DIYW Makeup Brush Holders
*DISCLAIMER: Ignore my dirty makeup brushes. Thanks!
I started collecting makeup brushes shortly after Josh and I got married. I had a travel makeup bag that hung in the bathroom and contained all of my makeup and my makeup brushes. After my obsession for makeup began to grow, I started running out of room for everything in my travel makeup bag. Things began to spread across the counter, live in drawers, and I could never find anything. After Josh and I moved into the house that we currently live in, I obtained his sister's old makeup vanity. I was so excited to have a place to put all of my makeup but the drawers are so small and I could hardly fit anything in them.
Around that time, I had also become candle obsessed and we were always burning candles. I had seen people all over YouTube and Pinterest storing their makeup brushes in beatiful vases with fancy clear beads and I knew I had to have them, if not something similar. I had collected a ton of burnt out candle jars and I decided to put them to good use. I turned them into makeup brush holders.
This is a project that is super easy and you can really turn them into anything you'd like and decortate them however your heart desires. My heart desired something cute and cheap. Y'all know I'm a girl on a budget so I took my junk and turned it into something useful.
After researching this project for days, I couldn't find those fancy clear beads that everyone was using ANYWHERE! I looked high and low, left and right, and I couldn't get them anywhere local, so I got to thinking. What on earth could I use to get the affect that I was looking for? Marbles were too big, beads were too cheap looking, sand is too messy, and I'm not a fan of how coffee beans look. I was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears looking for something that would give my jars a fancy look and that would work with storing makeup brushes. I needed something cheap, small, loose, and pretty.
Then it hit me: fish tank gravel. You can get fish tank gravel just about anywhere. Its small, its cheap, its loose, and you can purchase it in pretty much any color you could imagine. I ran over (literally, from the craft section) to the fish section in Walmart and found a 5lb bag of white fish tank gravel for $5. I chose white because its a clean and elegent color. Any other colors in my jars wouldn't have given it the "expensive" look I was wanting.
I also wanted to decorate my jars but I didn't want to spend years painting or gluing. I decided to use washi tape because you can pretty much get washi tape in any color you could imagine. You can also buy some with patterns and pictures. I just chose two plain colors, gold and lavender, so that my jars would look simple and elegant. There were also labels from the candles still on some of my jars that I wanted to incorporate into the decorating because I loved the images.
This project was super simple, inexpensive (after you've purchased and burned up multiple candles), and easy. It only took me a few hours from start to finish and I ended up with something adorable that I love and use. You can even make these brush holders for a friend or family member. They would make great gifts for the makeup lovers in your lives.
What you will need:
- Burnt out candles
- small pebbles, rocks, marbles, beads, coffee beans, etc.
- washi tape, or anything you'd like to use to decorate
- makeup brushes, or things to store
What I did:
1. Place your burnt out candles into the freezer for an hour or so. You want the left over wax to get hard so that it's easier to chip out later.
2. After your wax is hard and can be chipped out of the jar easy, remove as much as you possibly can.
3. Fill up the sink or tub with hot soapy water, and soak your jars for about 30 minutes.
4. After your jars have been soaked, it should be easy to scrub them clean of any smoke residue and the remaining wax.
5. Remove any labels that you don't want on your jars. This should be fairly easy after the soaking. If there are still some sticky parts on your jar, I just took a small amount of rubbing alcohol and rubbed it off completely.
6. Dry your jars.
7. Decorate however you'd like. This is a Do It Your Way project so you decorate your jars in whichever way inspires you the most.
8. Fill your jars about ½ - ¾ way full of your gravel, pebbles, beads, or whatever you chose. This amount can be adjusted to your preference if after adding your brushes, they seem too full.
9. Store your makeup brushes in your new adorable makeup brush holders by pushing the handles down into the gravel or whatever filler you've chosen.
10. Enjoy!
* If you're impatient, like me, you can also fill a pot with enough water to cover about half of your jar. Heat the pot up on medium and stick your jars in. After about 5-10 minutes, your wax should be soft enough to scoop out of the jar. This will also do wonders on the glue for the labels so they can easily be peeled off.
Now that you have super cute holders for your makeup brushes and/or makeup products, use them daily to keep your bathroom tidy and your husband from fussing at you for taking up the entire bathroom just for makeup. I mean, were else is he supposed to trim his beard and leave a mess? (If you're reading this, I love you, beard trimmings and all!)
If you try this DIYW project out, let me know in the comments below and leave me pictures so I can see the amazing job you did!
