Spring Cleaning

This is my vanity when I first got it- last year!

One- yes those are my legs in that picture. Two- that is my amazing vanity, my space.

I always wanted my own vanity- something like this:

Unfortunately, I can't afford something that is in a museum- and plated in gold...

Anyway, vanities are expensive! $200 and so on. So, I took a Pinterest Pin and CJ (my amazing boyfriend)  did a Pinterest hack and made it his own (his is sooo much better than the original pin). I can do a post on how to make your own vanity like mine doing an IKEA hack. It's cheaper AND better.

My pics soooo don't do it justice!! It's amazing- ever since having my vanity I have used more of my beauty products (hello sub boxes), my makeup looks better, I experiment more with makeup, I'm more organized, AND I have my OWN space. I think EVERY woman needs a vanity or some sort of space all her own to feel beautiful!

I have tried a million crappy ways to organize my makeup and this did the trick but after awhile I made a mess and accumulated a bunch of stuff I NEVER used or that needed to be thrown out, etc, etc. What does that mean? Spring Cleaning! So I'm letting you see my dirty laundry- well dirty something!

It started with this bag! A friend of mine did her own Spring Cleaning and gave some of her throw-outs (unused/barely touched stuff) to me! I ended up only keeping a couple things (an unopened lipgloss, some nail polish) but it spurred me on to go through my stuff!

Look at all that stuff! Gross.

Obviously I took pics without ever putting anything away. I have brushes and makeup laying out and you can't even see what anything is!

I should say that at this time (both the before and after pics) about 15 liptints/glosses/sticks and some blush and liners were in various purses. I have about 10 Tarte Lip Tints and in this pic there are only 4...

So these are my drawers! CJ got them from the container store. My vanity is actually a shelf with legs attached, a board he got my Home Depot (?) and a mirror. He then wired the whole thing with little LED lights. So cool. He's the best. Anyway, I have four drawers and they were crazy messed-up. Proof? The bottom left picture shows that I have stuff shoved between the drawers- there was actually an eyeshadow palette and three blushes shoved in there. Oops. I didn't take a pic of all the drawers or show them in full btw. That bottom right pic? The rest of that drawer held about 30 perfume samples. Mess.

The During Pictures!

That is my vanity all cleaned up! And yep- that is EVERYTHING on the floor. I went through everything to organize AND chuck stuff out. So sad but I followed the rules and threw out products that had gone past their expiration. Like what? Mascaras that are 90 days old should be trashed! I know it is sad but dump that stuff! I got rid of products that were due to be gone as well as stuff that I never used. Then, I organized!

PRETTY!!

On the left are my polishes- I dumped a few- I actually have some overflow now since a couple were in the bathroom when I was cleaning and I've gotten more since then. And yes, I have WAY too many purple polishes. What can I say, purple is my fav color!

Left side: I have another blush in the top part of this drawer now but in any case you see the gist. Again, add about 6 more Tarte liptints. This is my blush and fav lipsticks drawer. Note that the lipgloss and 2 blushes are from my wantable subscription!

Right side: I call this my eyeshadow drawer. This is a bunch of my eyeshadows that I use and some other stuff.

Top Right: My bigger drawer with my BareMinerals foundation and blushes, some palettes and extra eye stuff on top and my daily go-tos plus random little stuff in the bottom right of the drawer- includes my eye primer, concealer etc.

Bottom Right: My other big drawer is a bigger mess than before but it works for me. It has all my "extras" in the top left- that means my back-up primers, liners, etc. I also have little used products like BareMinerals warmth and a Tarte bronzer (it was free). And then my horde of lip stuff. I know it is ridiculous. And this is all of it NOT including the 12ish in the other drawer and AFTER I threw away about 15 things... Oofta. I always have some sort of lips on though- it is my go to.

Left picture: I am so excited about this. I used a bag from Juniper (I think) and filled it with my perfume samples. I am now pulling them out one at a time- using them for a few days and then deciding whether or not I like it. This is my way to find new perfumes I like and which ones I hate! You really need a few days to really tell if you like a fragrance- that initial sniff usually doesn't do that much.

I've put all my lotions and mani/pedi supplies together (so stupid to not do that before!) next to my Stila eyeshadow palette and close-up mirror. 

Brushes in one cup- mascaras and liners in the other-plus primers and perfume.

Oh- btw- CJ got me that lollipop and for some reason it has found a home on my vanity.

My best attempt to show the beautiful lights CJ installed. They line the mirror AND my drawers! I can put on my makeup without turning on the light in our bedroom. Now in our new house, my vanity doesn't face the bed but I wanted it still in the bedroom since I didn't want to go all over the house to get ready in the morning.

So that's it! Let me know if you want to know how to build your own awesome vanity! I have a bunch of beauty/fashion related home Pinterest hacks that I can post. Now go spring clean your own makeup!