New (cheap!) Makeup Storage

For the last few months I've been looking for reasonably priced, clear acrylic storage for my makeup. I've checked brands like Muji (not big enough) InterDesign (overpriced and the acrylic is brittle/easily cracked) as well as random Ebay and Amazon brands. I'd planned to get a multi drawer "cube" unit from Ebay, but I wanted to keep looking for a better deal... 

Cosmetics Organizer #1 Side View.
Measurements: length/height/depth 13.25x9.5x8.5

Cosmetics Organizer #1 Front View. Drawer Closed.
Measurements: length/height/depth 13.25x9.5x8.5

Cosmetics Organizer #1 Empty in original cardboard packaging which almost completely hides the large bottom drawer.
 Measurements: length/height/depth 13.25x9.5x8.5

Cosmetics Organizer #1 Empty with drawer closed
Measurements: length/height/depth 13.25x9.5x8.5

Instead, a recent trip to my local HomeGoods resulted in these acrylic makeup organizers from the brand StoreHouse. I'd actually seen these before and walked past them on numerous occasions but wrote them off as being poorly designed and not worth the money. What changed this time? Seeing the little red "clearance" sticker, lol (I guess most people couldn't figure these out either and so they sat on the store's shelves for months). 

It turns out these are actually very well designed. But in my defense, since they're clear plastic and StoreHouse invested little to no money in decent packaging it was nearly impossible to tell just how useful these would be. There are no directions, measurements, pictures...nothing to give you a visual of how these actually work or look once they're filled up with makeup. 

For example, the drawers don't have any knobs/pulls/handles so when the entire unit was sealed up in clear plastic it was very hard to differentiate between a drawer, a lidded compartment or just plain open space. I must've stood in the isle for a good 30 minutes poking at the packaging trying to see what was what. Also, many of the drawers have multiple compartments, but open as one complete unit so even after I figured out how one drawer could be opened, I was still at a loss as to how the others worked. 

All that aside, once I had a general understanding of how these could actually suit my makeup needs, 2 units came home with me. Best decision ever.  Once these were out of the packaging and I began filling them with my makeup, I was completely in love!

Both the units I purchased hold a lot of makeup, the pictures don't even do them justice at all. Some of the drawers are deep enough to hold large eyeshadow palette and bottles of foundation standing upright (none of the units I saw on Ebay could do this). I purchased two different style of organizers and took my own measurements for the purpose of this review. The first is the larger of the two and measures 13.25 inches long, by 9.5 inches tall by 8.5 inches deep. It has a large 3-compartment drawer at the bottom and is tapered at the top with 3 shelves on the front and 2 large/deep compartments in the back.

The second unit measures 15.25 inches long, by 6.75 inches tall and 6.75 inches deep. It has  2 smaller 2-compartment drawers on the left and one large/deep 2-compartment drawer on the right. The top is separated by a 2-compartment space with a lid and a large, but shallow open space on the right.

Cosmetics Organizer #2 with all drawers open. Measurements: Length/Height/Depth 15.25x6.75x6.75

Cosmetics Organizer #2 Front view. Measurements: Length/Height/Depth 15.25x6.75x6.75

Overall, these were almost exactly what I needed to house most of my makeup. The acrylic feels thick and sturdy, so I'm not worried about them getting cracked or chipped easily. All of the drawers and lids open and close smoothly even when full of makeup. I plan on returning to HomeGoods soon to look for another unit! The original price tag on these was $49.99 but the large one was on clearance for $35 while the smaller organizer was $29.

Related Items Acrylic Cheap Clear storage cosmetics Cosmetics Organizers Homegoods Makeup Storage Storehouse