Showing posts with label storage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label storage. Show all posts

Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Brush storage for every collection

Once you start building a brush collection, you invariably need somewhere to store it.  Whether you've got a large collection or a small collection, want to store it at home or for travel, there's a brush storage solution for you.


This pretty sugar skull brush roll is around £14, and comes from Etsy, meaning that it's a handmade product, and purchasing it supports a crafter.  The seller, Makeupholic, makes a variety of makeup related products including brush rolls and makeup bags in a variety of cute prints.



 Bargain brand elf sell two brush holders - small at £6 and large at £14. I have the large one and I absolutely love it.  It's perfect for organising my (already large and still growing) brush collection.


 Or, instead of buying something built to store brushes, you could go for something for the kitchen.  This Bista glass from Ikea has a really cute print, is perfect for short handled brushes, and costs a mere 50p.


Or alternatively this Magasin wooden cutlery stand would fit a fair number of long-handled brushes, and still a bargain at £1.50.

If you're feeling crafty yourself, you can make brush holders out of all sorts of things - jam jars, baked bin tins, old candle glasses...

What do you use to store your brushes?

This post originated at www.londonbeautyreview.com. If you're reading it elsewhere, it's been stolen, violating my copyright.

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Makeup storage: thinking outside the box

Here's the box...


...and here's my new makeup storage. It's technically a "parts cabinet" meant for organising mechanics' workshops. It's metal, and coated in red shiny paint.


I've been unhappy with my makeup storage for a while, and had been mulling over the options for something sturdy enough but with enough small compartments to house all my makeup. I was initially thinking about a Bisley filing cabinet, but they're very pricey even second hand.

So remembering that I once used a toolbox for my makeup back in the day (when all my makeup actually fitted into something I could carry with one hand), I decided to try looking around for something similar, scaled up.


So - here's the Clarke Parts Cabinet. There are 25 drawers in all. 10 of them have compartments, making them perfect for tiny things like fragrance vials and Fyrinnae eyeshadow jars.


The drawers are very sturdy, and slide in and out of the unit easily, although they're not on castors. There's a lip at the back of each one that catches on the side of the unit and prevents the drawer from sliding out when fully open. Love this touch - so many times I've pulled out a Muji or Ikea drawer and it's gone flying and tipped eyeshadows all over the carpet.


Also very handy - each drawer has a slot for a label. I've only just begun filling the drawers up and am labelling as I go (and noticing myself creating a slightly disturbing makeup apartheid between high end and drugstore). I might start over and re-do the labels on my typewriter.

The makeup storage/parts cabinet was £41.99. This is one of 3 versions - the 16 drawer one is £26.99, and the 36 drawer is £56.98.

I bought mine from Machine Mart in Edmonton, London. The guys there were incredibly helpful and friendly (putting many beauty counter SA's I've met to shame). It does weigh about 10kg so it gave my arms a bit of a workout coming back from the bus-stop.

Clarke Parts Cabinet 25 drawer, Machinemart.co.uk, £41.99

Friday, 14 October 2011

New Love: ELF Large Brush Holder


I used to keep all my makeup brushes in a couple of little glasses suitable for holding dainty portions of chocolate mousse or, my favourite, strawberry jelly.  At some point, I ended up with so many brushes that trying to put them all into the brushes would result in some falling out.

Rather than doing the sensible thing and scaling down my collection, I bought this ELF large brush holder, which has revolutionised my brush storage options.  All my brushes fit in it, and I have a whole section left empty, which by my calculations means I can buy at least 20 more brushes before I need to start worrying about storage again.  And now I don't have to worry about knocking brushes out of my glasses, across my dressing table, and down the side of the chest of drawers.  Perfect.

ELF's Large Brush Holder costs a thoroughly reasonable £12, and can be found at their website.  How do you store your brushes?  Let us know in the comments!

Sunday, 27 December 2009

New Year, New Makeup Storage

Well, I might be a little bit early with the New Years resolution, but this is something I've been meaning to do for a long while now. I'm slightly embarrassed to be posting the photo on the left; let me introduce you to my dressing table. Or rather, table covered with crap, as it's probably better described.

In all honesty, I have a lot of product. Lots of makeup, lots of skincare, lots of nail polish, and only one tiny wooden drawer unit, which I spray painted blue and silver (I thought it would look much classier, and less primary school, than it turned out). This afternoon I used up a little of my Christmas time off in reorganising my stash.

To the right, you can see what my dressing table looks like now. I've replaced the wooden unit (which was from Ikea, and cost about £7) with four stacked drawer units from Muji - three two-drawer units designed for MiniDiscs (does anyone still own an MD player?!) and one deep single-drawer unit designed for DVDs. The two-drawer units come with dividers inside so you can section off the drawers for similar sized products.

Both types cost £14.95 each - not cheap, but given the value of the product I'd previously been "storing" haphazardly across my dressing table, a worthwhile investment.

I'm keeping all my skincare and regular perfumes in the bottom DVD drawer. My nail polish collection has been pared down a bit and has it's own drawer, as do my eye and lipliners. Face products have a drawer, as do highlighters and blushers, lip products and eyeshadows.

I'm hoping that as well as looking much, much better, this reorganisation will encourage me to use a wider range of makeup, instead of what I can immediately see in my day-to-day makeup bag, or on the dressing table surface.

Plus, it'll stop my husband grumbling about the mess, which is worth the money on its own!
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