Thirteen palettes, twelve eye shadow singles, eight foundations, three concealers, 2 bronzers/highlighters, and a mascara. No, it’s not the lyrics to a new rendition of the Twelve Nights of Christmas, rather the contents of my makeup collection—that I actually use (and no…not all at once).

With that much face paint and accompanying tools of the trade, I had to find a way to organize it all. My new system is working so far, so here are 5 tips to organizing beauty products:

1. Invest in a vanity or space dedicated just for gussin’ up
2. Stackable plastic cubes and storage containers are a great place to house your makeup—freeing up the medicine cabinet for other bathroom essentials
3. Purchase draw dividers to separate eyeshadows, foundation, lipstick, etc
4.  Palette’s are great space savers. Many makeup companies such as MAC, Bobbi Brown, and Trish McEvoy let you customize your own palettes
5. This may sound like a given, but you would be surprised at how many old products you have lying around and taking up space. Here’s a good guideline on the shelf life of makeup (via allure magazine):

• Mascara- 2 to 3 months
• Foundation (liquid)- 6 to 12 months
• Liquid concealer- 1 year/Stick or powder concealer-up to two years
• Face powder and blush- up to two years
• Cream blush- one year
• Eye shadow- three months (umm yea ok!)
• Eyeliner (liquid and shadow)- three months
• Lipgloss and lipstick- one year

Do you have any tips for organizing your beauty products to share?