I am almost OCD with my makeup and cosmetic products in general. I have a large dressing room/ makeup area with 2 walls from carpet to almost ceiling height of built in cabinets with shelves.
The sub items which I really LOVE and which are full- sized go into the proper organizer tote which I pull out as part of my beauty regimen.
I have my regular products ( and full sized sub items I love) organized in see- through tote containers in the cabinets like this ( except lipsticks because I grab them last on the way out the door):
1) Facial care- bottom shelf- easiest to get to.
2) Hair care, shampoos, conditioners, masks, all the things that Allure puts in those boxes- also bottom shelf
3) Essential and favorite Facial makeup- in an easy to grab tote on the second shelf- I'm tall so I can see into it.
4) Essential and favorite Eye makeup palettes and products- same arrangement, kept beside facial makeup, second shelf
5) Makeup brushes- I always keep them in a closed cabinet as aerosolized bacteria or viruses can spread to the brushes if they are not enclosed somehow. I keep mine in 2 Waterford large rose bowls- smaller opening and round- just great for a ton of good makeup brushes. ( Plus, I killed all the rose bushes accidentally a few years ago).. I have about 40 more brushes ( most from Bare Minerals) stored in 12 large Bare Minerals totes full of Bare Minerals pigmented colors of the rainbow.( I need to re-arrange those mineral totes!!!!)
6) My lip products are in a sterling silver tray/ low basket thing which was a wedding gift years ago out on my counter. They are colorful and easy to find what I want as I finish up my makeup.
7) My eye pencils are laid out flat in two glass rectangular plates with edges- not sure what they were servers for in the kitchen since I don't cook but they had to have been part of a chafing dish set or some wedding gift years ago too-- on the bottom shelf of my cabinets- I mostly only use UD 24/7 pencils in bright colors. I tried standing them up but I have accumulated so many that it didn't work well.
8) Sunscreens and body products such as shower gels, soaks, and lotions are lined up according to product type in half on a cabinet shelf beside my perfumes.
9) Nail polishes are in a state of movement right now.. I threw all my Julep polishes in a cabinet underneath everything else. I'm going to have to go through them and throw out the old stuff, and also organize my polishes in some polish caddies. I like the large acrylic ones.
So, that's my regular sized makeup, hair, skin care, nail and lip product arrangement. My
mini samples from subs are in clear shallow acrylic boxes right next to the regular size items, so the products can be seen well. I never used my sample sizes before much because I never took them out of the sub boxes and grouped them according to use and type and made them very accessible.
There are some exceptions. I throw most perfume samples in one of 8 drawers in my dressing table.I have a drawer full of useless perfume samples now. They need to GO. My UD, Too Faced, and other brands of palettes take up the other 4 drawers as I am a shopaholic.They are all arranged by brand and are flat in the drawers. I can easily see what I need. I had them in a clear container but it didn't work well. Also some f the UD BOS don't do so well without being stored flat. I've always stored the entire collection of BOS flat, I just didn't think of doing the other palettes that way until recently.
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In summary, I find that the samples are used more if I put them right by my regular products of the same type but keep them separate ( except for lips and nails at this point). Also, another advantage to separating the samples out by type is that when it's time to worry about a sample of, say, face cream being expired, you know right where to look at all your sample face creams. Ditto for the other items, some which really don't " expire" like nail polish.
If you have enough space, you can see and use the sample products you like and not get overloaded with any of them.
This is the first time I've had close to 50 boxes coming in a month ( not all makeup but Memebox adds a huge amount) so I had to revamp every shelf in my cabinets and also every drawer in my vanity.I threw out a lot of things I hadn't used and wasn't going to use. I have to be very honest with myself about what gets used or it becomes messy, like hoarding, I think.. I still have 2 drawers that I can organize better, throw out some silly things like a boxed " miniature rock garden" from my MIL ( RME) that I never used ( sand in a flat dish on the cocktail table with 2 little pebbles and a miniature rake?? I don' think so, LOL)... There are always ways to make more room for beauty and skin care items since they are important. I may put my towels and things in the hall closet they were designed to go into since it is a linen closet next to my laundry chute from the upstairs hallway, and also move the many sunscreen products I have from subs.and Sephora to hubby's bathroom cabinets since he uses sunscreen too.
Memebox products are kind of taking over, but my skin's never looked or felt better..
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I've got all kinds of new ideas now.
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[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> All my old cosmetic bags are going to the trash too. I bought new ones that are larger and waterproofed from Kate Spade and Deux Lux. That will free up a ton of usable space for blow dryer and hair styling tools
Tomorrow is organize again and toss day, round 3.
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I hope this has helped someone, LOL.. It's helped me figure out what else to do that is organizable. Ship those boxes on home, Memebox!!
