The 10 Products That Helped Me Create My Own At-Home Glam Room

As a beauty editor, it's my job to test all the latest products on the market. Makeup, skincare, and hair products arrive in my mail daily from beauty brands hoping to land placement in the magazines I write for. A dream job, sure, but it comes with its fair share of occupational hazards. I work from home, and for the longest time, I felt trapped by the overflowing sample gift bags collecting in corners and piles of makeup palettes cramping my space.

I had packages stacked in my entryway, products spilling off my bathroom counter, and giftbags tucked in any empty cabinet I could find. It got so out of hand, my husband gave me our guest bedroom free and clear with the understanding that I'd keep everything in one place and out of the way. I jumped at the opportunity, but with the lack of an organization system, I landed myself in a situation that became so overwhelming, I kept it behind a closed door for at least a year.

I finally had a room dedicated to housing all my products and a space to call my office, but I could barely make it through the door without tripping on mounds of stuff. I had no choice but to call in the big guns. After much research, endless inspiration-collecting on Pinterest, and the will to make this beauty boneyard a functioning office, I reached out to The Container Store for help.

After investing in—and ultimately wasting my money on—cabinetry, bookshelves, cubbies, and drawers, I realized nothing would work unless I customized it to my personal needs. Using The Container Store's Elfa organization system, I was able to mix and match pieces until I landed on something that suited my massive beauty collection. After playing with designs on their website—there's a feature that lets you drag and drop accessories—I landed on this design.

I picked shallow drawers to house my smaller items like makeup, deeper drawers to hold bulky hot tools, and tons of shelving to display products and provide added storage.

Plus, everything is suspended on railings, so unlike other custom builds, this one can easily be taken apart and moved if I ever make it out of this rental. 

No glam room is complete without a Pinterest-worthy vanity mirror. This Impressions Vanity setup, complete with glamorous bulb lights is more than just an aesthetically beautiful addition to the room. It makes for the perfect place to apply my makeup and skincare, plus the lighting has made it easy to create more beauty content on the fly. It even has hidden outlets and USB sockets to keep all my beauty gadgets charged up and ready to go.

One of my biggest gripes with this room was the ugly flooring. This hideous greyish-blue-with-a-hint-of-pink tile clashes with everything and no matter how I tried to work with it, was always a serious eyesore. But that's nothing a large area rug can't fix. Plus, the shaggy texture makes the room feel cozy and lounge-worthy.

I'm such a fan of wigs, so I had a vision of storing my collection in a way that doubled as an interesting display. To give my colorful hairpieces the spotlight they deserve, I repositioned my old Ikea cabinets in a new area of my glam room. These doors worked perfectly for displaying my wigs and hiding even more product behind closed doors.

For added texture and an extra cozy seating option (perfect for when my girlfriends come over for spa nights), I added this faux fur inflatable bean bag.

As much as I love hanging out in here and experimenting with new products, I desperately needed a space to get some work done (I work from home, remember?). Carving out a nook in the corner—away from the distractingly beautiful products—was key to my productivity. But it had to look beautiful, of course. A designated desk and chair motivated me to buckle down, but the gold accents still make it feel glam.

Every office or glam room needs some designer-inspired art to dress up the walls. These pop-art Andy Warhol-esque prints brighten up the achromatic space and add an element of décor that feels totally in line with my glam-room vibe.