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How do you keep track of your stash?
The body of work on Temptalia lives on with all the products I’ve reviewed and own, LOL!
— Christine
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I’ve got stuff in 3 or 4 different places so I often end up searching and searching for a little-used item and getting frustrated and annoyed, especially when I’m packing to travel and I’m looking for a mini or sample size of something. I keep those things in 2 bins but still end up basically looking for a needle in a haystack!
I have a spreadsheet that really helps, and since I have it on Google Drive I’m able to look at it while shopping in-store too.
I used to keep a google docs that tracked stuff, but I lost track of it a bit. I do keep notes that encourage rotation between palettes and lip products. But other than that my collection is very visible. I keep two ikea vittsjo shelves on either side of my vanity and my stash lives there (everything having a place), making me very aware of what and how much I have. On top of that I keep a box that stuff goes into every time I feel a product has done it’s job in my collection and needs to be passed on. I feel like this was a reminder that I am very much a Capricorn. xD
If I start to feel like I’m losing track of my stash, it’s time for a declutter. I can’t stand my collection when it’s not well-organized–it’s the only way I can justify how large it is (at least for eye shadows, the only make-up item that I really haul/collect).
My big ol’ pink train case lol. I have a smaller makeup bag for travel and an even smaller one for my purse. The only thing that I usually carry with me daily is the lipstick and lip gloss that I’m wearing that particular day, and a powder compact. Sometimes I’ll bring a couple of extra items like mascara or blush, etc. if I may need a touchup for evening if I can’t go home first before going out. Otherwise, I don’t usually carry much in my daily makeup bag. Now….for travel….that’s another story. I bring ALOT with me. I want to be sure I’m not missing ANYTHING.
Acrylic trays that display and organize everything by brand, then by priduct, then alphabetical order and the Vanity feature on here!
I ended up making an Excel spreadsheet of Bare Minerals Ready eyeshadows, showing all the palettes where they appear, so I could know what I have and try to avoid buying the same shadow twice. It’s up to 294 shadows now and I’m sure I’m missing some on the list!
I created an Excel spreadsheet to log my makeup. I’ve tried other ways to do so: organization apps, social media (Instagram), and creating an image library on my computer. Heck, I even tried using Temptalia’s “Vanity” feature! All of those sorta failed for me because my stash is too big. A spreadsheet was definitely the way to go.
I’ve got my blog to help but I’m terrible with putting up color cosmetics. I really need to go through what I have. I have so much stuff in boxes!
I look at it!! Once I did buy 2 of the same thing which was $24 wasted and a stupid mistake. I have 2 acrylic organizers ( thanks to Tammy Burtch trccomendation for the largest cheapest one. And I have a small plastic 3 drawer one too. I have a lipstick holder x2 which is almost full and I group lippies by color pink on one end coral on the other niudes in the middle the 2nd one is a free for all.
I have a plastic bin for giveaways to a charity
In east St. Louis a poor neighborhood. It’s for stuff I hate like 2 faced born this way foundation.
Eyeshadows are a weakness and I constantly struggle with not buying palettes. I don’t care for oranges and reddish oranges on me and that’s a lot of the current new palettes and don’t need one with a lot of light colors ( I hear you Marc Jacobs Wild Palette.
For the past month or two I’ve been using an app called BeautyCache, which helps organize things into categories, etc. There is also a feature which tracks monthly/yearlg spending, which has been quite the rude awakening!
My photographic memory and the Temptalia Vanity feature! I may forget to use something in my stash, just overlooking it, but I do know that I own it. As I get older, I’m really getting to believe that I ought to make a spreadsheet anyways. Especially now that my stash seems to have exploded into every part of available space in my bedroom!
I keep a good track of everything. I am really anal about holding on to items longer than 2 – 3 years for sanitary purposes (I’m kind of a germaphobe) so nothing I have is over 3 years old and when I buy something new, to make space for it, I look at what is on it’s last end and can be replaced with the new item.
I like to keep my lipsticks at 100 or less and I’m not a big palette chick but I don’t put a time limit on those so I have them in a drawer and in two holders on shelves for easy reach. I only have about 6 highlighters which are all in a drawer, my single eyeshadows were condensed a few months ago to only the colors I use so they too are in a drawer shared with my blush palettes.
I’ve gotten a good hold onto my stash over the past year and have really learned to love makeup without having to own it all. It’s holiday season so I will be picking up some holiday stuff but only the stuff I really want or feel I’d like to try out.
I use lots of acrylic organizers: one that stacks palettes, a spinner for bullet lipsticks, a round one with sections for liquid lipsticks, one that has sections perfectly sized to hold MAC and UD-sized solo shadows, a round one that is sectioned so I can separate my brushes by type, and a big one with various sections and drawers that hold foundation, blush, mascara, eyeliner, primers, concealers, and a few other things. Also, once I use a brush, it goes into a coffee mug so I can keep track of which brushes are clean and which are dirty.
Lipstick is the most difficult to keep track of because I have so many. They’re organized by brand and then by shade. It’s not a perfect system, but so far it’s working. My memory is the most important part of keeping track of my stash. I may have trouble remember what I did yesterday, but I do remember every lipstick I own and where to find it!!!
A few months ago I compiled a seven-page list of every item of makeup I own – in alphabetical order.
I came across a vintage antique wood cabinet with drawers that start relatively shallow and continue down to a drawer that is about 4 inches tall. My makeup fits beautifully in the drawer with dividers that I made for each drawer. My lipsticks are in mirrored storage and grouped by color family except for my MAC and Charlotte Tilbury’s which I keep grouped together. I don’t currently have a spreadsheet and don’t think I will need one for awhile. I have an excellent memory and have not had difficulties remembering what I own. I have become concerned about any further expansion and so for the most part I declutter when I buy new products, kind of like out with the old and in with the new. I don’t get rid of anything that is HG or LE unless I truly don’t use it or love it but that doesn’t happen very often now.
Snupps
My brushes are stored in a stack of Luxe Acrylic Boxes (Wide) from the Container Store. Then, I made a like 10 stack container from them as well. I have a few CoffeeBreakWithDani x Zhara Beauty store containers for my pencils along with two off her (Zhara) lipstick spinning towers. I have a makeup container storage that I found at Marshalls and two Ikea 6 drawer Ikea look-alikes — Lowe’s has better quality and the Michael’s drawer needs more wood glue.
I love my set up and can easily see everything. Check out the Luxe Acrylic Clear Containers from Container Store.
Memory and organization. If I can’t remember, it’s easy to go where I keep say, MAC lipsticks or neutral eye palettes, and see what I have.
Ah, not too well? Especially for my lipsticks – they are in a bag and I definitely need a bigger one. LOL.
I have 3 big bags of eyeshadow palettes basically centred around greens, blues and neutrals/mixed shades. Generally I find what I want from those.
I only use one mascara, blush and setting powder at a time, so that’s all good and I have 3 foundations on the go.
I have an excel Spreadsheet for my skincare and one drawer where I keep it in. My makeup lives in another sideboard, everything except my daily picks sorted into a drawer per category.
Good answer!
I have a Pinterest account with a page called “in my stash.” I also have one called “to get?” Christine, when I can create a Pin from your site, I do (though a significant portion of my makeup is indie, so I tend to have to pin from the companies’ pages for those).
I also have an Excel workbook in which I describe items once swatched or worn; I mostly use it to remind myself of differences between things I own (…”browned plum, more pink than Vintage”).