Today I’m showing you two simple and inexpensive ways to store your makeup brushes. Whether you DIY a scrap wood makeup brush holder, or hit your local dollar store and buy a vase and glass beads, both of these storage solutions offer form AND function in a small footprint.
I wrote a blog post waaaaay back in 2013 about how to store your makeup brushes. I’ve been using that makeup brush holder for all these years with no mold, mildew or problems at all.
A simple dollar store vase filled with glass beads to hold your brushes upright.
Total cost of maybe $4 CDN.
This makeup brush holder has worked perfectly for years, with one teeny, tiny, minuscule problem…
if I pull a makeup brush out too quickly, I inevitably end up with one or two glass beads on my counter and/or floor.
Not a big deal, but it was bugging me.
Since I’m in cabinet-making school, have access to beautiful scrap wood, and had a bit of time to spare this week, I decided to make myself a new-and-improved makeup brush holder.
There’s really no tutorial to this. I glued two pieces of wood together to give me a block about 2″ thick. I drew out a grid on the top of the block and then used a drill press to drill holes of varying sizes to fit my makeup brushes.
I learn something with every single build I do – no matter how small – and this was no exception.
I learned: that roasted maple wood and walnut can look similar but oil up very differently.
how to use Forstner bits on a drill press
that once you’ve drilled a hole it is very difficult to go back and re-drill that same hole larger
how to use a jig to allow you to re-drill that hole with some precision
that roasted maple is a very hard wood and will make your drill press scream and likely smoke
that I don’t particularly like the smell of roasted roasted maple, or high-pitched drill screaming 😂
and how to set a depth stop so I didn’t drill all the way through the bottom of my makeup brush holder.
See? Tiny project, lots of lessons.
In the end my new-and-improved makeup brush holder is perfect. It takes up much less space than the previous vase-version;
while still holding the same quantity of brushes.
It will be easier to maintain with just a quick wipe of a damp cloth to keep it dust-free and it’s so much prettier to display:
Either way, the cost for either of these makeup brush holders is minuscule and the function is priceless so it’s worth giving it a shot.
That’s it, just sharing my lessons of the day. 😂
In case you’re looking (Amazon affiliate links)
Have a great one!