We all have different needs when it comes to beauty storage, depending on our living situation and where we sit on the minimalist – hoarder spectrum. 

Are you blessed with the top drawer in a shared flat bathroom? Do you keep your skincare next to the fridge condiments? Do you proudly display perfumes on a silver tray on your vanity, but operate out of a stained gift-with-purchase makeup bag? (I’m not judging). Do you keep a single Chapstick on your bedside table? (Are you my dad??).

Recently, while attempting to pack up my chaotic stash of cosmetics before moving overseas, I realised how limited the options are for organising toiletries. The amount of empty Diptyque jars, repurposed PR boxes and impossible-to-clean acrylic holders I had would shock you. If only celebrities could come up with some chic storage solutions, instead of launching more beauty products that literally no one asked for. 

Sure, there are some classy options out there, if you’re willing to invest. Take the ceramic organisers by Misma Anaru, Rachel Saunders or Studio Ennui. I’ve been tempted to buy stacked trays that look like brass cake stands, and come close to purchasing a mini skincare fridge from Instagram at my most vulnerable scrolling hours.

In need of some storage inspiration – and an excuse to snoop around the top (but especially the bottom) shelves of strangers – I asked some creative people to show me how they do it. 

Kiekie Stanners, makeup artist

These are my everyday beauty products, which for some reason I have to visually see right in front of my eyes on the counter top, rather than hidden away. Partly because it reminds me to be thorough with my own skincare/makeup removal routine and partly because it’s so aesthetically pretty. 

But this is as much as you’ll get to see of my beauty product storage… My makeup product storage is chaotic, and is in a constant state of messiness! This is probably why I need my skincare products to emit a feeling of calmness when I look at them, as my chaotic, colourful world of makeup organisation is the complete opposite.

Maryse O’Donnell, skincare founder

I like to keep my makeup and accessories in these bags in my drawer. One for everyday makeup, one for skincare accessories and one for beauty products I don't use often. I'm constantly in the process of formulating Mineral Tint colours so I have a million samples around the house, in my car, in the kitchen and all throughout my bag!

Evie Kemp, illustrator and designer

The inside of my drawers are way too messy to show at the moment but this is the upcycled tool chest where I keep all my beauty products. My bathroom gets a lot of direct sun so I wanted something that would keep things out of the heat but not look out of place (it sits in the hallway just outside the bathroom). It's on wheels so I can move it around. I have the top drawer of my everyday essentials and then I have a face/base drawer, a lips drawer, an eyes drawer, a hair drawer and then the bottom one is just misc stuff like make up bags. With brushes in pots on top.

Sarah Burton, photographer

I collect a lot of ceramic and glass pieces to use for still life shoots, and quite a few of them inevitably find a use around the house. This odd little collection on my dresser is sourced from vintage stores, op shops and a tumbler from Moroccan brand Lrnce.

Olivia Renouf, fashion stylist and photographer

As all avid 2016 readers of into Into The Gloss, I have been waiting for the day I was asked to share my #shelfie, filled with ‘grown up’ skincare and French pharmacy products from my travels. I feel no more of an adult than I did when I used to obsess over the shelves of Camille Rowe, Delilah Parillo, Coco Baudelle and the OG girlboss Emily Weiss but here we are!

I just renovated our family house and now have my dream bathroom cabinet designed by architect Sarah Stuart complete with LED interior lighting. I have tried to organise it with haircare on one shelf, skincare on another, sunblock, insect repellant, top ups of things, and extra containers for travel on the top shelf. I still use the empty Diptyque, Mason Louis Marie and Curionoir candle jars to store things like brushes and cotton buds. Fragrance lives in a special section in my wardrobe with my journals and little trinkets, so I remember to put it on when I am getting dressed. 

Maxine Kelly, owner of Underlena

While we live without a chic bathroom cabinet, I have opted for nice trays to hold things – I bought some red melamine trays from Kiosk Store in Auckland that satisfies my apparent need for red everywhere, and then a little stainless tray that makes the already chic-looking Bruxa and Sans [ceuticals] bottles look right at home. While I'm generally quite an organised person, these are usually in a state of disarray… I've tidied them up for you. I like to keep my dailies out and accessible, while I have other things unceremoniously dumped in a big stackable container.

Cait Burke, writer and editor

Working in the fashion and lifestyle space, you end up with an absurd amount of products. Makeup, skincare, haircare – you name it, and I have it in spades. That's not meant to be boastful, but more to illustrate why my storage is as chaotic as it is. I have four drawers across my bedroom and bathroom that are loosely divided into haircare, bath/shower products, skincare and makeup. There's not really an order to it other than that, and they're sort of just shoved in there. 

My built-in double-door wardrobe is where I keep my everyday makeup, skincare and haircare, and other bits and pieces I use on a weekly basis like Dr Dennis Gross peel pads, facial tools and face masks. It's organised in two old Mecca PR boxes and my everyday makeup is stored in a zip-up bag for ease. Any superfluous brushes I only occasionally use are stored in an empty Byredo candle jar. I'm big on repurposing fancy candles into beauty storage.

The area I'm most proud of is my perfume storage, which I keep in a marble tray I was kindly sent from Raaie, one of my favourite skincare brands. The tray happens to perfectly fit all my go-to scents and sits pretty on my mantelpiece. I also keep my new obsession, the La Bonne Brosse Detangling Scalp Brush on my mantelpiece. The shade of yellow fits in well with my decor, and it's the first time I've owned a hairbrush so luxe it's worth having on display.

Tyson Beckett, Ensemble reporter

I have entirely too many beauty products and have adopted an any means or spot necessary approach to storing them - the intro to this article feels a bit like a bingo card written specifically for me. 

Fridge management is one of the most delicate parts of moving somewhere new - just over a year in my new flat and I’ve almost trained my flatmate not to leave half-cut citrus nestled amongst the very fancy eye creams and serums I keep in the door shelf. The skincare stuff I want on hand or need a visual reminder to use lives in a tray next to my bed and the rest is tumbled into two chocka block bathroom drawers. Makeup and hair products have taken over an entire shrine-like shelf in my wardrobe. Because they’re on display I make some effort to keep it visually pleasing, separated into categories: hair, complexion, blush, eyes, nude and bold lips. Being able to see everything makes it more likely I'll use it so I’ve been researching some tiered shelving for the bits that get lost down the back.

Constance McDonald, writer and photographer

I keep everything in the bathroom on the basin as it is usually moments away from being packed into my sponge bag. I have natural deodorant which I don’t think works, Botaniq shampoo that has sadly been discontinued, 3€ tretinoin from France), Tronque scar oil which I am enjoying applying to my surgical wrist scar, and my Emma Lewisham minis. When I am in 30 plus degree heat I love to put my moisturiser in the fridge, and I always keep my perfume beside my bed. 

Jess Scott, owner of Bizarre Bazaar

My makeup is all haphazardly flung into dresser drawers, loosely corresponding to what it’s used for (one for eye makeup, one for lip products etc). Fragrances are displayed on my boudoir, alongside other special things like a nude photo of my boyfriend (scandalously not taken by me), my grandma’s ashes, four of my own wisdom teeth, one of someone else’s, and my jewellery dish.

Liam Sharma, head of PR at Emma Lewisham 

I would say I am more of a hoarder than a minimalist, but I am ushering in favourable behaviour changes that are hopefully healthy in the last few years of my thirties. One is keeping my late-night collaging to a minimum and never skipping a quarterly vanity cleanse. Both are well within arm's reach as most of my life is scattered between Sydney and Auckland, and I am, well, not there. I just have my GOAT products on hand while I sort my life and buy magazines to shred and glue to my bare walls.

Jess Grindell, fashion designer

I store my skincare in a cupboard in the largest bathroom I’ve been lucky enough to ever have. I store my makeup in my overpriced HAY crate I convinced myself I needed when I first moved to Naarm (instead of being sensible and purchasing something just as useful second hand). 

To get my money's worth, I display it on my little pink bench that I found on the side of the road. The crate is surrounded by books I am  trying to read, in order to create some aesthetic among the chaos of my bedroom (I have become so obsessed with buying books and magazines after going to a book club once).

I’m a sit-on-the-floor-and-do-your-makeup kinda girl so I find my setup perfect. It feels nostalgic and brings back that feeling of getting ready for high school parties in your best friend's bedroom. Girl time before a night out, huddled around a full-length mirror is such an exhilarating buzz.

Tessa Patrick, writer

Sharing a flat (and bathroom) with three other beauty-conscious people, our storage is unergonomic at best, chaotic at worst. We split a drawer between two people, and I try to keep my side somewhat organised using a basket, old candle jars, and shot glasses for loose bobby pins. I keep skincare and some hair care in the bathroom when it makes sense, but makeup and styling products live in my bedroom, where the morning queue doesn’t exist and the lighting is better anyway.

I purchased a couple of really handy Ikea drawer dividers where I try to organise my products primarily by function. Oftentimes they’re just thrown in where they fit best.