Makeup Storage - Are you down with OBB?

Hi.  I'm Kristen, and I'm a neat freak.

Maybe it's my light smattering of O.C.D., or just the result of being my mother's daughter, but I am an organization junkie.  Growing up, our house was always pristine but never in a "no one lives here" type of way.  We never had vinyl couch covers or rooms we weren't allowed in; it was just neat and clean and gave me a tremendous sense of comfort.  I always made my bed and learned to "clean as I go" to avoid an overwhelming monster mess at the end of the day.  As an adult with my own place to care for, mom's penchant for clean is certainly evident in my home.  I still get that sense of peace and order after cleaning out a closet or reorganizing my desk drawers.  I've had people marvel at the emptiness of the trunk of my car and make fun of me for straightening up my desk before I leave work.  What can I say?  Clean = peace for me!  As a result, I LOVE browsing Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube for makeup storage ideas.  I've seen so many great photos and videos of how other people organize their stash, and they always inspire me.  Here are a few of my faves:

Andrea at From Inside My Closet (vid)

Lovely Girlie Bits

@kanaejay

Love for Beauty
Lauren at iSee Makeup

Image via Shannon / @srblane

Image via Fashion2828 / @makeupfash28

Apparently there was an acrylic makeup storage container (believed to be a Clear Cube) featured on Keeping Up with the Kardashians and beauty lovers 'round the world swooned.

Unfortch, most of these beautiful clear drawer sets will cost you big bucks ($300-$500 USD), but rejoice, ladies and gents - there are cheaper alternatives!  Andrea was the first person to introduce me to acrylic drawers, and ever since I watched her video I've been pining away for a set of my own.  I've come across Muji, eDiva, Ice Box, and Original Beauty Box through the power of Instagram and Google.  After several rounds of measuring and other generally obsessive organizational behavior, I have finally made some storage decisions!  

I decided to order the Acrylic Case 5 Drawers from Muji ($27.95 USD).  I feel like this is the perfect way to store my lipsticks, glosses, eye pencils, mascaras, and other skinny items since the drawers aren't very deep.  This case is little, it measures 10.2 x 6.9 x 6.3 so it's pretty compact.

Muji Acrylic Case 5 Drawers

Muji has a lot of options, but none of them satisfied my desire for my compacts and palettes to be stored on their sides.  I know this sounds insane, but hear me out: when items are stored on their sides, they take up much less room and are easier to organize than when they're stored flat.  And organization really makes me happy!  Other than the side-versus-flat nit-pickery, I also realized I'd be spending close to $150 bucks at Muji to get all of the drawer systems I'd need if I was going to have to store it all flat.

So, after about 5 months of ogling from the sidelines, I saved up and purchased an Original Beauty Box ($120 USD)!  I really REALLY thought about this purchase for months because I struggled to justify the cost.  However, if you look around the Internets and compare it to similar capacity drawer systems, it's a great deal!  I was loathe to disclose the price of this as I know some will think it's completely loco, but in the end I decided it's what worked best for me and I saved up my own hard-earned money for it (and boycotted numerous makeup releases that looked gorgiepants, Sephora's Disney Ariel Collection included).  So...on to the Original Beauty Box!  You down with OBB?  Yeah you know me!

Original Beauty Box

Look at that beautiful thing.  Compacts stored upright, everything neat and groovy.  The measurements for this pup are 10” L x 7” W x 9 1/2” H (TOP DRAWER: 1" DEEP, MIDDLE DRAWERS: 2 1/4" DEEP, BOTTOM DRAWER: 3 1/4” DEEP).  OBB has a larger option called the Deluxe Beauty Box that has 5 drawers and costs $160 USD.  Every OBB is handmade with love in the USA! :)

I will definitely post pictures after I receive these drawers and get my stash reorganized!  The people at Original Beauty Box are currently offering free shipping (no coupon code needed) because both the Original and Deluxe cases are backordered with a current estimated ship date of 7/17 (Original) and 7/30 (Deluxe).

Are you into storage and organization?  How do you store your stash?  If you do a post about it, please share your link with me!  If you know anyone with a great Pinterest board or Instagram account full of beauty organization inspiration, please share!