One of my readers (shout out to Julie!) said that she would love to see how I organise and store my make-up collection.  I really enjoy reading this type of post on other sites so I thought, ‘why not put something together on my own site’?

It’s always fun to see how other people store and organise their make-up.  It’s also fun to look at pictures of other people’s make-up and see what they have in their personal collection!

Note: I’ve separated my make-up organisation and storage into articles based around different parts of my make-up collection.  Once I started writing, I realised that keeping it as one post was going to be too long and a bit overwhelming.  This first post is based around how I store my lip and cheek products.  If you want to know more about any of the products in the photos here, let me know.

I keep all of my make-up, hair and beauty products in the mirrored Deco Dressing Table from Next.  There is tonnes of space in this dressing table so I have plenty of room for my current collection and more.  I love getting ready here and find it so relaxing putting on my make-up. 

I store all of my make-up on the top surface of the dressing table and in the top two drawers.  I’m a very organised person, so everything is structured and has its own place.  I have quite a sizeable collection, so keeping it organised helps me see everything that I have and ensures I cycle through my products.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the far left of my dressing table, I have a large ‘PP A4 3 Drawer Unit’ from Muji (available here on the Muji site).  I really love the 3 Drawer Unit box that I have, as it holds so much make-up.  There are three drawers which can be used to store all sorts of items.  The drawers can be taken out fully, which is particularly handy if you want to re-organise your drawers at any point.

PP stands for Polypropylene, which is a thermoplastic polymer resin, one of the most versatile types of plastic.  The box itself is pretty light when it is empty.  It does becomes heavier, of course, when products are added in.

Muji has other PP A4 boxes in different formats, so it’s worth having a look if you like the idea of these boxes.  The PP boxes are designed to be stackable, which is ideal if you want to use multiple boxes.  Muji have a wide range of storage options on their site, so it’s worth taking a look if you want some ideas.

 

I use the first (top) drawer to store all of my lipsticks, liquid lipsticks and lip pencil crayons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use dividers from Lakeland Plastics to separate each row of lipsticks (click here to view the dividers).  The dividers help to keep my lipsticks upright and stop them from moving around.  The dividers are really handy, as you can cut them to fit your space.  They also interlock, so you can slot them together if you want to have a criss-cross style of organisation.

I keep my lipsticks organised according to colour and then ascending in depth of shade.  So I have a row of nudes, blending into peaches, corals, coppers, pale pinks, medium pinks, darker pinks and so on right through to plums, burgundies and reds.  I also keep the names of the lipsticks facing up so I can quickly identify each shade.  This form of organisation helps me quickly and easily locate whichever shade I want for the day.  I did organise my lipsticks according to brand/shade for a short time but I found this made it difficult for me to quickly scan and select my chosen shade.  I switched back to organising them based around colours/depth and this works so much better for me.

At the very front (far left of the photo above), I keep mini lipsticks which I have from Christmas collections.  These include last year’s Bare Minerals Mini Marvellous Moxie Lipstick Collection and the Urban Decay Lipstick Arsenal from a few years ago.  These shades are organised in terms of colour/depth more or less as well.

I keep all of my liquid lipsticks, lip pencil crayons and lip balms in a box behind the lipsticks.  I really like using random boxes (from gift boxes and so on) which fit into spaces for organising my make-up, as they keep everything together.  Recycling old gift boxes (which are in good condition) also saves me some money! This particular box also props up my lipsticks in the final row and stops them from toppling over.  I  have a couple of lipstick palettes (MAC Viva Glam Lip Palette and a Bare Minerals Lipstick Palette) slotted behind the box.  Placing the palettes here keeps them tidy and in place.

 

I use the second drawer to store all of my lip glosses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use gift boxes in this layer to separate out my lip glosses and keep them tidy.  I like to organise my lip glosses according to size and brand, as it makes them easier to find.  

The box at the bottom far left contains longer lip glosses, including my Anastasia Beverly Hills glosses, as well as a couple of other long lip glosses from other brands.  

The box at the bottom right contains other longer lip glosses, such as my Urban Decay glosses, some Victoria’s Secret gloss tubes and a couple of other long lip glosses.  At the side (above the boxes), I keep my smaller lip glosses from brands like MAC, Maybelline and NYX.

 

I use the third layer to store my blushers, highlighters, bronzers and contour products.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use boxes to separate out my highlighters, blushers and bronzers in this drawer (can you see a theme running through my storage and organisation ;o)?).  Using boxes helps me separate my different cheek products and select the ones I want easily.  

I keep my highlighters in a random Ikea box (bottom part of the photo) and organise them according to colour tone.  I arrange them in the order of white-gold, pink, pink, bronze.  

On the other side (top part of photo), my blushers are organised according to brand and colour so that I can find what I want easily.  I keep my blushers in an old gift box to keep them tidy and stop them rattling around.  My MAC, Bare Minerals and Laura Gellar blushers are all on one side (next to the highlighter box).  My Illamasqua, Benefit, Hourglass and Urban Decay blushers are at the far end next to the other blushers.  I also keep my powder bronzer and contour products in this section.

I store my cream stick highlighters, blushers and bronzers at the back of the box (just visible at the far left part of the photo).  I also keep my Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in Gleam as it fits here well.  

I have a couple of items at the front of the box (a Bar Minerals Cream Pink Cheek Highlighter, my MakeUpForEver Sculpting Palette, Real Techniques Retractable Bronzing Brush) as these fit well here too.

 

I keep a few other make-up and beauty related items that I like to have handy on top of my Muji make-up box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I keep my lip liners and large multi-purpose make-up brushes in a mug at the front.  My friends gave me this mug when I finished my PhD and it’s a really nice size for storing these types of items.  I like having my lip liners to hand, as it makes it easy to quickly pick out the right shade and apply to my lips.  The large multi-purpose brushes are a bit bulkier, so I decided to separate them out from the rest of my make-up brushes and keep them in the mug.

I keep my cotton wool in a clear plastic jar.  I picked up this jar from Tesco for £5 in the Home/Cookery section.  I really like this jar, as it was inexpensive and can be cleaned easily.

I keep some hair brushes and my hairspray at the back of the box.  This particular hairspray (Loreal Studio Pro Lock It) is really long and so it’s easier to keep it out on the counter.  I keep my hair brushes together in a neutral coloured box that I picked up from B&M Home Stores.  It was very inexpensive (£2 or £3, I think) and it works well.

I also have a few other nick-nacks at the front just to add a personal touch.

So that’s how I store all of my lip and cheek products! My next post in this series will show you how I store my brushes and my eyeshadow palettes.

How do you store your make-up? Any make-up storage and organisation tips you would like to pass on? Let me know in the comments section below.