Thursday, March 1, 2012

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...




12 comments:

  1. Wow! I am impressed and in awe of your initiative and organizational skills, Mama! And a wee bit jealous of your stash, but that's not a bad thing ;) I have one question for you, though: what do you mean by "a poor woman's 'Alex'?" What's an Alex? maybe I lead too sheltered a life....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol Alex = the name of a storage unit made by Ikea that many beauty junkies use to store their makeup stashes (the drawer proportions make it ideal for organizing beauty junk-or so I've read. I'm too broke & too far away from an Ikea to get an Alex lol)

      Delete
  2. LOL! I have a storage cart, like the ones you used to see (or maybe still do) in beauty salons. The drawers pull out and the cart rolls around to where you need it. Kinda takes up some bathroom space, but what the hell. I actually got this thing in a Home Depot. My hubby has one for his tools, and I have one for my "tools." Ikea would be too expensive for me, but I love their stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol i love the idea of a makeup stash on wheels...places likr home depot are awesome for storage solutions. Another thing i hoard (besides cosmetics) is jewelry-making supplies-i must have millions of beads lol-and i store some of them in one of those home depot dealies with a hundred tiny drawers (its designed to organize & store nails & bolts & whatnot)...

      Delete
  3. I knew there was a reason I was feeling the urge to go to Dollar Tree! I sure hope my location has these in stock - they're exactly what I need!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope so. I was so happy when i came across them. I would have bought them even if they werent all kinds of cute colors lol

      Delete
  4. I ALMOST stopped at Dollar Tree yesterday.... looks like I need to go for sure now. My collection has been growing and it is driving me nuts, can't find anything I need without digging around in a drawer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had everything shoved in about 7 zillion plastic shoebox thingies. I'd have to dump everything out to get what i wanted...

      Delete
  5. Good idea. I've been thinking about how I'm going to organize. I like the smaller containers in the bigger drawers. I may just have to go to Dollar Tree now. Oh, and it's by Sally so..... WIN. :)
    Maybe they'll have some Hunger Games left (yeah right)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol my lame Sally's probably wont even get the HG collection in-they never get the good stuff in. they charge too much for their China Glaze anyway. I ordered the ones i wanted online-at 2.50 per bottle vs Sally's 5.99, i'm willing to wait on the mail lol

      Delete
  6. I store my makeup and polish in a ster-lite drawer too. My polish drawer is full so I may have to double layer because I want to keep it all in one location for now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's what i like about these modular drawer thingies. When (notice how i dont say "if") my stash outgrows it, i can just get another drawer to add to the stack.

      Delete

Drop me a line any time! I love hearing from my peeps....but please refrain from spamming my posts with links to your blog. I am ALWAYS happy to add your blog to my blogroll if you just send the link and a request to be added to glamonthecheap@yahoo.com. Thanks! :)