updated organization (pic heavy)

hi guys! i'm so excited to present my melmers to you guys, which i got for xmas! melmers are actually 3-drawer cube units found at craft stores (like michaels, etc.) and they look like mini ikea helmers...thus melmer. at walmart, i bought a roll of foam shelf liners for the inside so that stuff won't go sliding around everywhere, as well as some acrylic bins to sort makeup into. ~Lin-chan ^.~

note: i don't really go into detail below about what each product is..unlike how i did last time.. if you wanna know what a particular item is just ask, otherwise i'm pretty sure you can pick out what most items are.

random note: the instructions in the melmer box said "easy assembly", but don't trust it. lol. you need two different sized phillips screw drivers and possibly a second person to help hold the pieces together while you place the screws in. also, there is only one correct side up because of the way the plastic shelf-rests sit inside. to keep the two melmers stabilized and stacked together, each box comes with a set of those cylindrical wooden 'pins'.

random sidenote: i mentioned in my last organization post that i probably wouldn't make another until we move..but we haven't moved yet; paul's still got about another two years or so left of school if we do move afterward..and i have about a year left.


the closet: my blue snapware container has the same random stuff in it as last time, and the mini green one still has my most-used/favorite polishes in it. (snapware containers from target, sterilite drawer unit from amazon--2pk)

 

melmers:

 
first drawer: hodge podge of eye and face products; second drawer: eye products
acrylic bins from walmart

 
third drawer: palettes & lipsticks; z palettes
when i get a chance to review the em michelle phan life palette moments, they'll migrate into that half-empty palette.
not sure what i'll do to keep all of her blushes together though...hmmmm...

  
fourth drawer: treatments, base coats, top coats, other nail implements
fifth & sixth drawers: nail polish

sterilite drawer unit:
first drawer: uninteresting closet stuff -- lint rollers, fashion tape, etc.

  
second drawer: lippies; third drawer: random stuff, empty unii and z palettes; fourth drawer: lush stuff, brush holders, random stuff
mesh utensil organizer from bed bath & beyond

the bedroom:

acrylic lipstick holder from the container store, mesh mail sorter from target, 1x/5x mirror from bed bath & beyond


pro z palette

the bathroom:

 
3-drawer acrylic container from the container store. the top left drawer is my everyday makeup, and the other two have items if i want a change-up.
caboodle tray & mesh cup from target, vase/pot was from an edible arrangement

 
drawer (mesh bin from bed bath & beyond); 4U & large z palettes, unii palette

updated unii & z palette comparison review (pic heavy, updated)

hi guys, here's a photo update--primarily a size comparison view--for you guys. i still like both brands of palettes, with the same pro's and con's as before:

unii palette: large mirror only one size & price has a locking hinge closure lid tilts open to about 120° comes with "not a magnet" sheet comes with thumb grip casing is a bit thicker packaging contains detailed instructions for depotting

z palette:           large acryllic window           variety of sizes & prices (small, 4U, large, pro, dome)           has magnets along edge           lid can fold underneath palette           comes with round metal stickers           -----           all (but dome) are the same thickness/depth and store nice and flat           has a blog and information for depotting online

the z palette sizes i have are pro, large, 4U, and small. i don't feel the need to get a dome palette, since i don't really use that many baked (or tall "panned") products. aside from the depth/thickness, the pro and dome are the same dimensions. ~Lindsay-chan ^.~

pro black, large raspberry damask (makeup geek exclusive), 4U aqua/yellow, small striped

 

large vs. pro


4U vs. pro


small vs. pro


4U vs. large


small vs. large


4U vs. small

turquoise unii palette, aqua/yellow 4U z palette
 
interior: 4U z palette (top), unii palette (bottom)

update (4/29/14)

sephora dome palette vs. black pro palette (thickness)

makeup collection and storage & updated unii/z palettes

hi everyone! i'm all about organizing stuff, so i figured this would be interesting--as i am interested in seeing how others store their stuff. hope you like it! this is how i store my stuff in a 600-sqft apartment! hopefully by the next time i make an organization update--in the very distant future, we will be finally settled in a house; this apartment is way too small for me and my stuff...and paul's. lol! ~Lin-chan ^.~

• caboodles clear cosmetics counter tray from target
• makeup brush cup from sephora -- a similar one
• sterilite 4-drawer cart (#2822) from amazon
• small 3 drawer desk organizer from walmart
• unii palettes, z palettes -- see my review post/where to buy
• mesh bin drawer organizer from bbb

the bathroom:
top: so here's everything i've been grabbing for lately. i really like this container for the counter. it does take up a decent amount of space, but it's easy to see and reach everything. the heart pot was from an edible arrangement that teh paul got me a few years ago. i've been putting my dirty brushes into it to remind me to wash them, along with a few brush guards in the bottom. the black cup on the right is from sephora--but they don't sell them anymore... and i've got my current mascaras and some taller eyeliners in it. that green tube, chillin with the cotton balls: yeah, i got that in 7th grade. how long ago was that?! i wish they still made it, it's the clinique nighttime treatment gel. it was about $20-30 for 1.7oz, compared to .5oz $16 spot healing gel....hmm! yeah it still works great, but it's time is almost up: it's almost gone!
left: we don't have a lot of space in the bathroom nor is there a medicine cabinet..so i bought a two pack of these and the other is below..
middle: this thing. lol, i bought this shortly after i moved into my first apartment. i've been putting manicure stuff and hair accessories into it for the longest time. it's the perfect size to keep these things--outside of a cabinet drawer.
right: cabinet drawer. this has all of my larger items that i use daily and all of my face primer samples that i'm slowly going through.. on the right, i have a single organizer bin with samples etc. going on in there.... anyway.... and some powders and concealers to try out... @_@
unii palettes: white: face powder and bronzers, blue: boi-ing concealer (it's almost gone! TT_TT), blushes, lumiere from paris palette

• snapware containers from target -- small (a similar one), large
• sephora professional embossed train case -- a similar one

bedroom/closet:
top: dresser top. my aunt's mom gave me this huge vase (left) at my bridal shower and i'd been struggling to figure out what to use it for. then, i saw one of my youtube gurus using a similar vase with some rocks or sand or something at the bottom. so voila~! instant brush holder. so this one has my most-used/most-liked brushes, the other two have my less liked, spare brushes. the one toward the middle has my current lip glosses. then there's my crystal ring holder and box--awesome for keeping track of your frequently-worn jewelry! and finally, a little jewelry box i'd gotten from a cousin a few years ago. i mostly have a few costume jewelry pieces in there that i frequently wear. my "good" jewelry is hidden, out of sight, out of mind. and in the foreground, redwood woodwick candle and my naked palettes. and two somethings that will remain unnamed until a certain person gets their xmas present. if you're wondering about the random blue towel under my frame on the right; my dresser is too big for the wall it's against and our bedroom door swings right there; so it's to make sure we don't scratch it...and the closet door is just on the other side of the dresser. ....hmm that should be my next project: making this apartment in sims3.
bottom: closet. here's the other sterilite drawer cart! and some snapware containers and my train case from sephora! on top of my cart: harajuku lovers wicked style baby perfume, bbw forever red perfume, givenchy play perfume, a crapton of mascaras, and a box with some products that i don't want and haven't decided what to do with yet.

  

• copco cutlery tray from bed bath and beyond

so here's the inside of the drawer cart. the top drawer is not very interesting; it's got lint rollers and other things of the like in it.
the second drawer: left: lip glosses and balms, middle-left: cheek tints, lipsticks, and (temporarily) loreal eyeshadow duo. middle-right: travel sized eyeliners, shadow pencils, cake eyeliner, and some clear nail polish bottles. right: more mascaras, full-sized eyeliners. front: nail files, aveda translucent powder, a lip balm, lip stick, lip gloss, lash curler, clear nail polish, and a pen. along the side: a spare nyx brow shaper, new loreal onesweep natural for brown eyes shadow, and too faced bb cream.
third drawer: has my dry and shape; the shoulder strap and extra dividers from the train case (below), false lashes that i have yet to use..., nail wheels, extra brushes that i don't like nor frequently use, extra bottles of stila foundation and tt pearl glow primer, mufe sens'eyes. and inside my ud urban bride box is extra lip and eye products that i'll get around to eventually, or doubles.
fourth drawer: lush stuff!!! the front-ish has soaps, middle-ish has bath melts and bubble bars, and the back-ish has bath bombs. then a few lush times along the side.

left: here are my snapware containers.

• top: mini snapware container.
• top: spare primers and lip products, spare tubes of clinique super city block--which are usually free at dillards at certain times of the year with like no minimum purchase, they'll mail you a card.
• middle: face powders, blushes, highlighters, luminizers, eyeshadow, foundations, eye primers, ...floss..? lol.
• bottom: nail polish that i'm currently into or that i want to try out sometime soon
• left: my extra, random makeup junk. top: some konad stuff, brush roll, travel bliss set, small bathroom cups for future water marbling, spare clear nail polishes or treatments that are meh. bottom: extra brushes or other accessories, sample perfume "collection". extra ud body powder that i bought for no reason when i never use the small one from urban bride set......... tokidoki compact mirror that is too heavy for my purse..but it's cute..
• right: nail polish collection of course! the taller bottles (lower bin) are in the top bin, as the lid gives some extra space compared to stacking a bin on top, and the shorter bottles are in the upper bin/bottom of the stack. the bottles in the lower bin with the blue nail polish on top are to remind me that those are the shatter polishes before i grab for any of them. DO NOT grab this container by the handles. it is heavy and it will give out and create a huge mess.

right: travel makeup bag. this is kinda out of place in this post but whatever, my travel bag is on top of my train case, cut off in a photo a few pictures above, and there's a unii palette in it so yeah. what's in my [travel] makeup bag! this is the ud 15th anniversary bag. it's sparkly! >w< anyway! brushes: concealer, powder, blush, angled contour, shadow. (i should probably throw in a couple more eyeshadow brushes >.> ...) philosophy grace powder, too faced eye and face primers, nyx brow shaper, locally-made lip balm (fleur de bees), lipstick, mini de slick spray, ulta shadow duo, avon 8-in-1 neutrals palette, grind house sharpener, loreal onesweep eyeshadow in playful for brown eyes. unii palette: random pressed powder, benefit sexbomb, random concealer, clinique blush in posy. blotting paper and tweezers in the zipper compartment; and i usually throw in some eyeliners and mascara from my counter.

so here's the inside of my train case, and photos of it the contents outside of it. ...and updated z palette photos. if you're not observant, between photos, i switched out the small zebra z palette for the striped palette.

• right-left-top photo:
• the pro zebra is all blushes and bronzers from benefit, tokidoki, sigma, and clinique.
• the black is ud eyeshadows, theBalm nude'tude palette, and 2 sephora shadows.
• the striped palette has the sigma paris palette shadows, mini free sigma shadow, and stila kitten. the leopard palette has tokidoki, too faced, clinique, and lorac eyeshadows.
• the little black palette toward the top right corner is the lorac femme fatale palette from hautelook.
• 2 maybelline quads, a loreal quad, and 3 too faced glamour to go palettes
• right-right-top photo is too faced leopard love set, tokidoki bronzer and luminizer, benefit prrrowl, ud primer in eden, mini mufe sens'eyes, a few mini setting powders, some maybelline color tattoos, lorac 3d liquid lustre's, sephora eyeliner, ud walk of shame, eyeliners, highlighters, and mascaras. 
• right-right-middle: too faced 2 glamour to go palettes, candlelight, and candlelight glow; black jars: depotted ud eye primer potions (original, greed, sin), ud 6-pan build your own palette, stila foundation, tt pearl glow primer
• right-right-bottom: some loreal lip butters, spare boi-ing, lip products, pencil sharpener, destroyed pink leopards in a jar, more color tattoos

august/september favorites

alrighty! so eternity and a half ago (aka. earlier this year), i made my first what i'm loving post..with basically everything i loved at the time. i still love a lot of those products, but we're going to venture off onto "favorites" now and hopefully make this a bi-monthly (edit: maybe quarterly?) thing, seeing as though i don't change up what i'm using very often. ~Lindsay-chan ^.~

benefit hervana (tl) & dandelion (tc) -- applied to apples; theBalm sexy mama (tr) -- used as a setting powder;
boi-ing shade 1 (br); too faced pink leopard (bl) -- used for contour.
i'm definitely buying a full sized dandelion when this runs out, i like the (very) light pinkness it adds to my cheeks

l'oreal voluminous full definition mascara, urban decay eyeliner in rockstar, sigma F40 & posh angled blush brushes
my only complaint about the voluminous full definition mascara is that it's very wet. rockstar is a slightly shimmery, dark eggplant
i like sigma brushes a lot, the only problem is the shipping cost. posh brushes are easier to find and buy, good alternative but are a lower quality than sigma's.
sigma's are from http://www.sigmabeauty.com/, and posh brushes can be found at kmart and bed bath & beyond

unii/z palettes (see haul/review post here)

tiffanyd soap & candle from candles by victoria & cbv bath and body (website has been moved to cbv)
these candles don't burn dirty as long as you trim the wicks regularly, and extinguish them normally rather than closing the lid (which is what we've been doing...)

sigma paris palette -- deboxed!

after great debate, i decided to depot..or debox..my paris palette (paris palette haul post here). the palette itself about the same size as the eyeshadow drawer in ud's book of shadows iv (seen here), and it's just as unreasonably bulky. i really like the packaging for this palette, it's super pretty, but i feel that they could have made the palette itself smaller, and bundled the brushes with it some other way (like bundled outside of the palette..). anyway; here's our finished product, after getting another z palette and rearranging my other custom palettes. ~L-c ^.~

the easiest way, in my opinion to debox this, is to slide a tool (box cutter, knife, etc) along the ridge inside the contour brush slot. then pop the corners of the brush slot upward, along the bottoms of rouge and lumiére. afterward, pull the top layer off to reach all the pans. this gets you very close to where the pans are glued and you won't make a complete mess in the process. before deboxing yours, please note that these pans are not magnetically attractive.

unii palette. that tiny square shadow was a free gift from sigma when i ordered the paris palette
everything in the paris palette doesn't fit into a small z palette; 6 shadows and two blushes fit.