I think my first “real” makeup item I bought sometime in the late 90s was MAC’s Electric Eel. I remember walking home (hey, I was car-less at the time) and placing it lovingly amongst my Wet n’ Wild waxy-pasty-horrible lipsticks and my Wet n’ Wild I-Will-Scratch-Your-Eye-Off eyeliners in my pink & teal colorblocked Caboodles case.
Shit just went downhill from there.
Once I found solace in the MAC Cosmetics & Eyeshadowsluts groups on Live Journal and talked about my (makeup) feelings, my makeup collection started growing in leaps and bounds. My poor Caboodles was bursting at the seams. I needed to find another way to contain it all! Enter the World’s Ugliest Fishing Tackle Box.
I mean, I guess it was good that it looked unassuming so no makeup thief would steal it, but it pained me knowing that under those thick, ugly layers of plastic laid my gorgeous collection that I loved more than my cat. (Ok, that’s so not true – my cat is awesome, and I love her more than my lipstick.) Still, it organized things in neat little compartments, and was bigger than my Caboodles. In short: It did the job. (Not THAT kind of job, pervert. That job is reserved for other boxes. *ZING!*)
From there, things started to get out of hand. I came home one day to find that Timm (The Husband™) had bought me the HELMER Drawer Unit from IKEA. It was red n’ shiny, and had SIX DRAWERS! I would organize my makeup into neat lil areas and it would be wonderful and bunnies would shoot out of the drawers and damn laser beams would pirouette out of the top! And they did for a good 3-4 years. And it was good. Eventually, my lil HELMER wasn’t looking so “pirouette”-y.
I had spray-painted HELMER white when we moved into our house. He looked awesome…for about two weeks. Slowly, the gritty-ish front of the drawers because hand-printed with my “I just put foundation on with my fingers, and now I’M GOING TO TOUCH EVERYTHING” hands. Plus, I never said that my collection stayed stagnant – it just kept on going. I had to shuffle away piles of things to make room for NEW things. The nice, neat drawers were in shambles. It was time to lovingly pet HELMER on the head, and put him to sleep while singing lullabys to him.
Ladies and gents, meet my new boyfriend – ALEX.
9 DRAWERS AND 4.5 FEET OF FURY!! I actually have room to spare in each drawer! Naturally, since it was from IKEA, I spent a few hours putting him together with 70,000 wooden pegs, some spit, and a prayer, but he’s glorious. Each drawer has plenty of room to organize – now I’m just looking for inserts to hold everything. So far, I think we’re in love. In fact, I’m pregnant.
WITH GLEE.What kind of makeup storage do you have? Do you guys have any organizational suggestions? What is your name? What is your quest? What…is your favorite color?
glitterfallout 
I’ve gotten rid of a bunch of stuff because I just wasn’t wearing makeup anymore. I know we met via the MAC Cosmetics community on LJ too! But after working retail management and then moving to the corporate world, crazy fun makeup became frowned upon. I do stuff from time to time, but I’ll admit, I should a TON of my really good MAC at a garage sale. I didn’t price it anywhere close to what I paid because I knew Ohio people wouldn’t go for it 😦 So now what little I have left sits in a very packed, very little 3-drawer plastic bin on the bathroom counter, next to a very packed makeup bag.
So crazy! You’re right – it was on LJ that we met! I assumed you were still crazy into it. Well, whenever we get together again, you’ll have to whore it all up makeup-wise for me. ;D
I’m using gross three and five drawer containers that are bursting at the seams. I need to get something nice and new but I have no room to put it anywhere. It’ll just have to wait until the new house 😦
-Katie
smoulderingviolet.wordpress.com
I vote that as SOON as you get into the new house, you treat yourself to some awesomesauce storage. You don’t REALLY need a bed, or a fridge. Pfft. 😉
I can always get those silly things from my mom. Moms love to help right?
TOTALLY. Mom’s love giving dishwashers & plates. FACT.
Oh man, I didn’t even think of Ikea for makeup storage. I will have to look around next time I go there! Also, I haven’t seen a caboodle in forever… brings back memories!
Caboodles were my JAM in the late 80s-early 90s. They had so many different types that they were craveable!
Definitely check out IKEA – especially the Office section. So many options, and the pricing isn’t TOO terrible.
xoxo
The new boy toy is AWESOME.
I think imma get his twin.
I actually don’t own a ton of makeup but nail polishes are slowly becoming a problem… I’ve started my obsession like 1,5 month ago and the polish alien creature is grooooowing. Could you maybe post a few pictures of the INSIDE of the drawers, maybe with a few polishes? : )
Great post, I love the way you write makes me cackle : D
I completely and utterly love how you just referred to Alex as my boy toy. HENCEFORTH, HE SHALL BE KNOWN AS SUCH. So let it be written, dammit.
GIRL, I’m still torn on how to store polishes! I’m thinking of a nail polish rack, like the ones they have at salons. I have a bit of organizing to do in my drawers (THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID), but as soon as I’m all up and running, I’ll take a few pics inside!
And thanks for the sweet compliment! Nice to know someone can tolerate my crack-headedness. 😉
xox
Haha, I’m into the 6th season of The Office so I’m laughing like a hyena right now.
You’re welcome hon : )
I just picked up the Malm drawer set, with the flip top mirror. I LOVE IT. So much better than my box & large plastic ugly clear drawer under the sink. I have a feeling my new drawer set will get filled up in no time, despite that I’m on a spending ban 😦 I feel a guilty for having more makeup than what fits inside a normal person’s caboodles case. Then again, we’re not normal people are we? LOL
Not normal and proud of it! Pretty soon, we will all have to rent separate houses to board our makeup stash in. ;D.
And yes – the Malm is SO much nicer to look at.