I’m fortunate enough to have a makeup room, which is a larger open space with a lot of walls, two doorways (to get to the guest room, you pass through my makeup room), and a walk-in closet. I have three larger dressers with 16 drawers each, and these hold most of my makeup. I have a vanity that I sit down to do my makeup, which contains two drawers. I have larger open shelves that contain bins of products to review (but aren’t immediately being reviewed – a lot of skin care, foundation, etc. goes here). I do have makeup that I’m “more likely” to review soon in the mail room/gym space, which is closer to the front door. The photography space also has some makeup in it (I’ve largely moved it out of this area, though).
— Christine
I have a small two drawer vanity that I keep all of my single potted eyeshadows (Colourpop, L’Oreal Infallible pigments, etc.) in the drawer to my left and all of my primers, blushes, bronzers and eye pencils in on the drawer to my right. The middle part of the vanity opens and has a large mirror and lighting, but there is also some sectioned off storage, where I keep my BB/CC creams, tinted moisturizers, priming/finishing sprays and foundations, as well as a couple of mini palettes that I reach for daily. On the left on top of my vanity I have a couple of containers: one is for my highlights and the other for my make up sponges. On the right top is where I keep all my palettes, in an upright palette holder, and all of my make up brushes and lip products that I’m into at the moment.
I do have a small organizational storage bin with three drawers on top of my dresser that I keep extra make up wipes, skincare and a few magnetic palettes in.
My collection used to be much larger and I had a few bins full of makeup I wasn’t using, and it covered the top of my dresser in disarray, but when I got my vanity last year, my goal was to make the majority fit in that space.
I love this question, and I’m hoping there are other people who store their makeup in interesting places like me! At the beginning of my makeup hoarding quest, I kept everything in a medium-sized zipper bag. When I outgrew that, I got a Sonia Kashuk weekender bag (which I still use and HIGHLY recommend). I also have another LimeLight by Alcone makeup bag that rolls up into a square that I keep my ColourPop Super Shock Shadows, loose pigments, liquid and cream eyeshadows and cheek products.
The funny part is that I NEVER get ready in my bathroom. I always get ready on my couch with a cup of coffee and watch TV. It’s my little ritual. Hence why I need the portable makeup bags. My side table has also become a hoarding area where all my palettes and face products I’m loving at the moment are located. I just set up shop on a TV tray with my mirror and beat the face!
I get ready on the couch with my coffee too 🙂 I have a big tote bag with dividers in it that I keep most of my makeup in. In each section, makeup that isn’t in a palette or magnetic palette is in clear travel toiletries bags.
I NEVER get ready anywhere else than my bathroom. 😆 I hate when powder falls on things and I’m usually using my hands for application… I need surfaces I can clean easy and a damp cloth nearby. Bringing the products from my bedroom to my bathroom (I never store make-up in the bathroom) is the morning little cardio, so I understand the need of portable make-up bags. 😀
I’m the opposite; I’d rather bring extra towels & things into my bedroom to clean up with, instead of my makeup into the bathroom. I literally have no surface to set my products on without fearing they’ll fall…
I do admit I have the advantages of a counter in my bathroom. 😀 In the end, the way our houses are structured also affect the way we store or do or make-up.
When I lived back in Europe where most apartments had just a sink in the bathroom with a tiny space (mostly filled by the hand soap) and a tiny cabinet or shelf above, I used to go back and forth with 2-3 products in the bathroom. Where I live now the bathroom counter space is generous… I sometimes have all the make-up there, plus the laptop playing something in the background. 😆 When I go visit my family, I remember the ‘struggle’.
I just moved to a new construction apartment and there was a recessed space between two load bearing columns, so I had a built-in wall closet made to store my shoes, handbags, and it has two stacks of drawers, I use one side for all my makeup and beauty items. One drawer per category.
I keep everything in my bathroom, except my lipsticks (displayed on a shelf in $5 Amazon lipstick organizers).
I have two MUJI clear acrylic five drawer cases with my blushes/bronzer/highlight/z-palettes (depotted eyeshadows, and one with de-potted NARS blushes)/special event items (e.g. eyelashes, bold eyeliners), and one MUJI Polypropylene box with a hinged lid for daily essentials (concealer, eyeliners, wipes).
I keep brushes and a few other grooming items (color corrector, tea tree oil, primer, color corrector, eyelash curler) in glass cups in my medicine cabinet.
I organize samples in a small receipt file (the labels are like “MU Removal,” “Cleanse,” “Moisturize,” etc.), and keep perfume samples in one small decorative box.
I keep my samples in those mini ziploc bags samples are sometimes delivered, but I still `label` them with make-up removal, make-up, skincare, body care, etc. And I store them in the order I receive them. It’s easier to filter out when I’m traveling. But I mostly keep no more than the samples I would need for a week vacation, and mostly products I know/think that work well; otherwise, I’m using the sample immediately… there’s no reason to keep tons of samples for me. If I get an 8th cleanser sample (for example), I use immediately the oldest one in the bag.
Like you, I’m lucky I have a room to store my makeup (office slash beauty room). I keep a lot of my products in acrylic storage containers on my desk, and I display some of my more beautiful palettes on shelving. Other palettes are stored in drawers.
I get ready each morning in the bathroom, and I use the spare medicine cabinet to store my foundations and concealers, and essential powders (setting powders, bronzer, blush, and flavor of the month highlighters). That way I’m not constantly walking back and forth between the office and the bathroom.
I hope to renovate the office and in turn install shelves with LED lighting to properly store and display my makeup and handbags, you know, turn it into my little glamquarters. But I’m in no rush to do that and my current level of storage is working great for the number of products I own currently.
My walk-in closet had two rooms so I converted the back portion (long and narrow) to a combo makeup room with a stacked cube shoe/boot/purse storage area along the very high back wall and the makeup station opposite. I have a long Ikea makeup table with one drawer where my regular day makeup is stored and an Ikea Alex for the remainder. I bought 2 Alex drawers at my initial set-up, but decided one would be sufficient and have rigorously limited myself to it with many of the drawers less than half full. I function much better with a carefully curated collection. The one Alex is drawer #1 – face/base products, drawer #2, contour, highlight, blush, drawer #3 eyeshadow palettes, drawer #4 lipsticks, drawer #5 skincare., drawer #6 – q-tips, makeup pads, tools
With the exception of my nail polishes, everything is in my bedroom. My storage, if you will, is an embarrassing hodgepodge! There’s a larger 3-drawer Sterlite container that’s full, my one-time sock drawer has been designed as my eyeshadow palette drawer, on the top of this same dresser there are a few acrylic storage pieces that house roughly a third of my lipsticks and glosses, as do some large cups, this is my makeshift “vanity”, too. It’s ridiculously covered in “towers” of favorite cheek products, eyeshadow singles and lipsticks standing up, plus my lighted makeup mirror. A second drawer in my tall chest is my backups, samples, and a ton of products that I hardly ever use anymore, sadly.
I have a vanity in my bedroom. It has a flip top and two drawers. The flip top is the biggest amount of space, and I keep a lot of my more random things in it, like dry shampoo, deodorant, sunblock, sprays, etc. Most of my actual makeup doesn’t live in there. In the drawer on the left hand side I keep my palettes. The drawer on the right hand side contains jewelry.
On the top of the vanity to the left of the flip top I have a small acrylic set of drawers that contains my actual makeup. Next to it is a cup for my brushes.
Overall, I am really happy with my setup. It is adequate for my collection but wouldn’t allow for it to grow too much bigger than it is, which is a good thing.
I use IKEA Alex drawers and Muji acrylic drawers!
I have a little 2-drawer “chest” that I keep on top of my bedroom dresser. It’s about the size of a MUJI container but the drawers are obviously deeper, which I prefer because I can stacks things so there’s less wasted space than in a MUJI (I have two of these but just feel they are “tight”.) I got it at Homegoods but it’s by Tahari and I LOVE it. All of my eye palettes, stray singles, extra brushes, blushes, highlighters and lip products fit in it. My foundations I stand on top.
In my bathroom I have a large canister with all my favorite brushes, eyeliners, concealers, primer and mascara of the moment to sit in. Then I have a little ring bowl with the 4 or 5 neutral Eye singles I use the most. I have to do my eye makeup in the bathroom. I wish I didn’t but I just need to be near some Q Tips and running water. My concealer and some eye brushes I wash immediately after using. Then I do cheeks and lips in my bedroom.
In my dream house I would have a makeup room with a loooooong vanity and a sink at one end.
My bedroom has an alcove and my vanity + jewelry armoire + makeup organizer are in it. I have a 6 cube organizer from target with 8 drawers in it (each cube holds 2 drawers). On top are my perfumes in a wood box and brushes in acrylic cups, and all my makeup and nail polish are in the drawers, using different acrylic organizers to maximize vertical space.
I also have a Real Techniques stick & store cup stuck on the mirror next to my sink to hold brushes and stick/tube makeup so it doesn’t roll off the counter.
Skincare is in a bin + a small 3 drawer organizer in the linen closet in my bathroom.
I would love Christine to do maybe an article with storage / organizer items recommended by users, because everyone has so many new ideas for me. I was skimming the other comments and quickly searched the Real Techniques stick & store pocket and I’m like… I need this in my life! That… and the drying rack… and the sponge pocket. 😆
My small make-up collection fits in a drawer of my chest of drawer in my bedroom, in two flat MUJI plastic trail.
I store eye products flat, in one of the trays. I have 5 eye liners (green, black, brown, purple, nude), one liquid liner, a mascara, a brow pencil and a brow gel.
I store the rest of my products in the other tray. The primers (one eye and one face primer) sit flat, but I like my foundation and concealer to sit up. In the tray I also put my setting powder and my current 6 lipsticks are ordered by intensity of color.
Next to the tray I have my double sided MAC custom palette (one side with 6 blushes/bronzer/sculpting , one side with 15 eyeshadows).
The `back-ups` (products I will open once I finish the ones I currently using) sit in a box in the breakfast cabinet in my dinning area, since it’s the darkest and dry area around the house.
It’s not good looking, instagram-able, but it’s the way I work. I just love how temptalia helps me curate my small collection by providing dupes. I personally don’t feel deprived with a small collection, I wear make-up everyday but I am able to try different looks almost every time; I would feel overwhelmed personally by a bigger make-up collection.
Same! I get overwhelmed, too, so I really appreciate this site and the recommendations I get through here.
My collection lives in the top 2/3 of a tall apothecary style linen cabinet in my bathroom along with my skincare and haircare. It works great because the makeup section of the cabinet has one drawer and a long frosted glass door so I can close it all up and not see a bunch of clutter in my bathroom. I have one of those Real Techniques suction brush holder cups on the inside of that glass door for my everyday brushes so when I open the door in the morning it’s right there in front of me and I can work my way across the shelves through skincare, to my makeup and then to haircare, then shut the cabinet door and head out.
I have room for one of those fabric bins on the top shelf which I use to store my travel kit and travel sized items.
I still have lots of room so I shouldn’t outgrow that system for a long time, I came close at one point when my skincare got out of control but then I simplified my routine and the world was right again!
My daily makeup, including brushes, is in my bathroom medicine cabinet in acrylic organizers from the Container Store. I don’t get ready in the bathroom, however, and carry it all to the dining table in the living room where I have daylight. My Simple Human mirror is stored on the floor under the table. The makeup I am not using is stored in small acrylic drawers from The Container Store office section, except for palettes, which zip keep in a plastic box large enough to hold them. These are on a shelf in a bedroom closet. I have lots of closets but not much floor space. I am hoping to move to a place with space for a vanity.
I store my makeup in my ensuite bathroom cupboards. I use a few makeup bags – one for larger palettes, one for quads, a bag for my staples, one for lipsticks and another for spares.
Unfortunately, I don’t have space for a vanity in my bedroom. So I keep everything in my closet. I have a large makeup train case, 3 small train cases, 2 small drawer cases, and a three drawer cart from Room Essentials. In the large train case there are three tiers, a base and extra compartment. The base has all my pressed and loose setting powders. And also my RCMA foundation palette and sharpener. The loose setting powders aren’t in their original packaging. I transferred them to smaller sifting jars and just refill when needed. The next tier has my blushes, bronzer, highlighter and contour powders. The next one has my everyday eye shadows that have been depotted and separated into palettes. The last tier has all my cream eye shadows and gel eyeliners. That extra compartment has the eye shadow palettes that I use every so often. All the small train cases are separated by product. One has all my false lashes. Another one all my MAC pigments & various loose glitters and the other has a mixture of things. In my drawers, the top one has all my foundations, primers, moisturizers, deodorant, q-tips, cotton pads, lipsticks, and the original containers to my setting powders. The second drawer has my eye shadows palettes that are too big fro my train case. I also have my brand new sponges, powder puffs, extra q-tips, brush guards, extra empty eye shadow palettes, and makeup eraser towel. The last drawer is my back up drawer/brand new unopened products. I also keep my my concealer and bronzers for when I’m tan. On top of my 3-drawer unit I have my concealers, lip glosses, mascara, eye primer, eye shadow bases, pencil eye liners, lip liners, and glitter liners. These are all separated into acrylic makeup organizers. I got them from Amazon from the Company ByAlegory. And the small drawers cases have my brushes. As for my hair products, those are in the bathroom 🙂 I’m a little OCD when it comes to how my things are organized. All my concealers, mascaras, lip glosses, moisturizers, foundations, and primers have to be standing up. Even the lip pencils and eye liners are in their own standing organizer. And my brushes are organized by type and put in the drawers. The drawers are even labelled. I keep the dirty ones in a separate container. I wish we could post pictures so all can see each others setups.
Late in the day to be answering this question but since some people don’t check in every day it might be interesting to someone!
I store most of my makeup in an antique armoire. It is approximately 7 feet high and about 5 feet wide. On the left is an area that was intended for hanging clothing but into which I have built shelves. On the right at the top is a two door opening that was originally used to hang shirts and other clothing that was not long and didn’t need to be housed in the taller area. Under the two door are four drawers and across the bottom, all the way across are two drawers. In addition to that storage piece I have an antique music cabinet that has 10 drawers that use to house music sheets. Finally, I have a vanity that has one drawer that runs the width of the piece. In the armoire I store the bulk of my makeup with palettes housed in the four drawers. My single shadows are housed in the music cabinet and currently are stored by brand with ColourPop, MAC, MUG each having a drawer. There is an additional drawer for miscellaneous shadows. In the two door area of the armoire I store my foundations, primers, blushes, bronzers and finishing powders, of which I have quite a few. I am a finishing powder junkie. I have a drawer that is dedicated to my mists. Again, mist junkie here, LOL!! In the larger wardrobe part of the armoire in some of the drawer units are my lipsticks and I currently have them organized by colour family. In the two drawers at the bottom of the armoire I store my makeup wipes, puffs, air puffs and Shiseido cotton pads. A small supply of which is also in my vanity drawer for day to day use. My HE lipsticks are in mirrored trays on top of my vanity along with some of my perfumes and an acrylic organizer for my glosses and lip toppers which I don’t have many of and still have room for more in this organizer. Across the back of my vanity are my glass jars that I store my brushes in and in the vanity drawer are my everyday makeup items. I don’t change out my eye brow products often so it is easier to keep what I am currently using handy. Also, in a wooden basket is my skin care which I pretty much do at my vanity except for the cleansing part. I don’t store any makeup in my bathroom and in keeping with everyone elses response, I put my makeup on in my bedroom, usually sitting on my bed and not at my vanity except when I get to mascara or liner if I wear any that day.
Everything I currently use is in the bathroom. I have custom cabinets and they are filled with byAlegory organizers. I have to stand my palettes upright as I have narrow gliding pull-out drawers (like you’d see in kitchens for spices, except these are the entire height of my vanity) which are awesome to see everything at once. Plus my counter is pure white and long, which makes for a great staging area.
I have my Simple Human lighted mirror attached to the wall on a swing arm, so I need to be in there, under the bright lights.
The downside: the steam from the shower, the humidity, is a curse for palettes. I’ve found soft (especially highlighters) fall out of their pans. I’ve lost a Jouer pink quartz, my Becca Chrissy Tiegen palette highlighter and my TARTE Clay Play II highlighter. I’ve managed to gently mash them back in for a quick-fix, but they are delicate now.
I keep everything in my vanity that belonged to my great-grandmother. It is almost 100 years old!
Love! I wish I had an heirloom like that!
This topic caused me to rearrange my storage! I have it in 3 main places: 1. In the walk-in closet off my bathroom 2. In my bathroom, on the steps to my bathtub and on my man style vanity (very small with one sink and not much counter area, think powder room), and drawers 3. In the cabinet next to my bed (part of the bed itself which has a huge headboard with mirrors and 2 cabinets with drawers).
All new stuff and eye palettes that I haven’t used all colors that I will use and a few items I pulled out of the Not In Current Rotation area ( #3) are in area #2. Area #1 has a portable plastice shelving unit with 4 shelves where I keep lippies, highlighters, liquid eyeshadows, single eyeshadows that are not in Z palettes & more eye palettes! Eyeshadow is far and away my favorite cosmetic! I can reach around the door in the walk in closet and grab things. My blush is here as well as some favaorite palettes (all of my Pat McGrath is here!) as well as palettes that have good browbone colors for me to go with those all metal palettes that are among my faves.
As far as organization and what I jumped into today, I did it by palette shape as the main methodology and keeping brands together as much as possible.
Yes, good question. I’m so wanting to move into a house, and yes a part of me wants to move so that I can take into account my makeup storage needs (as I wasn’t into makeup at all until I moved into my apartment 😉 ).
I started by purchasing a five-drawer, narrow corner bathroom dresser and added an acrylic open makeup organizer on top of it. Once those were full, I purchased three Muji acrylic drawers (makes a medium-sized drawer altogether) to place atop of my bedroom trunks (the latter are not filled with makeup LOL!). Then when I figured I’d be doing makeup for others and that I needed more space, I added on two medium sized and one personal-sized storage boxes, and a three-tier trolly-type professional makeup storage carrier.
I do my makeup on a small counter in the bathroom or at my livingroom table and would soooo like a sit-down vanity with adjustable lighting dedicated for applying my makeup or others (as in a portable one as well).