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10 Organization Hacks for Beauty Lovers

ByCordelia

10 Organization Hacks for Beauty Lovers

For today’s Beauty Top Tens I’m sharing 10 organization hacks for beauty lovers, along with what I’m currently using to organize my makeup stash. You may also want to check out the best beauty tools! This post contains a mix of items I’ve purchased and press samples.

10 Organization Hacks for Beauty Lovers

Divided Drawers

1. Divided Drawers – Ikea Alex & Ikea Helmer

I currently have 2 tall Ikea Alex, 1 short Ikea Alex, and 1 Ikea Alex desk, plus a cream Ikea Helmer.  I have a love hate thing with my Alex storage. I love the drawers and that they hold a lot of stuff and that they’re space efficient. I hate that they’re all white and I haven’t ever had the time to paint them black. I’d love to paint them black, put a black holographic or glitter layer on the desk, then seal it so that it looks really cool and sparkly every time I see it. Instead, I’m stuck with white. Plus, I swear the desk gets dirty if you look at it. I’m constantly wiping it down. At least the other Alex units and the Helmer are easy to keep clean. I store most of my eyeshadow palettes in the short Ikea Alex (which has my ICEbox and eDiva sitting on top of it). These are honestly the best storage option hack for saving space and holding a ton of makeup that I’ve come across. They’re way better than the flimsy plastic 10 drawer organizers I used to use.

Acrylic Blush Organizers

2. Blush and Eyeshadow Organizers  – Purple Organizer & Clear Stacking Organizers (long and short)

Small Acrylic Eyeshadow Organizers

These fit inside the Ikea Alex to help make better use of the space inside the drawers. I use the purple slotted ones for blushes and they fit my Urban Decay blushes, Makeup Geek blushes, NARS blushes, Kat Von D’s old blushes, in fact they fit most blushes. I use the clear acrylic organizers for my indie eyeshadows like Darling Girl, Fyrinnae, Silk Naturals and Aromaleigh, so I can more efficiently store them in drawers. So rather than tossing everything in a drawer and being unable to find anything, the plastic stacking container holds indie eyeshadows in a more orderly fashion.

Liquid Lipstick Organizers

3. Liquid Lipstick Organizers – e.l.f. 3 slot large brush holder

This is a great way to organize liquid lipsticks or other really long lipsticks (like Colour Pop) that don’t fit into the acrylic lipstick holders. Yes, those are my Jeffree Star and Kat Von D liquid lipsticks. I also like to use these to hold eyeliners, liquid eyeliners, and lip pencils.

Makeup Brush Organizers

4. Brush Organizers – Brush Holder, Vase or Cup

In addition to buying cute brush holders (like my Sonia Kashuk ones), you can make your own with vases and decorator sand or coffee beans or decorative gems from Michael’s. You can take pretty plastic bottles, cut off the tops (carefully!), and then smooth out the edges gently with an iron (see a DIY for it here). For my gold star ones, I keep the brushes I reach for the most in the left one (Makeup Geek, Wayne Goss, Sugarpill and Urban Decay). You can also add a magnetic strip to one of your brush holders to store your bobby pins on the strip.

Gothic Black Tree Wall Mount Nail Polish Organizer

5. Wall Racks – Tree Wall Rack or Spice Rack

If you don’t have a lot of space, wall racks are great. You can get cool ones like my black tree wall rack to hold nail polish or even try spice racks to hold foundations or other beauty products. I LOVE my black tree and I plan on buying one or two more of them. I think it looks really great on the wall. It was also very easy to hang up.

Spinning Makeup Organizer, perfect for a desk

6. Lipstick Organizers – Spinning Lipstick Tower or Acrylic Lipstick Holder

I have several of the acrylic lipstick organizers which hold 24 lipsticks each and I just recently bought 2 spinning lipstick towers that hold 81 lipsticks each. I LOVE these spinning lipstick towers and they fit nicely on my desk and save a lot of space. They don’t work well with longer lipsticks, but more ‘normal’ sized ones like Urban Decay or Too Faced fit just fine. For slimline lipsticks like the ones offered by Silk Naturals, Geek Chic or Rituel de Fille, you can fit 3 into 1 hole.

Z-Palettes are the ultimate makeup organizers

7. More Eyeshadow & Blush Organization – Z-Palettes or NARS Pro Palettes

You can buy eyeshadow, blush & highlighter refills and put them into z-palettes. Or you can depot products you already own. I honestly feel like z-palettes are the ultimate organizers because you can fill them with everything. I love mine and I’ve been using them for years. I love them for my Makeup Geek and Anastasia Beverly Hills eyeshadow singles.

Wall Mount Hair Dryer Holster

8. Hairdryer Holster – Wall Mount Holster

While I think I bought my wall mount holster on Hautelook, you can find all different styles on Amazon. I love mine and it’s perfect for keeping my blow dryer out of the way until I need it. You can get holsters that have flat iron or curling iron spots too. If you have doors instead of drawers like I have under my sink, you can use command hooks attached to the door to store a curling iron or blow dryer instead.

Swivel Acrylic Organizer for pony tail holders, bobby pins, barettes, cotton balls, q-tips, etc

9. Pony Tail Holders & Cotton Balls – 4 Section Acrylic Organizer

So I actually use this for bobby pins, pony tail holders, cotton balls and q-tips. It’s perfect for holding little things like that without taking up much space in my bathroom. It sits on the far left side of my sink. You could also use this for jewelry.

Big Acrylic Makeup Organizers
ICEbox & eDiva

10. Big Acrylic Organizers – Sherrieblossom ICEbox, eDiva Princess, MelodySusie, and Muji

I’ve got a lot of different ones. The Sherrieblossom Icebox Skinny is what I keep a lot of my Urban Decay, Sugarpill and Makeup Geek eyeshadows in. The eDiva Princess has a lot of things like my OCC RTWs. And yes, my awesome Monster High Vinyl collection is on top of the large ones. Between the ICEbox and the eDiva, I like the drawers better on the ICEbox, but both hold a good amount of pigments and other products.

Muji Makeup Organizer
Muji

Muji Makeup Organizer

The Muji I bought for my Colour Pop collection.

Melody Susie Makeup Organizer
Melody Susie Makeup Organizer
Melody Susie Makeup Organizer
Brow Products
Melody Susie Makeup Organizer
NARS Eyeshadow Duos
Melody Susie Makeup Organizer
NARS singles, Kat Von D, Ardency Inn

The MelodySusie holds my NARS eyeshadow duos, NARS singles, Ardency Inn eyeshadows and Kat Von D Metal Crush eyeshadows. I feel like the MelodySusie is the best budget friendly option and is a good size for a lot of people.

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What are your organization hacks? Share your favorites below!

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Cordelia Frost is the creative force behind Phyrra, a treasure trove for cruelty-free indie and goth makeup enthusiasts. She's the author of the game-changing 'Hooded Eyes Makeup Manual' a must-read for hooded eyes makeup.

Cordelia's world is a kaleidoscope of alternative beauty, gothic fashion, and life-enhancing tips, making every visit to Phyrra a journey into a more colorful and inspired self.

67 Comments

  1. I LOVE clear organizers. You can always see what’s there and what you have so nothing gets forgotten !

  2. I wanted to tell you how amazing this was-a lot I was able to find a LOT Amazon! (The Clear Stacking, and different versions of the Melody Susie, and those will really help!) And also the brush holders are going to be really helpful! although the Alex Drawers aren’t as pricey as I thought, I was able to find a few dupes! The Z/Pro Palettes are great options for the singles I want to try. RE: the NARS Pro Palette: next time I do a little NARS haul, speaking of that-if you’re going to buy more than one or two things the Pro Palette makes sense because the palette itself isn’t expensive, and you’ll save money on the items. I also found the Vuesart organizers-they have the MUA type but also different types and they are stackable. The regular Z palettes are great as are the MUG. Thanks sooo much!

    1. Amazon prices can definitely be higher, which is why I would check directly from ICEbox if you’re interested in that. However, The MelodySusie is much cheaper and the best budget buy in my opinion.

  4. So many different bluple and purquoise (what is the term for purple and turquoise anyway?) nail polishes. Also, I like your bathroom sink: looks big enough to bathe cats or small dogs in.

    1. It is big, but not deep. I love it though! There should be a term for purple and turquoise, but I don’t know what it would be 🙂

  5. I’ve been eyeing the Melody Susie Makeup organizer type for day-to-day to leave on my vanity/sink – I can’t stand going in/out of my skinny drawers when getting ready for work. I need a lipstick tower! I have an acrylic holder for all my primers. Also ordering over the cabinet door storage holder for blow dryer, flat iron etc. Would love to move my stuff to a separate makeup table, but I need the sink!

  6. Did you see the latest issue of Allure? There was an article on a beauty blogger who uses ice cube trays for her single eyeshadows. I keep my makeup brushes in 1.00 pencil holders from Target. My “guest/makeup” room is beach themed and the colors( easter pastel greens) are a perfect match. I also recently found a 1.00 drinking glass from TJ Maxx. Its made in the USA and says ” You’re beautiful”. That glass is holding brushes too. Speaking of TJ Maxx, those stores( Ross, Marshalls, etc) have tons of makeup organizers.

  8. I can’t get Alex drawers on my island… no Ikea and shipping – not sure that’s an option… but I am in love with your idea of painting them black with holo glitter… I want to run out and buy me some now 🙂 I have an ediva and another little set that I got off of Amazon that holds my CP stuff… I love all your organizer goodies. I have been eyeing those Sonia Kashuk brush containers but they are just so costly. I think I’ll try a DIY version instead.

    1. Laura from My Newest Addiction said that Michael’s has an Ikea Alex dupe, maybe that would be available? I paid $12 or $14 for the Sonia Kashuk at my local store but online they’re much higher 🙁

      1. I have seen Laura’s post and was so intrigued last year… but we don’t have a Michael’s here and shipping to Hawaii is kind of crazy. I will keep my fingers crossed to see if it will change. With regard to the Sonia Kashuk, it is $38.00 here at my local Target… not sure why it’s so expensive here… but I will keep checking just in case 🙂

  16. WHY are Nars things so hard to store? I never know what to do with mine. They don’t seem to fit anywhere. And they get dirty so easy!

  17. Your wall rack is fabulous. I wish I had wall space for it. It’s funny that three of us posted about the spinning lipstick rack but you are the one who bought one! One of these days I’ll get that too. Tomorrow I’m going to rearrange my MelodySusie to get more items in it – you inspired me.

  20. I have such awful organization right now! This makes me totally envious because I don’t have the room at the moment for anything nice! Love all of these suggestions though!

  21. I liked the post a lot. It’s interesting to see how others organize their makeup, to see which products provide the most efficient use of space. I’ve been holding off on those large acrylic containers. They’re all pricey but, I know you get what you pay for. It’s helpful to see how much you are able to fit into those pieces; I’m trying to gauge how much I’d be able to fit given the size and make up of my cosmetic collection. Thank you for the post.

    1. For the large acrylic containers, I can fit my entire Sugarpill collection into 1 drawer in the ICEbox. My Urban Decay Collection is in the bottom 2 drawers (with space left over). The drawer above UD has Makeup Geek pigments, Limnit Lipsticks, OCC eyeshadows, my gel eyeliners, & Makeup Geek sparklers. The drawer below Sugarpill is abouot half full with a mix of Saucebox eyeshadows. The top has MBA Cosmetic lipsticks, Cover FX products, and isn’t full, just sparsely filled.

  22. Great organization! I have my setup a little bit the same and different. For personal I have a smaller crate and for my professional stuff, I got a book shelve from IKEA placed in my basement and have it organized using all clear pouches like the Zuca ones or Stilazzi. My kit changes depending on jobs so this is how I am able to locate items easily.

  23. You.put.my.collection.to.SHAME. I’m not even kidding. Okay, so that nail polish rack..incredible! You’ve got me pinning away. Fantastic storage pieces, babe!

    1. That Spinning Lippy thing is so cool. I love it! The tree was really easy to hang and makes it easier to find my favorite polishes.

  28. I have been scouring the internet forever trying to find something pretty to put my polish in so the hubs doesn’t notice the amount of polish as much as the cool new wall decor. Thank you so much for this!! I can continue my obsession with polish and decorate my room at the same time!!!

    1. You’re welcome! I love the tree so much. I was looking for something that would fit in with my Jack Skellington and Monster High and found that tree.

  29. Wow, great organization! I like the e.l.f. brush holders for liquid lipsticks and glosses, as well as brushes. The square shape is space efficient, and they hold a lot. I bought plastic filament for our 3D printer in different colors, and my hubby has been printing me clones. He also printed me some vertical holders for my shelves, so I can more easily stack palettes. Next on my list is some drawer dividers.

  30. Now that is impressive! I wish the nearest Ikea wasn’t 75 miles away. I need to get those drawers, but in the meantime I got the much smaller, flimsier 10 drawer plastic tray in the meantime. I definitely need to start investing in the plexiglas organizers too but I don’t know where to put them!

  32. I *LOVE* that lipstick tower!! Right now I have my lipsticks in clear train cases. I’d probably need about 4-5 of those towers though, haha!

      1. Now I’m thinking “maybe I should use one or two for the lipsticks that are in heavy rotation and keep the rest as they are.” LOL!

          1. I like it!! I’m probably over-estimating what I have, but if I took an actual count I wouldn’t be surprised LOL. I *love* your organization posts! Those blush containers look awesome too!

  33. I’m about to start reorganizing my makeup room and I now want most of these things. I keep swinging back and forth on that lipstick tower, I REALLY want it but don’t know if I want to put out $108 for it when I’ll probably need more than one. Decisions, decisions.

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