Makeup storage and vanity table

Any of you that follow The Beautiful Truth on Facebook will know that for the past few weeks I have been obsessing about getting new storage for my makeup. I had rapidly run out of space for storing my makeup and hairdryers etc and I need a new solution. It was my boyfriend that suggested I think about a vanity unit. I latched onto the idea and took to Pinterest to get some inspiration. I am so excited to have this space. I absolutely love it. Not only is it great for putting on my makeup but also for taking blogging pictures. Instead of me rambling on I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The space itself is an odd shape due to a chimney breast. I found that the chest of drawers left the space looking very dark and cluttered.
The new space it so much brighter. Almost everything came from Ikea and was fairly inexpensive. The desk is the Malm dressing table and cost €100. It has a pull out drawer with good space and comes with a glass top. The long drawer unit is the Alex 9 drawer unit. A holy grail item for many beauty bloggers. This also cost €100. The chair is called ingolf and cost €30. I have the mirror a long time but the fairy lights around it are battery operated from Pennys costing €3.  I love how clean they look, long may that last.

I wanted to keep the items that are on the desk to a minimum. Most bits I had already but when in Ikea I picked up a few more.

The lipstick holder I purchased on ebay. It cost about €3 and was free delivery. There are so many to choose from on ebay but make sure you buy from a top rated seller. The white holder is actually an Ikea plant pot. It’s called the skurar and cost €2. I bought a few of these as they are really handy. This one is just for the odd little bits I need to get my hands on quickly . While I have used the one below for storing my lip glosses.

The plant pots also come in a bigger size which I use to store my brushes. I have 2 pots, one for face brushes and one for eye brushes. The bigger pots cost €2.50

The drawer itself is pretty deep. Its 1.2m wide so it holds a lot. I bought the inserts in Ikea too. They are called the Antonius and they cost €2 each. The drawer holds 2 and a half inserts. I used 2 inserts buts I sawed the end off one of them so they could fit in neatly.

I sawed the end of this one so it would fit in the drawer

I love how the inserts fit in so neatly and keep everything so tidy. I keep all my most used makeup in the drawer. It is unbelievably handy as I don’t have to go rooting around for items I want.
 
 
On top of the Alex set of drawers I have some items that are decorative but also good storage. The glass bowl keeps all my hair pins and bobbins tidy. The pins used to always end up on the floor but this bowl keeps them all together. The bowl can be bought in Dunnes for €5.
 
 
I love these boxes for holding keepsakes and extra little bits like my inhalers. They can be bought in Dunnes and come in 3 different size. I have the small and medium size. and they start at €5.
I love the lighting in this area. The small vase costs €2.50 in ikea and the little lights inside it were €3 in Pennys. The mirror I got as a gift and I love it. Every vanity unit should have a magnifying mirror.
The Alex drawers are home to my palettes and other pieces of makeup that aren’t used as often. The Alex unit has 5 smaller drawers and 4 deep drawers. I have all my hair gadgets in the deeper drawer.
I know this has been a long post but I hope you guys got some ideas from it. All the furniture is flat pack and my poor boyfriend spent all evening putting it together. He said it wasn’t hard to do but I’ll have to take his word for it as I didn’t even try to do it.

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17 Comments

  • Reply
    YourBeauty
    December 15, 2013 at 8:28 pm

    Gorgeous set up and collection xo.

  • Reply
    Hannah S
    December 17, 2013 at 12:37 am

    Such beautiful storage! Followed via bloglovin!
    Hannah 🙂 x

    Love, Life, and Makeup Blog/Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram

  • Reply
    Karen Constantine
    December 17, 2013 at 10:49 am

    Fabaliss set up! I love all the lights 🙂 And your organisation just makes me so happy and inspired to tidy mine up too 🙂

  • Reply
    Laura Wildman
    December 19, 2013 at 11:50 am

    So organised and gorgeous 🙂 xx

  • Reply
    Nurse Fancy Pants
    December 29, 2013 at 7:21 pm

    Beautiful set up, you did a wonderful job 🙂 xx

  • Reply
    agirlfromthebigsociety
    February 10, 2014 at 12:25 am

    This is so so lovely! Great little decorative pieces, beautiful x

    http://www.agirlfromthebigsociety.wordpress.com
    bloglovin/bigsocietygirl

  • Reply
    agirlfromthebigsociety
    February 10, 2014 at 12:29 am

    This is so so lovely, great decorative pieces too, beautiful x

    http://www.agirlfromthebigsociety.wordpress.com
    bloglovin/bigsocietygirl

  • Reply
    Franky CROWLEY
    May 25, 2014 at 2:53 pm

    Hi
    Love the storage boxes from Ikea.
    Have been looking for something similar myself .
    Enjoy

    • Sinead K
      Reply
      Sinead K
      May 25, 2014 at 3:31 pm

      Thanks Franky. They only cost €2 each!!!

  • Reply
    Laura Ashley
    June 7, 2014 at 10:27 pm

    Omg im in love with this have been wanting to do something like this for ages but totally going to copy this great that you have shown where everthing comes frm its fab x

    • Sinead K
      Reply
      Sinead K
      June 7, 2014 at 10:42 pm

      The whole thing cost less than €250 Laura. Get yourself to Ikea quick, best thing Ive done in my house. Need to sort a decent vanity mirror though

  • Reply
    Sue NOlan
    February 19, 2015 at 12:54 pm

    Hiya, I’m getting this dressing table tomorrow. Cant wait. The stool looks fab with it. Do you find the stool is high enough as the dresser looks quite high? thanks

    • Sinead K
      Reply
      Sinead K
      February 21, 2015 at 5:19 pm

      sorry only seeing this now. the stool is the perfect height for the table. i love it

  • Reply
    shauna c
    December 2, 2015 at 3:41 pm

    Totally love the table. such a good size to get ready on and will fit perfect in my room

  • Reply
    Michelle Browne
    December 6, 2015 at 11:21 am

    Hi Sinead
    Did you get your mirror delivered to Ireland ??
    Kind regards
    Michelle

  • Reply
    Edel farrelly
    December 22, 2015 at 7:45 pm

    I’ve gone on and on about your post so much my boyfriend surprised me for xmas yesterday with my own dressing table like yours! Your blog is the business 🙂 would attach a pic if I could! Xx

    • Sinead K
      Reply
      Sinead K
      December 27, 2015 at 2:14 pm

      ah eel what a fabulous gift!!! I hope you love it as much as i love mine. Getting ready is a pleasure now.

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