I’ve only got a few things…The Eyeshadows

I’ve had some requests to see pictures of my hoard - which I’ve kind of put off, seeing that it’s been in a state of transition for the past eight months. Usually, I keep my shadows grouped by color, then arranged chromatically (because yes, Virginia, I’m just that OCD.)

Each of the boxes I keep my colors in is just over 14.5” wide by 14” tall by just over 2” deep. Five of the interior columns are 2” wide, and can be subdivided. The sixth column has two “shelves” - structural supports for the box, plus indentations for the latches that hold the lid closed - and that column is 3.5” at its widest point, and 3” wide at its narrowest points (the aforementioned latch-indentations, and the carrying handle.) The columns are deep enough to hold a 10-gram jar quite comfortably - there’s just over a 1/2-inch’s worth of movement-space both front-to-back, and side to side. The left five columns will hold 17 10-gram jars if no subdividers are used. The sixth column’s topmost chambers can hold two columns of four 10-gram jars, while the central chamber holds seven jars plus three more “laying on their sides” (which I don’t like doing for general storage because it allows for spillage, but which has been kind of necessary for this project when I’ve been moving the “used” jars to secondary bins.)

These are made by ArtBin, and I haven’t been able to find them online anywhere - just at my local Storables store, which doesn’t list these items on their site, either. These containers are kept over with the scrapbooking/beading/craft/office/art supply containers in my store, and they cost $14.95. They let me store my jars securely and with minimal chance of spillage, but I can still see all of my colors. So many other storage solutions that people have used have involved storing their jars of loose-powder eyeshadow on their sides, or turned upside down to allow the colors to be quickly visible. I was so happy when I found these!! They won’t stand up all on their own, you have to lean them against a wall; but they do stay upright better than most. I currently have thirteen of these bins.

They’re a more than acceptable stopgap measure until I win the lottery and can have my inset cabinets, with movable shelves and oak doors, to be built into the wall of my vanity area :D Seriously: the storage is inelegant, but it all stores neatly, lets me see everything quickly, and keeps things from spilling.

First up, the colors I've used to date:

1. two columns of yellows; two columns of oranges; two columns of browns
2. browns
3. two 1/2 columns of blacks/whites; 3 1/2 columns of reds
4. reds
5. blues
6. purples

I don't know how my containers of used greens didn't get into these photographs. At any rate, I have a bin of already-used greens that's got 3 1/2 of its columns full of jars.

Next up, the colors I have left to use. I've got more bins - eight instead of 7 - but they're all about half empty, except for the bin with the blacks/whites/greys. It's half-filled with used b/w/g pots of color (the righthand columns.)

1. blues
2. purples
3. yellows (those are more already-used pots of yellow, in the righthand columns)
4. greens
5. reds
6. oranges (those are more already-used pots of orange, in the righthand columns)

1. blacks/greys/whites (those are already-used whites, in the righthand column of that bin)
2. browns

When I started buying mineral makeup, I kept two palettes for quite a while: one of Sephora's Blockbuster palettes, and one ultra-inexpensive but pretty eyeshadow palette that I bought at Icing for $15. I've since thrown out the Sephora palette, since I'd used it; and given the Icing palette to a local women's shelter, since I hadn't used it and the seal was still intact. (Yeah. I'm that sad. I kept a sealed eyeshadow palette for two years until I was absolutely sure that this mineral-makeup was going to be My New Direction. I probably could have safely given it away a year earlier...)

This doesn't showcase my cream shadows and eyeliners, let alone my lip colors and blushes...but it's embarrassing enough for my first haul-post.