It takes so many products to pull yourself together which can be daunting, so let me school you on how to tighten your makeup vanity game so you can save time and stay organized.  

The makeup vanity is probably one of the most important pieces of furniture in your home.  Because this is where the transformation happens.  We take a blank canvas (the face), and a bed head, then magically transform both with product and tools tucked in drawers and behind cabinets. 

Now there are some important things to consider when utilizing your makeup vanity that can save you time and money.  Remember all that time you spent looking for something because you couldn’t remember where you put it.  Or what about that time you put some old product on your face or body and had an adverse reaction to it.  Chances are it exceeded the expiration date and now you have to spend time and money to rectify that nasty reaction.   Oh and then there’s all the duplicate products you accumulated because you forgot you already had it.  That was money you could’ve spent on something else.  So, let’s look at three things to consider so you’ll know just how to tighten your makeup vanity game.     

Organize your space 

A well organized vanity will help you save time and work efficiently.  If you open a drawer in your vanity does it look like a hot mess?  The way around that is to use drawer dividers as a way to store like items together.  Keep only the items you use daily/regularly in your vanity.  Excess items can be stored under the sink or on a designated shelf in your linen closet.  As the saying goes, a place for everything, and everything in its place.  Write the month and year you purchased any makeup/hair items so you’ll know when to discard and replace them.  

Photo credit: Decor Pad

Maximize your space 

Regardless of the size of your bathroom or bedroom going vertical with open shelving or cabinets with glass fronts will always let you get the most out of your space.  Open shelving gives you a chance to create small vignettes.  Try displaying some of your products with gorgeous packaging along with books authored by your favorite designer or makeup artist.  Cabinets with glass doors allows to merchandise products that can create a spa-like feel.  And you can easily separate them by category like hair, body, face, tools, and fragrance to name a few.     

Lighting your space

Lastly, lighting is crucial in completing your vanity setup.  Of course natural light is the best choice however depending on where your vanity is placed there may not be enough natural light available.  Yes, there are a lot of lights out there to choose from.  And using bad lighting will impede your makeup application.  Because some lights skew yellow which when reflected onto the skin making it look sallow or jaundice.  Others may skew blue, which can reflect a coolness onto the skin leaving it with an ashy or pale appearance depending on your skin tone.  Neither of these are good looks.  Ultimately, you want to clearly see the undertones in your products and skin so you can select what is most complementary.  

For the past several years working as a bridal makeup artist, my  choice of light to take on location was TML (The Makeup Light.)  The reason I chose TML is because it has a color temperature that registers between 5000 – 5500 Kelvins with a CRI of 95% so it represents all the primary colors.  But why should that matter?  Because like natural light, TML is also white light.  White light doesn’t reflect on the skin like yellow and blue light. So basically what you see is what you get and that equates to better makeup choices.  No more leaving the house and looking in the rear view mirror just to see that your foundation is too dark or too light.  

What are other professional makeup artists saying?

Redfin reached out to makeup experts from Chicago, IL to Tampa, FL, such as myself, and had them share their best tips on setting and maintaining an organized vanity space. Read on to see recommendations on everything from storage to paint color