New Beauty Purchases (and Organization!)

CVS is having a few good deals this week on most of the major drugstore beauty brands. Spend $10 on Physician's Formula, get $7 ExtraCare Bucks. Revlon products are buy one get one 50% off. Loreal also had a good deal (spend $15 and you get $5 ExtraCare Bucks). I know I don't really need anything new, but I've heard so many great reviews on these products that it just made sense to get them...

That's my justification... I'm sticking to it!

Revlon ColorBurst Lipgloss in Bellini and Peony. 

Physician's Formula Organic Wear Jumbo Lash Mascara (GlamLifeGuru made me do it!)

Physician's Formula Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Powder

Milani Nail Lacquer in Disco Lights

I also picked up this letter organizer (Office Depot; I have a matching post-it note container thingy) to store my two palettes (the smallest number of palettes owned by anybody). 

By the way, those two palettes are the NYX Nude on Nude palette and Stila Snow Angel Color palette. 

I'm really looking forward to trying these out! I'm kind of on a rose gold kick, and most of the products (minus the mascara, obviously) fall into that color category.

And are you seeing how great the quality of these two photos are? We picked up a new digital camera tonight (an early birthday present) just for me (since Jeff has is fancy schmancy DSLR and I have a camera I bought back in 2008) and I'm seriously in love with it. Don't be surprised if you see a lot more photos of products and things like swatches (you know, stuff proper lifestyle/beauty bloggers post on their blogs)!

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Instagramming It: Organizing My Beauty Collection

I don't have a very big beauty (makeup and skincare) collection, but what I do have often gets cluttered and disorganized between many different locations in the bathroom. So the other night I decided to sit down and reorganize a bit with what I had, and I'm happy with the end result.

I keep most everything in the containers you see here, plus inside a large plastic organizer I keep in my bathroom drawer (where the bigger items - like palettes - live when they're not being used). Things were getting a bit out of hand and I had to look in multiple places to find what I wanted. It just didn't make any sense. 

So I just dumped everything out and decided to start from scratch. Some items, such as the palettes in my drawer and some of the skincare items already in the pharmacy cabinet, were not included in the reorganization simply because they didn't require any organization. 

Does this look like a lot of makeup? I've seen some beauty collection videos on YouTube and they're all so, so much bigger than mine. I think mine is very modest.

Finally! Some clarity. The items I use daily, such as foundations, powders and a couple primers were put into a lovely green organizer from the Martha Stewart line at Staples. The smaller version of that box (to the right) has blushes and bronzers (I think I literally have two of each), and the acrylic container in the back just had mascaras, eyeshadows, some more primers and concealers. I reused a Birchbox box for my lipsticks/glosses (after throwing a couple old ones away) and then put pretty much everything else (tools, some samples, little items) into my Sonia Kashuk bag (I'm in love with that plaid print). 

And back into the bathroom they went. This used to be Jeffrey's side of the vanity but I kinda/sorta took it over. I don't think he even noticed. I've heard some people say that you shouldn't keep makeup in the bathroom because it can collect bacteria (let's be real, that's not a huge concern in the grand scheme of things), but all of it is sealed and not likely to be contaminated. I did, however, move my makeup brushes into the bedroom because those are exposed and may get "contaminated". 

I also took over the majority of the pharmacy cabinet (again, Jeff didn't notice) and organized my most used skincare items into the mix. 

So that's pretty much it! Honestly most of the products you see here were acquired within the last six months or so as I was building up a collection. I'm not buying any new things now because I don't really feel I need much. I do want to invest in some more, better quality brushes over time and introduce some nicer skincare items, but that can all be done over time rather than dropping that kind of money all at once. I'm quite pleased with what I have anyway!

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Ikea Inspiration, Part 7: Terrace/Kitchen Storage

I wish my terrace looked like this:

Alas, we have about 25% of that amount of space. Space is an issue all around in our apartment (the exception being our enormous walk-in closet) so we're not able to do much on our terrace or in our kitchen/dining area. What little cabinet space we have is reserved for plates, cups and wine glasses, and we have no food pantry whatsoever. Instead, we employ a metal shelving unit we purchased at Target years ago and have embraced the open-view style it necessitates. While it makes grabbing dry and canned food easier, it's a bit of an eyesore.

This shelving unit is a slight step up from our current shelving unit, boasts cleaner lines and a nicer finish, and even looks a bit more organized. We could take our current shelf and put it outside on the terrace for plants and flowers (the grated shelves would be great for draining water!) and utilize this new piece for food and pan storage.

I admit I look forward to one day having a food panty of my very own. In the meantime, this will have to do!

Coming up next: Let there be light!

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Ikea Catalog Shopping, Part 5: a great coffee table

Our current coffee table is made of the same uninspired black material as our one bedside table... so naturally I don't like it. Shortly after we moved in and Jeff's parents bought us our much beloved bookshelves from Target, we found a nice little coffee table from the same collection that we would have loved to buy. If only it didn't exceed $100. I've kept that table in the back of my mind for when the times comes we can purchase it, and then I saw this great little option from Ikea.

At less than half the cost of our original dream coffee table, this option would not only match our current decor but would also create a bit of a fun centerpiece. I really like the glass top and the built-in shelf beneath it - great for magazines! We have a really pretty bowl that's currently sitting on top of our ugly table that would like nice on either surface. 

Coming up next: Kitchen seating and cooking!

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Ikea Catalog Shopping, Part 4: Side Tables

Our apartment is furnished with secondhand purchases and cheap buys, so it is very important to us that anything we buy not only represents our joint style and aesthetic, but also has some meaning to it (and is a great price, of course!) Fortunately, we've received a lot of great gifts from our families that have helped steer the design direction in our apartment and we're taking cues from them. While Ikea furniture is typically not known for superb quality and durability, it is inexpensive and stylish, which means we can pick up things we like now on our grad school budgets and worry about making the bigger, more quality purchases later down the road. We'll be purchasing our very first couch next month (likely the Ektorp from Ikea) and what would a couch be without some great side tables?

Ikea PS 2012 side table, $49.99 

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Sure, they're advertised as being for kids (or indoor plants) but for people like us who have a lot of little things lying around, these are great! I just love the built-in pocket compartments for all the little items that just don't seem to have a permanent home. Remote controls, extra batteries, pens and pencils, and so much more could fit inside these. Maybe even an indoor plant or two!

If room permits I'd like these by the couch... but they'd be great as bedside tables! Right now we have exactly one side table - an uninspired piece of black table (material unknown) - and it's not exactly a great fit with the design of the room. I'd love to be able to just tuck a few loose items in the beside table pockets, a book or two in the built-in shelving unit, and call it a night!

Coming up next: a great coffee table!

A Clean Desk in Under 17 Minutes

I decided to take my own advice yesterday after complaining that my bedroom was becoming too big of a mess. So I took it upon myself to just focus on one area: my desk. I sit at my desk all day, every day, for hours on end. Between blogging, social networking, correspondence and school work, this is my true classroom/office. Here is a before and after look at how I cleaned my desk in under 17 minutes.

Before: as you can see, my desk gets cluttered very quickly.
Books, my iPad, supplies - they all fall victim to lazy organization.

And after! Everything has a place and there is a place for everything.

I purchased these Martha Stewart boxes at Staples a few months ago.
They stack perfectly on top of each other so I can store my jewelry underneath the post-its.

These don't fit in the pencil/pen caddy, so this larger box works perfectly!

Extra supplies: wall unit for my Macbook Pro, the HDMI converter
for my iPad, and my Square card reader. 

I converted some old JewelMint boxes into handy organizational boxes.
Like the martha Stewart ones, these can also be stacked. And the velvet
lining helps keep everything in place! 

The view from my chair.
It's a lot easier to sit here and work when there isn't a lot of clutter!

On the keyboard tray to the right: school work.

On the keyboard tray to the left: iPad, a notebook, and my other laptop.
Oh, and my crappy phone!

The next cleaning project to tackle? The top of my dresser. It's even worse than the desk was (if you can imagine!)

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