impromptu makeup storage overhaul!!

So I was moseyin by my Dollar Tree on my way to Sally's to replenish my nail polish remover supply when a wall-display of cute little plastic bins caught my eye through the window. They were adorable shades of purple, teal, lime green & pink & looked to be the perfect size for makeup storage, so after I was done purchasing my (literal) gallons of remover (about once a month I purchase 1 gallon of pure acetone & one gallon of the pink acetone remover), I high-tailed it into the ol DT. 

Upon closer inspection of the bins, I discovered that the cuteness was 4-fold--that is, they weren't just single cute bins--they were 4 packs of cute bins--that's 25 wee lil pennies per bin. I bought a fuck-ton of them (yes this is an actual unit of measurement--I swear), and then I headed over to Walmart and found a bunch of those modular Ster-lite single-drawer units and THIS was born:

(just call it the poor woman's "Alex")

By "this" I'm referring to the drawers full of adorable bitty bins full of makeup (not the 6 year old standing next to said drawers)...I got 3 of the largest drawers and 2 of the next size smaller and stacked them all together. Pretty dang nifty...

Here's a closer look at some of the bins individually. I stuck one of my bangles in one for size reference--these were MADE for makeup organizing! 

And of course, I gotta show you what I stuck in all those bins and all those drawers!!

The right smaller drawer got the honor of holding all my palettes--my 120s, 88s, Sephora, ELF, NYX...they're all in there!

Left smaller drawer has become my glitter & eyelash drawer. Loose glitter, glitter gels, glitter liners, glitter adhesives, fake lashes and what not can all be found here...(oh, and that's my 17th month old sitting over there just barely in frame. Of course, 2 seconds after this shot was taken, he made a bee-line for all that shiny stuff...but I gots the mama reflexes and he was halted before disaster insued).

First big drawer has all my lippies (wand glosses, tube glosses, balms, stains, sticks, pencils) and all my eyeliners (pencils, liquids and creams)...Don't all those bins look so cute nestled in there together with their happy little pastel color-scheme?

Second big drawer has all my eyeshadows--loose, pressed, cream. I put all my Wet N Wild trios and 8 pans together in their own special bins cuz I LURVEZ them and give them preferential treatment.  Everything else is organized by type &  number of shadows--all the quads live together, and the singles and then the loose shadows get 2 bins of their own and the creams, too. I also have a bin in the middle of it all full of shadow primers and bases. That's where my NYX JEPS live as well & the $1 ELF cream shadow duos (I consider them bases because they can't really be worn alone without creasing to hell).

The bottom drawer has been designated as the "face junk" drawer. Liquid foundations & primers get their own bin, as do pressed & loose face powders. Cream & "bouncy" blushes co-habitate whilst pressed & "stick" blushes get bins of their own. Bronzers have their own bin, as do my beloved & specially imported from England (by my very obliging, globe-trotting sailor hubby) Maybelline Dream Mousse shimmers (WHY oh why don't they sell these in the US). There's also a bin of concealors & another bin of ELF shimmer stuff in there somewhere...

and, just because I said the word "bin" far too many times, here's a pic of pretty glittery mini Dollar Tree notebooks to look at. I HAD to have them...look at the sparklies!! I SO gotta do a stripey mani in honor of their awesomeness. I'm pretty sure I got glitter polishes in all those colors...

So who knew that's how my day would be spent. I just love when the organizational Gods smile upon me like that...