How I Organised My Alex Drawers For My Make Up

As some of you may have seen in a previous post I customised some IKEA Alex drawers. This created the perfect space for my makeup as previously it was all in acrylic storage in my en-suite. This ended up looking quite messy, plus not fair on Luke to constantly see it. When I first bought the drawers I didn’t have a full plan of what I was going to do. But I am so happy with how they turned out so I thought I’d give you a tour of how I organised my alex drawers. And the storage options I have chosen.

Let’s start with the top of the drawers where I have this double set of drawers from Muji which hold my liquid lipsticks split into day to day shades and evening/ darker shades. On top, I have a large lipstick holder which holds all of the lipsticks even though I tend to favour liquid options more. At the front, I have a few lip scrubs/ balms which are easy to grab and use.

How I organised my Alex drawers on top

On the right I have this brush holder which is actually a clear jar from Tiger which I spray painted. There’s actually a smaller brush holder inside which keeps all of my eye brushes separate and then the larger blusher and concealer brushes are tucked around the edges. Finally in front of that I have a cotton pad holder which was actually made for me by my boyfriend and his 3D printer as I knew I wanted one the exact size of a cotton pad but with a slit so once there was less in they were easy to get out and I am so happy with how it turned out once I spray painted it.

The top drawer with concealers, primers and tools

Next up are the drawers which I promise are a little simpler! I bought a three slot cutlery holder for the top drawer which fits perfectly and houses my concealers in the left, my primers in the middle and my foundation brushes/ beauty blenders at the side. There’s also a few bits at the bottom including a mat which I pull out and put on the top of the unit so I don’t leave makeup on the unit.

How I organised my Alex Drawers for my foundations and mascara

Next drawer down I have a thin plastic holder on the left which is as deep as the drawer which houses all of my mascara’s although I think I need to have a de-clutter as they barely fit. On the right, I bought a larger plastic tray which holds all of my foundations I am using and I find that they fit really well and I know that I can’t buy any more at the moment as they won’t fit. Slotted down the middle are some CC/ BB creams which I don’t use as much but it’s nice to know they’re there.

Organising my shadows and eyeliners in my Alex drawers

The third drawer down has another thin plastic insert on the left for my eyeliners (both liquid and pencil). In the middle I have an 16 slot insert which holds a lot of my single eyes-shadows, they fit in there really well and it’s so nice to see what I have without too many one on top of another like I had it before. On the right is another tray which is slightly longer and holds my eyeshadow pencils/ creams and a few of my Colour pop shadows which don’t fit anywhere else.

How I organised my Alex drawers for my powders

In the fourth drawer, I have another wide insert like I used for foundations which houses all of my highlighting/ illuminating products together including the brushes that I use for them and it fits so well. As the tray isn’t quite as deep as the drawer I have fit a larger highlighter and blusher palette at the back but I have to admit they don’t see as much use as they’re not as easily on hand. On the right side I have another of the 16 slot inserts I used for eye-shadows but for blushers although I have to admit this is the only part of the whole thing I’m not 100% happy with as they don’t fit all that well hence why I have some laying down, but for the moment it’s still reasonably easy to see what I have.

How I split up items in my Alex Drawers

In the fifth drawer I don’t really have much of a system as it’s the last thinner drawer so I just bought a thin insert for my lip liners so they were stored together and then some drawer dividers from IKEA for misc products which are bulkier (like my setting sprays) and stuff I don’t use as much like powders and bronzers. I did have to cut down the drawer inserts to use in the narrower drawers so you might need to do this if you’re doing the same thing.

How I organised my Alex drawers for eyeshadow palettes

Next up are a few deeper drawers, the first one holds my eye-shadow palettes although this is the only unfinished drawer. I bought an insert which palettes slotted into but I didn’t like the fit as some slots were too big and one were too small so I have a DIY idea of something I’m going to make myself but I haven’t got round to finishing it yet so keep your eyes peeled.

Using wire drawers in my Alex Drawers

In the second larger drawer I have two rose gold baskets (these came from Primark) , the back one holds items which I rarely use but I want to keep hold off including glitters that I might just use for festivals or face paint, then the front one holds duplicate and spare products ready for when some bits run out. I have my larger Morphe palette here as well but I am hoping to move it to the eye-shadow palette drawer soon.

The bottom two drawers aren’t anything exciting really and just hold my makeup and toiletry bags in one and then skincare products I am waiting to try out so that’s my whole unit. I am so happy with how everything is organised and while I have a few tweaks that I want to make I know these are only small things.

How do you store your makeup collection?

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