In which I invite you into my bathroom
Posted by Isabel on December 11th, 2008. Filed under: Addictions, I Rock, The New House.I’ve been bringing packages in with me to the city every morning this week to mail. I figured the lines at the post office would be non existent that early. And I was right. I happily mailed off most of my packages before I even made it into the office.
Yeah, until this morning. Dude, I’m not sure what happened between yesterday and today but the post office was dead yesterday morning and this morning…it was Grand Central Station. So I just didn’t mail my packages. For some reason I’m hoping the lines are better tomorrow.
Wish me luck.
HAAAAAAA!
Enough talk about the Holidays, no?
The King was nice enough to build me my own private vanity area in the new house. It has a mirror and a desk and chair (which really goes with our kitchen table, but whatever) and many outlets and drawers. Oh how I love my vanity drawers. Gone are the days from college where I had to keep all my hair and make-up goodies in a basket for ease when carrying between my dorm room and the bathroom (don’t act like you don’t know what I‘m talking about.) Now I can keep all my stuff in my own drawers that I do not have to share with anyone else. Hey, it’s the little things that make me happy.
My top left drawers houses my appliances. You know, things like straighteners, blow dryers, and other things that have moving parts. (Let’s just leave it at that, um kay?) The bottom left drawer houses my nail goodies. We all know I have a smallish obsession with all things relating to nail care, so that drawer is full of varying shades of polish in Prom Pink and Hooker Red. (My two personal faves.) I also have quite a collection of items for performing my famous self-french-manicure. (Famous only to myself.)
My top right drawer is full of make-up and whatever book I’m currently reading while blow drying my hair. (Yes, I read while blow drying my hair. It’s easy and perfect guilt-free reading time.) This drawer also houses my retainer and retainer cleaning products. (Which I still wear every night. Thank you very much.)
So this just leaves the fourth and final drawer. It’s located at the bottom right. This is where I keep all the hair and lotion and perfume products. Also known as all things that are liquidy.
And dude, there are a lot of them. I never really thought about how many bottles and tubes and jars I had until I had to buy little plastic containers for my drawer to help organize them with. Nothing like having to organize a spot that was build for organizing.
I’ve got hair spray bottles and mousse bottles. I’ve got gels and creams. I’ve got products to make your hair curly and products to make your hair straight. I’ve got stuff to make your hair shiny and stuff to hold your hair in place. I’ve got perfumes to make you smell spicy and perfumes to make you smell sexy. I’ve got lotions that sparkle and lotions that moisturize. (Heck, I’ve even got gels that make your hair sparkle.) (Of course most of these items were bought from the local drug store, in an attempt to save a few bucks.)
I’ve been consciously trying to use up my products so I can clear out my drawer. For some reason I tend to save my salon products for a “special occasion”. Which, let’s be honest, what type of “special occasion” would entail I use my Bumble and Bumble and not my drug store stuff? Yeah, I don’t know either. And that’s why I’m trying to just up the stuff!
Every day is a “special occasion” to me.
Whatever.
So tell me, how do you organize your bathroom goodies? (And please, tell me that you have way more products then I do. I’m feeling very hoardish right now.) (Hey, hoardish is a word.)
December 11th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Pathetically, I have about ten times as much stuff. In fact, I have so much stuff, that when we got married, I took my husband’s boyhood shelving unit and filled it with toiletries. Not to mention, the drawers and medicine cabinets in BOTH bathrooms are filled. Now I am hanging my head in shame. Methinks I shall clean it out in early January.
P.S. I recognize the purple bottle with the gold top as Love Spell spray from Victoria’s Secret. I love that scent!!
December 11th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Since my brother and sister-in-law moved in with us, we gave them the bigger main bathroom to use since we have the bigger master bedroom with two closets. The downside to this is that we have to use the small bathroom. It has a small cabinet above the toilet, a small cabinet above the sink, and cabinet areas under the sink. There are 3 drawers. The top drawer has my hairbrushes and combs. The middle drawer has my curling and flat irons. The bottom drawer has my blowdryer. The cabinet above the sink has basic stuff that we both use like toothpaste, deodorant, floss, etc. It also has my face and eye creams. The cabinet above the toilet has my hair products, nail polish remover, q-tips, makeup brushes, and the like. On top of the cabinet above the sink are our toothbrushes, lotion, hairspray, and detangler, mostly because those products are too tall to fit in the cabinets. The space below the sink has cleaning products, papertowels, and other odds and ends. I have two baskets under there, one that has hair accessories and one that has samples of lotions, shampoo, and conditioner. Then in the hallway closet I have more stuff, things that I don’t need as often: medicines, nail polish, old makeup I should probably throw away, old sprays and lotions I should probably throw away, etc.
I used to have a lot of lotions and stuff, but once I started reading about parabens, I went through my stuff and threw away anything with parabens in the ingredients. I felt guilty about it and weird for throwing away bottles that were half or 3/4 of the way full. But not only did it lighten up my load of stuff that I’d been carting around for years, but it also got rid of stuff that isn’t healthy.
Phew! The end!
December 11th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I have SO MANY PRODUCTS. And, I become really strangely excited when I use something up.
Also, I do not organize my products. I let them all sit on my counter, and then when my cleaning lady comes, she “HIDES THEM” from me.
December 11th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I don’t have many products because I’m a lazy, lazy person who doesn’t style her hair. I have one tube of stuff that I put in my hair if I’m being really lazy and letting it air dry, and two others that are for when I blow dry it to make it “smooth” (doesn’t really work, since my blow dryer is a fold-up travel unit that I bought for a trip many years ago for about $12). BUT, I suffer the same strange love for using things up – even if it’s not something that’s been sitting around forever (like shampoo I didn’t really like), but something I’m going to have to go right back out and buy more of (like floss or toothpaste), I get giddy every time I get to declare something Officially All Used Up.
December 11th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
PS – I also have one eye cream. And two facewashes. And about 10 bottles of nail polish. But really… that’s it. SO LAZY. Way too lazy to on makeup.
December 11th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I’m jealous of your drawer space since we’re (still) renovating our house and I have very little space to call my own. And can I ask what your bathroom counters are made of? They look very pretty and like something I might want to order for our bathroom.
December 11th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I have so, so many products. I moved recently and finally sorted through boxes of stuff I had just been keeping. And it’s a lot. So now I’m trying to use them up, too. And I gave some of it away to my friends. And I’m probably not going to buy hair products for another year.
December 11th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I think I need a visual of how you read while blowdrying your hair. I’ve tried, and it isn’t easy. I think I’m doing it wrong.
December 11th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
I have three 2.5 foot wide drawers that are filled with products and accessories. Hair brushes, everyday makeup & hair clips in the top drawer; hair products, nail polish, extra contacts, & extra razors in the middle; hair appliances, special occasion makeup in two caboodle type containers, plus extra brushes in the bottom drawer. Also, my hairdryer is under the sink along with a basket of lotions I don’t use very often, and cleaning products; I leave my most frequently used hair and body products on the counter. That’s a pain when I clean the bathroom, but saves me time in the morning rush. My perfume is in the bedroom, and not that you mentioned them, but what the hey, my feminine supplies are in the toilet room. I’d be in real trouble if I had to shrink everything down to fit a smaller space.
So NOT alone in your hordishness. (If hordish is a word, then hordishness is too!)
December 11th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I don’t have a single bathroom drawer or cupboard. No medicine cabinet. Nothing. So, I have a fancy toothbrush holder screwed into the wall that houses my brush and paste, and then I have a basket that holds my makeup, hairdryer/curling iron, one type of mouse, one type of hairspray and my latest purchase, salon-style “hair product.” My lotion is next to my bed, beause I only use lotion when going to sleep…I keep my deodorant and perfume on my dresser..and that’s it. I don’t have the room for any extra stuff, so I simply don’t have it. But I really wish I had something to make my hair sparkly…and the patience/initiative to give myself self-french-manicures. Sigh, I want a vanity!
xox
December 11th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
i don’t have as much hair stuff as you, but i still feel like i have a ridiculous amount of hair stuff considering A.) i never blow dry my hair, let alone straighten it, and B.) i basically never brush it either. so why in the world do i own like ten straightening products? i have a basket for hair stuff and a basket for face/body stuff.
my bathroom also has a drawer for makeup. i went from a travel case to a whole drawer! i admit though, the organized drawer is supa-nice:)
December 11th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
I have about three times as much stuff as what you’ve got there in that drawer, I need to do some purging!! I too am using up all my product (or trying to) before I buy anything new. I have the same mentality for some reason of saving certain things for ’special’ occasions and I have idea why…..
December 12th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Sooo jealous of your vanity area. I’m jealous of anybody who has room to really get organized. I live in a small(ish) apartment, so it’s really not feasible for me to have a vanity area right now. I keep my makeup in one large train case, my nail polish in a medium one, and my mani-pedi stuff in yet another, smallish case. I keep my daily hair care products on top of my dresser and in one small top drawer(they both look so messy), and my shampoo, conditioner and after-shampooing serum in the bathroom under the sink (also completely messy).
I’m really not as high-maintenance as this makes me sound. (Read: I only use about 1/4 of what I have.) Also, hee, Caboodles. That really takes me back.
December 12th, 2008 at 5:50 am
So glad to hear other people being “giddy” when something gets used up! I thought I was the only crazy one who felt that way. I guess the more stuff we have, at least we feel a little better about it when something gets used up. I too have way too much, under both sinks in my bathroom, in the closet in the bathroom and overflowing into the dresser in the spare bedroom. And as for saving things for a “special occasion” – what is that about? I do the same thing – but the special occasion never really comes…
December 12th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
One of my regrets in life is not wearing my retainer to bed.
I stopped a few months after I got my braces off. Naturally during my pregnancy my teeth moved and now I’m so stuffed. ahh im such an idiot!
Good on you for keeping the habit. You will have your movie star teeth for life!
December 12th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I recently cleaned out my bathroom closet, getting rid of the expired medicine and half-empty bottles of lotions and potions. I then bought clear plastic shoe boxes and put all the band-aids and related ointments in one, haircare in another, sunscreen all together, etc. Now, when I move this weekend (hopefully) I just need to take the boxes of the shelves, place in a larger box, and re-assemble at the new house.
Organization is a dream of mine, second only to being 20 pounds lighter.
December 14th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
The two biggest questions I get asked about my hair is: 1) Do you have extentions/Where do you get your extentions? and 2) What hair products do you use?
The truth is, I’d absolutely love to use hair products. I’d love to use all that awesome straightening and curling and every other kind of hair products that I see, but I’m so poor that the only hair products I use are Shampoo, Conditioner, and the cheap Rave hair spray. That’s it. I had a long conversation with a girl at school last week about this. She was shocked I didn’t use straightening products to get my hair so straight.
I do have lots of hair accessories though. I have my expensive straightener and curling iron, and then lots and lots of bobby pins and cute hair pins and such. I keep them all in this little pink and black polka dotted bag that makes it super easy to transport wherever I need to go. One of my biggest dreams is to have a vanity. Dude, I’m so so so jealous. I want one. Bad.
December 15th, 2008 at 5:39 am
I’m afraid that in my bathroom the organization rule is “out of sight, out of mind.” All my stuff is out in a basket on the counter (or the over-the-toilet shelf) (my bathroom is small) because if I don’t see it while I”m getting ready in the morning, I don’t use it. Our medicine cabinet, as a result, is mostly empty. I really WANT to be more organized with my bathroom/vanity stuff, but I just can’t seem to put stuff away and then actually continue to use it. It’s a problem I have.
December 15th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Post offices are evil places where time stands still and SUCH a simple task (”weigh and stamp this package please”) takes an eternity. I sosososo hear you.
Our bathroom (only one in the house unfortunately) …we are product minimalists. Ish. Stuff for Brad is in a blue plastic caddy (shaving gel, soap) under the sink, and my stuff is, well, everywhere else. And I don’t wear makeup or paint nails or anything! I am a new product whore though and will try every new razor on the market, every new sls-free soap/shampoo etc. And hoard them even when they suck, because, you know, waste not want not. Your system (own space!) sounds lovely.
December 21st, 2008 at 2:24 am
Our new house has an awesome master bath with a double long sink (but only one sink) and a little closet, so a lot of my stuff is in baskets in the closet, along with my blow dryer and my make-up bags. On the sink, Luke and I each have a basket to store items we use every day. This is where I store my moisturizer, hair stuff, deodarent, etc. Heaven.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
[...] her to just give him some Tylenol if he needed it later. I told her you keep it in one of your vanity drawers. And then I left to catch the [...]