Requested: "How Do You Even Blog?" Part One - Where I Blog & Stash Organisation [PICTURE HEAVY]

Hey lovelies,

I get asked quite a bit about how I manage blogging with two kids, if I have a schedule, about my stash and storage and so forth, so I thought it would be fun to do a couple of posts about it :) I've asked my lovely PANZ folk for the questions I'll be covering in the next post but if you have any further queries just sing out in the comments! Today I'll be covering where I blog, storage and and some of my blogging gear.

Now, without further ado... step into my office :D

We're lucky enough to have room for an office in our house, which I share with my partner Mike. He made this huge desk out of three sets of drawers and some thick plywood. I'm super tempted to cover my half of the desk in glitter, but I don't think it would go down well :D 

The office is where I store my photography equipment, lighting set up, polish collection, blogging stuff, some of my lippies, brush cleaning stuff and so forth. There's also some craft stuff - mostly in the cupboard (which is an ungodly mess!), but I like to have pretty fabrics on hand for backgrounds.

Here's my side of the desk. I should really learn to recover furniture and sort out that chair because it is all kinds of ugly, but it is comfy! My desk is usually pretty cluttered with bits and bobs to review and stray polish. I use this desktop to do all of my picture editing and design stuff, but I don't do much writing in here during the day as I'm busy with the kids. Also I don't trust Noel not to start digging through everything, LOL. Sometimes if Noel is out with Mike or my Dad and Patrick is in a good mood I'll set him up on the floor with a bunch of toys for some good old nappy free kicking time while I work, which he loves.

To the left of my desktop I have a cheapie bookshelf from The Warehouse. On the bottom is my polishing stuff - some handcreams, remover, swatchsticks, cotton buds etc. The above shelf contains an assortment of photography gear, notepaper and makeup waiting to be repaired! Above that you can see where stationery goes to die a tin of pens, Seche Restore and a pretty candle.

As I mentioned, I don't do most of my writing in the office. Instead, you'll usually find me camped out on the couch in the evenings tapping away at an old laptop Mike brought home from the office, snuggled up with Patrick and occasionally joined by the cats. I like to try and write a lot at once, and chip away at a lot of little things (like typing up the results of testing at the end of each test). I mostly write when Noel is napping or asleep, or when he's out of the house with my Dad. I'm all about picking my moments and getting as much done as I can when I can.

Back over to the big shelving unit (which, for the curious, I believe comes from Warehouse Stationery - it was a hand me down from my Dad). On the left you can see an assortment of favourite polishes, including the bulk of my Star Kins, some Aussie indies (Femme Fatale, Emily de Molly), Lynnderellas, my lone YSL and some that plain don't fit in the helmers, like my Periperas. On the right hand side I keep my brushes, foundations, makeup and polish remover, felt wipes for polish removal and an assortment of things I should tidy away into the right places! ^_^

Brushes, lash glue and lash curlers, a few eyeliners, a comb and a toothbrush. A toothbrush? Yep! For lip exfoliation.

On the next level of shelving I keep a box of things awaiting testing or a full makeup look, a tin of mini polishes, stamping stuff (though I rarely stamp), a big box of untrieds, and some swatch sticks.

Things to test/incorporate into a look!

Big box of shame.

Swatch sticks from destashed polish. Yes, I keep them. I like the visual record, plus it's nice to have them handy for comparisons.

These shelves hold some of my lotions and potions, another tin of mini polishes, a LUSH gift set, my swatchbox, drawers with an assortment of frankening stuff, nail art and odds & sods and photo background stuff.

Some skincare, handcream, primer, face masks and shampoo for washing brushes.

My poor neglected nail art drawer!

The swatch box! About half of this stuff is in for Project Reswatch, while the other half is new or borrowed.

Now onto the polish and helmers! Here are some of my beloved Star Kins. They live in a spice rack I picked up at an op shop years ago and painted metallic purple on a whim.

Left helmer, draw 1: stuff awaiting product photos and makeup wipes for swatching.

Left helmer, draw 2: Kleancolor, LA Girl and some frankens hidden in the back.

Left helmer, drawer 4 (drawer 3 is empty): more untried shame!

Left helmer, draw 5: lipsticks and some of my 28 palettes (which contain an assortment of MAC eyeshadows and handpressed MAC pigments). The trays with dividers come from Japan City in the Wellington CBD, I need to go buy more of them! 

Left helmer, draw 6: Giveaway drawer :D

Right helmer, draw 1: Butter London, Zoya, Essie, Darling Diva Polish, Pretty & Polished, Pahlish, KB Shimmer, Girly Bits, Hare, Nail Pattern Boldness, Dior, Kiko, vintage Urban Decay, Handmade By Kyleigh, Takko Lacquer, Chanel.

Right helmer, drawer 2: OPI, Nubar, Milani, A England, Nail Juice, Creative/CND, LA Splash, Ludurana, Eyeko, BYS, Diva, NARS, Max Factor, Pretty Serious, Ninja Polish

Right helmer, drawer 3: Tonymoly, Modi, Missha, Etude House, Skinfood, Chanel, Nfu Oh, Fingerpaints, MAC, Glitter Gal, Petites, Chi Chi, Gaohong, Calvin Klein, Leighton Denny, Rainbow Honey, Maybelline, Hits Speciallita, Daring Digits, Mika, The Face Shop

Right helmer, drawer 4: China Glaze, Orly

Right helmer, drawer 5: Color Club, Australis, Cult Nails, Models Own, Essence, Mavala, Wet n Wild, NYX Girls, Nostalgic Nail Lacquer, Layla

Right helmer, drawer 6: CR, KK, Hedy's, L'Oreal, Magicolor, Dong Dong, Hello Kitty, Jordana, MUA, Avon, Nabi, Sally Hansen, Revlon, Sinful Colors, LA Colors, Love & Beauty, PA, Mode

As you can see, all brands are welcome in my stash :)

And in my bedroom, the rest of my makeup is stashed in this old writing desk I repainted. If I could redo this, I would (and probably should) - I just slapped the paint on without any prep or finishing when I bought it years ago. It photographs a little better than it looks in real life, but I love it. The compartments are super handy for organising my makeup, except my lippies have outgrown the vertical stacking!

I keep some of my treasures in this house display, which I found at an op shop and painted in some of my favourite colours. 

On top of the counter I keep some treasures, brush cleansers, skincare, hair accessories, lipliners, pencil style lipsticks and liquid lipsticks. I also have this cute little Mary Kay stand that holds MAC lipsticks perfectly and I keep my MAC lippies with special packaging in there. Most of them are currently in the swatch box or my makeup bag at the moment though, so poor Viva Glam Rihanna is looking pretty lonely.

Eyeshadows, lipgloss, eyeliners and false lashes.

More eyeshadows, Lime Crime lippies, mascara, hair curling bits and bobs, a small portion of my MAC lipstick collection (most of them are currently in the swatch box.

In the drawers are eyeshadows, lip balms, blushes, highlighters and a few miscellaneous things. I'd like to replace these trays with ones with straight sides soon, so that they fit together nicely. Makeup storage tetris!

Phew! You made it to the end :) Stay tuned for answers on how I blog soon.

X
Lani