Quick & Easy Update

As I shared last week, now that I'm back in Hali, storage space is at a premium. I really had to decide what was important for me to have out and on display and what I could handle having out of sight. I have very little surface space right now - just a small mid-century dresser and desk (both scored for a STEAL at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore). When I was a full-time student, I needed all of my desk space for my scholarly pursuits, but these days, I really only need space for my MacBook, external hard drive, and lamp. No pesky textbooks and clipboards lying around. Thus, I have the space for my desk to serve more than one function. In particular, I thought it might be a good place to set up a little makeup/vanity area.

Whenever possible, I try to do my makeup in natural light. I'll use a bathroom mirror when necessary but I'd much rather do my makeup in front of a window. As my desk now sits beneath a super bright set of windows, it seemed like the perfect spot. Some of my makeup rests in a pretty pink depression glass bowl that was a birthday gift this year, but the rest was being stored in a couple of mason jars that I picked up during a bout of mason jar obsession. (Have you SEEN all the things you can do with a mason jar on Pinterest?! It's insane!)

Unfortunately, I found that storing all my brushes/mascaras/etc. in clear jars looked a little cluttered.

As such, I decided to try to make the jars opaque somehow. I found a bunch of options, like this:

Painted, via The Beauty Department

Or this:

Glittered, via The Sweetest Occasion

Or this:

Fabriced, via Fellow Fellow

Or even this:

Mercury Glassed, via Katies Rose Cottage (sic)

But I had a little brainstorm one afternoon last week and decided to try this out instead:

This is a bunch of coral chevron cardstock that I picked up at Paper-Ya on Granville Island when I was in Vancouver in August (That store was like CRACK to me). I originally thought it was notepad paper and have been stumped of how best to make use of my unexpected cardstock. I used some of it when I wrapped up my bestie's birthday present in September:

Don't mind the blurred out photo, haha.

But I still have a ton of cardstock left, so when I noticed that the coral looked really good next to the pinky colour of the glass bowl that holds the rest of my makeup, I had a quick brainstorm. I measured and cut the cardstock down to size, rolled it into cylinders, and slid the cylinders into the mason jars that held my brushes, eye makeup, and lipstick.

Measuring

Cutting

Rolling (These captions are VERY descriptive.)

Inserting cylinder into jar.

Finished product!

The cylinders are a little smaller than the mason jar of course, just because of the dimensions of the glass, but I really like the way it ties everything together and hides the clutter. Super easy, super fast, and in my opinion, super cute.

What do you think? An improvement? A waste of pretty paper? Far more makeup than one girl needs to own? (It's an OBSESSION! I can't even HELP myself.)