Having largely lived in small New York City spaces, organizing my (somewhat vast) collection of makeup has always taken some skill. I’ve learned the many benefits of keeping your makeup organized – it’ll help you save time and effort and it can help you know what is in your inventory so you’re not buying extras you don’t need and know when you need to clean things out.
Makeup Organization Tips
Whether you have lots of space to dedicate to your collection or you’re tight on real estate, I’m sharing my practical and creative ways you can keep everything organized so you make the most out of your cosmetics collection. These tips should make your makeup storage more organized and more aesthetically pleasing if you love makeup like me!
Read on for all my favorite tips and my favorite makeup organizing products, too!
Do a Clean Out Before Organizing
We can all use less makeup than we actually own but also makeup clean outs are important because products can expire. That mascara you’ve had for a couple years? It’s time to toss it. Be aware of expiration dates for commonly used mascara and anything you don’t use regularly, it’s probably past its prime and you can say farewell to it.
Categories like eyeshadow palettes and nail polish can likely be cut way back on.
Once you’ve cleaned out and tided up your makeup collection you’ll have a better sense of your inventory and know how to organize and arrange everything. It’ll also help inform the types of organization systems you’ll need for all your beauty products.
Use Acrylic Storage Containers By Category
If you’re doing tabletop vanity storage for makeup, I love using acrylic bins with pull out drawers for storing your makeup by category. I usually do one for coverage products, one for blushes, one for bronzers and highlighters and one for eye shadows. These bins will make your vanity organization a lot more appealing to the eye.
If you’re like me and doing a makeup drawer so that your collection stays tucked away, I love stacking acrylic trays that come in sets of varying sizes that look pretty but also are super functional. I also have some of these acrylic trays to keep my drawer really organized.
Since all makeup products are different sizes, I prefer to have a variety of sizes in my drawer but make sure they’re from the same brand so you can stack them if you’d like!
Consider products specifically designed for certain categories, too like nail polish organizers and lipstick organizers.
Use Dividers and Labels
If you really want to nerd out on organization, you can consider using a label maker and adding labels or dividers to your collection. The labels will open your products to more easily access them on a daily basis.
I love acrylic dividers for eyeshadow and contour palettes in particular.
Keep Like Items Together
Remember to keep like items together so that getting ready is more efficient. You’ll get in the habit of knowing exactly where the items are that you’re looking for.
Reuse old candle jars for makeup brushes
I love reusing pretty Diptyque candles for my makeup brushes. I keep some on top of my dresser and lesser used ones tucked away in my drawer. When I finish a pretty candle, I throw it in the freezer for a day or so and then use a knife to pop out the remaining wax. Then I wash it by hand and voila – there’s my new makeup brush jar.
Consider prioritizing Counter Space
I personally like my counters to look more tidy and follow the “less is more” school of thought so I like keeping my collection tucked away. I’ll keep a few of my most-used lip colors out on my dresser in neat-looking lipstick organizer but that’s about it.
Add Jars for Makeup-Adjacent items
I always have small acrylic jars of q-tips and pencil sharpeners and extra beauty blenders in my makeup drawer as I use these items often when I am getting ready and I don’t want to be going back and forth to the bathroom or another closet or cabinet for these items. By making room for them in your vanity setup or your makeup drawer, you’ll save time during your getting ready routine.
You could also use acrylic jars for storing taller lip glosses, too and I use taller jars to hold eyeliners as well.
. . .
Do you have any favorite makeup organization tips?
And by the way, if you don’t already have a Glamcor Riki Mirror, I can’t recommend it enough for getting ready! Makes makeup application so much easier (and is great if you ever film videos of makeup tutorials!)
Shop the Post
comments +