A makeup organizer that lets me keep changing my mind

I looked at acrylic makeup organizers for weeks and never bought one, because I couldn’t decide on a layout and committing to the wrong one meant living with it. So I designed my own: a base tray with separate compartments that snap on and off, so I could try a layout and change it later instead of replacing the whole thing.

Materials and tools #

• Filament: PLA
• Nozzle: 0.4mm

Design process #

The base comes in a few widths, from four compartments up to nine, so it can match whatever shelf it’s going on. The modules are separate pieces that snap onto it: slim slots for lipsticks and mascara, deeper bins for palettes and powder tins, a taller well for hair ties and bobby pins, an open slot for a phone or a compact mirror. Because the base and the modules are printed separately anyway, getting two colors was just a filament swap between prints, not a multicolor print.

Tolerance turned out to be the hard part, not the shapes. One module fits the base fine with almost no gap. Line up eight or nine of them across a tray, though, and that same small gap adds up fast, and by the last module there wasn’t room left for it.

Final result #

It’s been on my bathroom shelf for about two years now and I love it! After initial tinkering with the layout, I’ve not really needed to swap out the modules, but it’s great to know that I could.

Download the design #

Files are on Printables and MakerWorld if you want to build your own layout. The bases run from four to nine compartments, plus the full set of modules.