NEAT IDEAS FOR STORING AND ORGANIZING YOUR MAKE-UP

If you're anything like me, you have a ton of make-up, hair products, and facial care products that you love, but really don't have the space for. Most bathrooms only have a couple of drawers and cabinets for storage. Even when you have the storage space, you still end up with a mountain of product on your counter because you use so many things every day. It's time to think outside of the drawer and come up with inventive ways to store and display your make-up where you can easily get to it and use it without making a mess of your bathroom. Use these inspiring ideas to come up with the best system for yourself.

Is organizing your makeup driving you bonkers?

1) Evaluate your habits. I have found that simply keeping a cup on the counter gives me easy access to several mascaras and eyeliners. I put coffee beans in the bottom of the cup to keep everything from piling on one side of the glass, but also to make things more decorative. This took care of my tendency to leave these little things out. I'm always thinking things like, "I really don't want to have to dig through my make-up bag for this one that I really like because it gets lost in the bottom." Thoughts like that (or pure laziness) have kept my eyeliners and mascaras living on my countertop for quite some time. Now they at least have a decorative place to stay!

2) I admit that I have way too many eye shadows. However, I like them all and I choose which ones I'm going to wear based on my mood that day. Digging for a specific one is time consuming, so I glued a small magnet on the back of each one. I installed a metal strip down the inside of my linen closet door, which happens to open up right beside my bathroom counter. The eye shadows stay in place, they're easy to pick through, and I don't have a huge container sitting on the counter taking up space. I love it!

3) I also have several different concealers, primers, foundations, powders and finishing products. I don't use them all at once, but I do usually wear more than one of them at a time. My husband has a tackle box, so I made myself a "spackle box". This is just for my skin perfecting products. Since my bathroom already has a nautical theme, I can keep my spackle box out in the open and it just looks like decoration.

4) Blushes, bronzers, and blenders, oh my! I like to mix it up a bit with blushes and bronzers. Again, which ones I wear depend on my mood. These I keep in a shallow tray. I went through a little trouble to install four boards underneath my cabinet. I put them into two "L" shapes, one forwards and one backwards, so that they create a rail for my tray to slide into and out of. You can use any tray, but I chose one that is wooden and meant for silverware. I can divide my different blushes and bronzers in the larger slots, then keep brushes organized in the remaining areas. There was still room for lipsticks in this "drawer". I love being able to slide it almost out if I want to keep the counter clear, or take it all the way out and use it in another location.

Use your imagination and you can come up lots of handy ways to store and organize your make-up.