Makeup Organization Project

So, if any of you follow me on Instagram, or noticed the picture of my cute little Chevron boxes from Target, I have decided to embark on a house project: organizing my makeup.

This is my chaotic mess. It has caused some friction between Graham and me in the morning, especially when I dig through the bag and rattle everything around in the morning. It was much worse before I got the little boxes for my brushes.

 My makeup bag holds all of my daily essentials, such as mascara, concealer, bronzer, highlighter, etc. I haven't found something better to organize those things yet. As you can see, I like to do my makeup at my desk in the morning. I used to stand up and do my makeup in the bathroom, but I found it's much better doing it at my desk, much to Graham's frustration at the makeup all over it every day.

 My Urban Decay and Too Faced eyeshadow palettes. I just realized I have 2 MAC ones hidden somewhere..

My 3-drawer makeup Tupperware holder that I've had since college (?maybe). It's been working for me, but has not been very efficient. I can never find the things I need quickly, so it drives me crazy. Also, my eyeshadow drawer looked like this:

 Yikes.

So, with all of my makeup tutorial views on YouTube, I noticed that lots of the women had removed the eyeshadows from their separate pots into magnetic palettes. With Graham's permission, I purchased these Z Pro Palettes from Amazon. For reference: one of the pro palettes holds about 28 MAC eyeshadows. If you have multiple brands of eyeshadows, this is definitely a good palette to buy. You can also fit in blush and stuff, so I just may have to get another one.. If you notice below, I have multiple sizes and shapes, so it fit all of them just fine. I watched several YouTube videos on how to "de-pot" eyeshadows, with and without heat, and I got to work. This is my station at the kitchen table.

P.S. I'm not really into the zebra print, it was just the cheapest online.

I tried to remove the eyeshadows and loosen the glue without heat to no avail. So, I busted out my Bath and Body Works candle and set those babies on fire (not really, but there were definitely carcinogenic chemicals in the air).

This was a labor of love, my friends. First, you have to pry the eyeshadow out of its pot, then, you use wire cutters to snap off the plastic ends. Then, you heat up the bottom to loosen the glue. Then, I used part of nail clippers to loosen the pan from the pot. Then, I had to clean the glue off with nail polish remover and/or rubbing alcohol. Lastly, because MAC eyeshadows aren't magnetic, I had to place sticker magnets on the back and label each eyeshadow. 

This was incredibly tedious. Beyond tedious. If you know me well, you'd know I can't stand doing things by hand that require a large amount of detail work (i.e. cake pops, decorating cupcakes, doing nail polish, or any crafts in general). In college, I actually got marked down in a foodservice lab because I didn't decorate the desserts well enough and didn't clean smudges off of a plate (for reals). Cleaning off the glue off every.single.eyeshadow. was the worst part. I kept saying, kill me now. Honestly. Ugh. 

Here's the finished product. Only 3 shadows were damaged in the process, which is amazing, considering the fact that I hated every moment of this and my lack of dexterity.

Eyeshadows pictured:
Row 1 (left to right): Stila Grace, Stila Pewter, Stila Diamond Lil, MAC Pink Venus, MAC Purple Haze, Benefit Fancy Roper
Row 2: Stila Posie, Stila Azur, MAC Prose and Fancy with MAC Humid right below, MAC Passionate, MAC Li'Lily, Benefit Lazy Boy
Row 3: Stila Wisteria, Cargo Budapest below, Stila Poppy, Urban Decay Blackout in between, MAC Femme Noir, MAC Laven-dah, Benefit Working the Room
Row 4 (kinda): MAC Velvet Moss, Benefit Trust Fund Baby, MAC Shadowy Lady, and Sephora Collection white

Eyeshadows pictured (all from MAC):
Row 1: Sketch, Mythology, Expensive Pink, Espresso, Shroom, Fineshine, Electra
Row 2: Trax, Cranberry, Amber Lights, Soft Brown, Dazzlelight, Print, Greystone
Row 3: Seedy Pearl, Antiqued, Woodwinked, Ricepaper, Motif, Club, Wonder Full
Row 4: Shale, Haux, Honeylust, Tempting, Mylar, Bark, Contrast

My new eyeshadow palettes. Woo hoo!

Not pictured: 2 MAC limited edition palettes, as well as 3 MAC eyeshadows that are almost gone, and not worth the work to de-pot them (Jest, Satin Taupe and Embark).

Now, MAC has a "Back to MAC" program, that if you turn in 6 of their empty products, you can get a free lipstick. So, right now I have enough to get 6 free lipsticks. I'm not a huge lipstick wearer, as I much prefer a more natural, glossy lip, but I can manage free lipstick for sure. Anyways, if any of you plan on doing this, just be prepared. It's not for the person who's easily frustrated (i.e. me). Also, if you like eyeshadows other than MAC, just know that Stila makes it very easy to de-pot their shadows, plus they're huge and magnetic, making them really easy to put into a palette like this (and have any of you used their eyeshadow Kitten before? It's the best simple shimmery champagne color!). Another major benefit to these palettes that I can better utilize some of my ignored eyeshadows (*cough cough* green eyeshadows).

On to my next project: organizing the rest of my makeup to get rid of the hideous Tupperware beast (this is Graham's goal as well).