J'adore These Drawers (And All The Wonders They Hold)
There are some things that you just won't use if they're not in your eye line. This is why fruit bowls exist. If someone didn't have the idea to put fruit front and center, well, we'd all have scurvy. I'm like this with certain items in my makeup collection. I love makeup, but if I don't have, say, my lip color collection out where I can see it, you can bet I'm going to keep using the same couple of products forever. It's not that I don't love my other lipsticks and glosses and stains, it's that they're hidden away in a drawer and you know what they say about being out of sight: "Who? What? Huh?" This is where Muji's amazing acrylic five drawer case comes in. The Muji acrylic storage systems have a cult-like following and it's well deserved - these are the storage units that all other clear storage pieces are ripping off. I'm sure those other ones are serviceable, but the Muji drawers are so sturdy, so solid, so versatile... they're worth spending the extra scratch for the real thing. There are over 100 reviews for the five drawer case alone, and so many of them say, "Worth the price!" and "I bought one and then went back for more!" I personally just have one five drawer unit (what a rookie), but I decided to buy one big set of drawers instead of getting, say, a two drawer one and needing to get another and stacking them. Oh, did I not mention that they stack? They do. You could have a whole Muji acrylic tower if you wanted.
These are just drawers, after all, so you can use them for anything from art supplies to Barbie shoes, but many (many) people use them to organize makeup. I'm in this camp. I have a built in dressing table in my closet (Is it why I rented this apartment? Don't be silly! Probably. Yes.), but I keep my Muji drawers on top of the dressing table in the corner because of the aforementioned issue of needing to see things to use things. The top drawer is completely devoted to lip color, and is proof that when I like something, I buy it in multiple colors.
I recently cleared out a ton (a ton) of makeup and pared down my stash to only what I truly love. I used to have a drawer and a half devoted to lip products and this is what's left (I know it's still ridiculous). You'll recognize many things I've reviewed before, including Chosungah 22's Dual Lip Tint & Gloss, Yves Saint Laurent Volupté Sheer Candy Lip Balm (and it's cousin, Rouge Volupté lipstick, which I haven't reviewed but is lovely.), Maybelline Color Sensational Color Whisper in Rose of Attraction (which is devastatingly discontinued), and of course, one of the best products with the worst name: Baby Lips.
The drawers hold a lot more than I thought they would. I'm glad I got the five drawer model, but I did have to do some thinking to come up with things to fill the drawers with once it arrived. I ended up filling most of the leftover drawers (after unloading my myriad lip colors) with makeup palettes. Here's a drawer with three well-known eyeshadow palettes to give you a sense of scale (always more helpful to me than actual measurements - I still use 18"= The height of an American Girl Doll on the regular).
As you can see, you can easily throw an Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette, the original Naked Basics, and a one of those super handy tin Too Faced Palettes (in this case Natural Eyes, jeez am I a creature of habit or WHAT?) in a drawer with some room to spare.
The other drawers hold my Tartelette Palette, my ultra-luxe Marc Jacobs eyeshadow palette, and two (Two! For goodness sake, Sarah) Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush Palettes from past holiday gift sets (here and here). They're the best blushes, guys, I don't know what more to tell you. Eagle eyed snoopers (my people!) will also notice that the middle drawer holds a packet of "greasy sheets, " AKA Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets Target Brand Oil Absorbing Sheets. I always have a pack of these handy. I can shine like the top of the Chrysler Building, but not in a desirable way. Next to them are nose pads I use on my glasses, so I guess you could call this my "sexy accessories" drawer.
As you can see, I can fit the makeup collection of a real maniac in this set of miracle drawers. And like I said before, this sits on top of an existing vanity. You can understand why when I move out of this apartment I'm going to rip that little section out and take it with me, yes? Screw my deposit, I need this dressing table in my life forever. All jokes aside, my little set of Muji drawers is a life changer and worth the comparatively hefty price tag (you'll be glad you shelled out $38 almost immediately, trust).
Because a crap ton of products were mentioned in this post, here's a handy shopping list in case you're interested in any of the items mentioned above. Have fun stocking your drawers!
