Organizing Your Make-Up

Keeping your make-up well organized will save you time, money, and your face will look better. You will have more time to apply your make-up because you won't have to waste time searching for things. When you can see and find everything, you will get better use out of your make-up and you will not waste money on items you already have. There are many kinds of organizers you can buy for your countertop or for the inside of a drawer. Before you buy one, carefully sort through your make-up and look at what you have, the sizes and shapes of the containers, and how many you have of each to best determine which organizer will best fit your personal collection. An inexpensive option is to use a plastic tray meant to hold silverware. Look for one with squared off compartments. The cheapest option is to create sections in your drawer with small boxes. The boxes that your new checks arrive in work well.

I keep my make-up in a heavy-duty plastic fishing tackle box I bought 15 years ago before they sold plastic boxes meant especially for make-up. With a box, you can leave it out or put it away in a cabinet when you are not using it. When you open it up, everything is visible, organized and accessible. It is a great option for those of us who don't have a drawer to use or a large countertop. They are also portable. This is great for when my husband needs the bathroom at the same time. I can quickly and easily move all my make-up to the other bathroom and apply it there. I have considered buying a smaller cute-colored make-up box, since I don't keep as much make-up as I used to. However, I can't find a design that has compartments that are as appropriately sized as my fishing tackle box. I don't want to have to dump almost everything loose on the bottom. Still, one of these might work well for your needs.

You can make your own decorative make-up box out of any appropriate sized box or shoebox. Cover the box and lid with contact paper. Now it's water resistant and can be wiped clean. You can use small boxes for dividers just as with a drawer.

I keep my brushes with the bristles upright in a plastic cup in my medicine cabinet. This helps the brushes keep their shape, keeps them nice and easily accessible.

For those of you with a large collection of lipsticks, or who like to mix lipstick shades, you may want to put your lipsticks in a palette. The advantage of having your lipsticks in a palette is that they are all readily accessible and  you can clearly see the colors and see them in relation to one another which helps you choose what to wear as well as making mixing shades convenient. You don't have to fumble with a multitude of tubes anymore.The disadvantage is that you have to use a lip brush to apply them and you do not then have single lipstick tubes to carry with you for touch-ups. You either have to buy separate lipsticks for your purse, or carry a palette (small plastic pill boxes work well for this and you can carry 7 colors) with you and use a retractable lip brush. I mainly mix browns with other colors to tone down brightness. So I carry a few lipsticks in my purse and a medium brown lip pencil (Wet n' Wild #666) to line my lips and to use over any color I wish to tone down.  A medium brown like this works with just about any color.

I use a palette for my lipsticks that I made from a metal felt pen case with plastic paint trays secured inside with heavy-duty clear packaging tape. I bought these at a craft store. This was definitely not the cheapest way to go, but I wanted a rather large palette. It was still much cheaper and larger than anything you can buy at a department store. A very inexpensive option is to use the plastic pill boxes from the drugstore or pharmacy. Try to get a clear (best) or white one so you can see your colors clearly. Sometimes you can find small, nice decorative pill boxes to use, but of course these will cost more. You can use the very tiny pill boxes and just cut the tip off your lipsticks, and then you can still toss the lipsticks in your purse, or you can pack the tiny portable palette box and a retractable lip brush. I like the larger pill boxes and compartments, because I like to put the entire lipstick in the palette and I scoop out all the lipstick out of the bottom of the tube with a round toothpick.

I just made a compact lipstick palette for my purse from a $1.50 eyeshadow compact. I didn't like the eyeshadows because they were supposed to be matte and they were shiny. So I pried out the metal eyeshadow tins and cleaned the compact with rubbing alcohol. It has many small but deep compartments, so it works well for lipsticks. I can now carry a sampling of my entire lipstick collection for touch ups (using a lip brush), in a very compact and sleek case with it's own mirror.

There are several ways you can fill your palette. You can just cut off the lipstick and place it in the compartment as is. You can smash it into the compartment with a Popsicle stick (craft stores sell large bags of these very cheap) or a cosmetic spatula (sold at beauty supply stores - don't get ripped off on these). Or you can melt the lipstick with a lighter. I have not tried the melting method. I am afraid I'll miss and melt the plastic lipstick tube as well. An Origins sales associate said  that the lipstick will liquefy and fill the compartment and that when it cools it will firm up again.