on my computer table from lack of space, but I also grew less fond of having my face products and palettes in other parts of my room. And that's when I started looking into other methods of storage.

I want to talk about something before I show and go into details about my next (and most recent) storage upgrade. I live with my mother and maternal grandmother. It used to be my brother and his ex too, but when they broke up he moved into his own apartment. Our once full house is consequently empty, and there is a lot of unoccupied space. I have, however, become accustomed to having all of my belongings in my room, and find that I like it that way. Whether it's a doll from my childhood or winter clothes during the summer, it all stays in my room because it's mine.

With that being said, my room is full for the most part and has no space for any kind of...elegant makeup storage. Like a vanity with a lit mirror, for example. In fact, I don't even have an official spot where I can put my makeup on. I could technically turn a room in the attic into my 'makeup room,' but again, I don't like having my belongings outside of my room. So when I decided I wanted to store all of my makeup in one place, it was a bit of a dilemma. Add to that the fact that I did not want to spend more than $50 (and it would have to be pretty damn perfect for me to even spend that much).

It's kind of crazy how expensive furniture is. $80 for a small night table with two deep drawers. Nothing appealing about that to me - not only was the price way out of range, but I wanted a small piece of furniture with multiple shallow drawers as opposed to a few deep ones. Then the cosmetic storage pieces in Bed, Bath & Beyond were too small. Ikea's furniture was way out of budget. And then I started realizing that my room would probably appear very cluttered if I had a night table next to my bed, which honestly wasn't even convenient because my bed is the kind with a giant drawer that pulls out, so a night table would act as a blockage to that.

In the end (yesterday), I decided to return to the dollar store because I was so sure they had a bigger version of my at-that-time current storage - but they didn't have any. I did, however, find something that really appealed to me, and it is now my new form of storage. I finally finished putting it together today and filling it with my makeup, and I'm pleased with it!

The storage incomplete - notice my ferret Lola N. Rat in the bottom basket.

What I found was sets of three stack-able 'baskets' with wheels, $9.99 each. I know my taste in stuff is weird, as I can see many people finding this storage system to be hideous, but what appealed to me about it was that it (a) had sufficient space between 'levels' to allow me full view of my makeup, and (b) had wheels that would facilitate moving it around my room when necessary. I purchased two sets - a blue and a cream - for a total of $20.

For the record, I wanted to make a pretty blue/cream alternation between the baskets to make it look more interesting, but I discovered the cream set was damaged and had to return it today. And...well...I was too eager to put together what I had yesterday, and too lazy to take it apart and beautify it today. ^_^'

Anyway, I ended up only needing five of the six baskets, hence why there are only five in the above picture and the picture of the final product that you will see in a bit. I additionally bought two rolls of drawer liner (this rubbery material) to block off the holes in the baskets and giving my makeup products something to grip onto. Those were $1.20 each, thus bringing up the total for this storage system to...

Roughly $23-$24!

Lola N. Rat is a sloppy eater - just disregard her crumbs off to the side. =P

The above picture is the final product, with all baskets but the last lined and filled as I deemed fit. My ferret has free-roam of my bedroom, so I did take this into account when I purchased this storage system, and thus dedicated the bottom basket to her (it's lined with a towel for her comfort). =D She hasn't slept in it but she does like to lay in it once in a while, as well as roll around and stare at me from it, haha.

For weight to avoid the whole thing tipping over, I used the second basket (from the bottom) for my makeup book, puzzle book, and current reads. The remaining three baskets are what hold my makeup - the first (again, going from bottom to top) has my nail polishes and palettes, the second has my lip products and brushes, and the top has my eye products/smaller palettes and face products.

I am 100% satisfied with how this storage looks, considering it met my budget beautifully. On top of that, I love that I can view all of my makeup at once. As I was putting my makeup into the baskets, I, for the first time, got an accurate idea of what I have and don't have, and became pretty excited for my collection. Being able to easily see the colors of all the products makes me want to use a greater variety of them. I also have a perspective on, well, how much I own. Seeing the colors means having a better sense of what I can save money on by not purchasing.

I feel like while makeup can be stored in drawers and containers, sometimes not being able to visually understand how much is in one's possession leads to unnecessary spending. It can also lead to a variety of unused products that go straight to the trash when they're finally dug up years later. As such, I am fully content with the new visible storage of my makeup. :)

Whether this post inspired you to create your own budget makeup storage (and, of course, I do know there are plenty of other methods!) or to have a thorough look through your current collection, I hope you enjoyed this post and thank you for stopping by. 'Til next time! ('<>')>

~nikki

How do you store your makeup, or any collection of something you may have? How do you monitor your collections?