This has to be my most asked topic of all.
How do you organise your makeup kit and keep it looking so neat and tidy?
I thought I’d put all my tips, tricks and organisation skills down in one handy post for everyone asking. I absolutely love organising, I find it very therapeutic, so things like this come second nature to me. However I know it can be quite difficult for others to organise and keep things looking neat, so if this is you, I hope this post finds you well.
Before we get started I just wanted to say that Harry Makes It Up has been a huge inspiration for me with the way I organise and look after my kit. She has many blog posts outlining how she organises and I always look to her when I’m reorganising my own kit too. Definitely check her out for even more organised goodness.
My first tip is to get everything out that you want to organise. Then categorise the items together (foundations, concealers, powders, palettes etc). Once you have a clear vision of how much you need to store in your kit, you can start looking at what type of storage you’re going to need.
I like to use the large train cases – the exact one I use is linked here. It took me a while to work out how I wanted to organise it. At first it was for all the products that I reach for on every job, however I prefer having all my bases stored in it now.
This case comes with me on nearly every job, the only exceptions would be if I’d worked with the client before and knew what base products we like to use. Weddings for example I like to put together a smaller base edit, with the products used at the trial (and some extras of course).
I wasn’t going to share product details in this post, however after asking on my Instagram what you’d want me to include, a few people said they wanted to know what products I store in each compartment.
I keep a few foundations and stick concealers in the little pockets of the train case. In here I have 6 tubes of the Becca skin love foundation, in a variety of shades, 9 shades of the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer, 6 shades of Becca Aqua Luminous Concealer and 3 By Terry Style Expert Click Stick Concealers. I carry a variety of concealers for different skin types, as well as different finishes for under the eye and on the skin. As you can see the pockets fit quite a few products in.
I also like to use creaseless hair clips whilst doing makeup, to keep hair out of the way, at the moment I’m loving the ones from IGK*.
My second tip would be to decant products where you can. I have 4 palettes with concealers, cream foundations, stick foundations and correctors in, which have saved me so much space. My favourite empty palettes are by Vueset and Mr Dashbo.
In my decanted palettes I store Kevyn Aucoin Skin Enhancers and Nars Cream Foundations. In the concealer one I have a mixture of Nars Soft Matte and Stick Concealers + Becca correctors.
The train case comes with adjustable dividers, which is really useful. This means that you can adapt each compartment to fit your products in perfectly.
I also store my Hourglass Vanish Stick Foundations in one of the sections, as well as Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage concealers.
I’m currently in the process of decanting my glass foundation bottles into smaller plastic travel bottles, to save space and weight. However for the time being I have a small MyKitCo bag, which fits perfectly into one of the sections in the train case, to store all of my Liquid foundations (mostly Nars Sheer Glow and Nars Natural Radiant Longwear).
As you can see I like to use my label maker, it makes it so much easier for me to see what the products are, instead of spending a few minutes turning each bottle round to get the correct product.
I store my hygiene, disposables, lip balms and lash glue in an organiser from Muji. It’s the perfect size for the train case and you can fit a lot of products in it, I love it. It’s all about saving space where you can.
The main bulk of my kit is stored in a Zuca case, I got mine second hand but I’ve linked a similar one here. I’ve wanted a Zuca case for the longest time, you can fit so much inside them, they’re great. I haven’t had mine for long but the few jobs I’ve used it for, its been amazing. It wheels so smoothly, easy to carry up stairs and it’s actually compact enough to travel on public transport with.
Mostly I use the Zuca bags that come with the case but I also have a few of the My Canvas Pouches from My Kit Co.
In here you will find all my face products; bronzers, blushers, highlighters etc as well as eyeshadow palettes, skincare, brow products, eyeliners and mascaras. As well as Hygiene products, tissues and baby wipes. I store my skincare in the My PVC Box Bag from My Kit Co and I use the My Tissue Pouch for my baby wipes or tissues.
For eyeliners, mascaras and brow products I like to store these in brush holders. I find that they’re super easy to display on my work station without using up too much space. I can’t remember where I got these exact ones from but will link similar here.
I’m no pro when it comes to having a compact kit, especially with my Zuca! I like to pack it full of products, whereas I know it can be condescended down a little more. However these are the products that I store in here.
You will find a lot of Anastasia Beverly Hills in my kit as its my favourite brand at the moment.
I have their sundipped glow kit & light – medium contour palette – which I have decanted into a Z palette, alongside two shades of Chantecaille HD perfecting powders, Mac Emphasise powder and Nars Contour duo in Olympia.
I have a couple of loose powders that I reach for on different jobs. My favourites are Makeup Forever HD Finishing powder, Nars Light Reflecting Loose setting powder, Laura Mercier Translucent powder in medium deep and Becca Glow Dust Highlighting powder in Champagne Pop.
For face palettes we have Becca Be A Light Palette in Medium Deep and Hourglass Ambient Lightening Edit Ghost Palette.
Lastly I have Chanel Healthy Glow Bronzing Cream, an old Limited Edition Nars Bronzer and Kevyn Aucoin sculpting powder in Medium.
Please let me know if you have any other tips for storing your face products as I find them the hardest ones to store and look neat.
Eyeshadow palettes are my favourite, I’m constantly changing these about. At the moment I’m reaching for Me, Myself & Mmmmitchell the most, its so highly pigmented and has every colour under the rainbow in it, defo one of my must haves. However these are some of my other faves: Anastasia Beverly Hills Alyssa Edwards & Modern Renaissance palettes, Jeffree Star Cosmetics Beauty Killer, Mini Jaw Breaker and Mini Controversy Palettes, Lorac Pro, Violet Voss Holy Grail and a mini Nars compact.
Hygiene is of the upmost importance and should be carried out as standard, even more so at the moment. So here are just a few of my favourite hygiene products that I cannot be without on jobs and in the salon.
I store my Navy Pro Hygiene system at the salon that I work at for my nails and makeup tools.
ISO Clean professional brush cleaner is my favourite for cleaning my brushes, it keeps my brushes extra soft and squeaky clean – my brushes dry super fast with this too.
I decant IPA and Dettol into smaller spray bottles for high touch surfaces and brush handles etc. I also use the IPA to spray over my palettes and makeup products as well to make sure no bacteria is on them before each client.
I really hope that I have covered everything in this post, but please let me know in the comments if you have any further questions or want me to cover anything else as I’d be happy to. I love organising my kit, it’s honestly one of my favourite things to do and I’d love to see your kits too. Please tag me in them on Instagram @WhatLucyLoves – I’m always looking at new ways to organise.
Thank you for reading, Luc x
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