For many women (and men), stocking up on beauty and skincare products is an investment. It's a way for them not just to look good but also to take good care of their skin in order to keep it happy and healthy. Because these products won't work as well as they should if they're not properly cared for, you also need to make sure that you store them the right way. After all, they can also cost you a lot of money, so it's better to take good care of your investment, right?

Organize Your Storage

First up, your products need to be organized properly, so that you'll be able to find the ones you need easily. There's an infinite number of ways to store your makeup, skincare products and beauty tools, and there is no one way to do it properly. The trick is to find out which works for you best, and then to stick to that method.

You can use drawer dividers and store your products bento-style in your dressing table, or you can get some of those clear acrylic boxers with little drawers so you can easily see what's in them. You can place your makeup brushes inside large bottles with caps or straw dispensers to prevent them from accumulating dust. You can even purchase a commercially available makeup organizer to store your products in. However, if you're full-on glamour girl and you just have so many beauty products to work with, consider instead dedicating a section of your closet to just your beauty and skincare products. Throw in a few storage bins here and there, add some clear acrylic boxes and lazy susans, and you're good to go!

Sunlight Is the Enemy

Just as the sun can damage your skin, the UV rays from sunlight can also cause your products to degrade faster than they should, shortening their service life and making them unusable or unsafe to use. See to it that all your bottles and containers are not exposed to direct sunlight, even if they come in dark packaging that could help lessen the product's exposure to UV rays. Dark, dry and cool are optimal conditions for most products.

The Car Is Another Enemy

The interior of vehicles can get hot or cold quickly, depending on the temperature outside. As such, you wouldn't want to keep your beauty and skincare products inside a car. Lip products, shadow sticks, and cream products can melt and degrade when it's too hot, while lotions and makeup can become unstable in freezing weather conditions due to the breakdown of their emulsions.

The Fridge Is Your Friend

While many skincare and beauty products will be just fine in room temperature, some of them can benefit from being kept in the fridge. These include products with sunscreen ingredients, or those with actives like retinol and vitamin C. It is especially important to keep water-based vitamin C serums in the fridge so as to prevent oxidation. Remember, vitamin C that has gone bad is actually bad for your skin! Just make sure to close the lid properly because air is another enemy of vitamin C.

Other products that you can place in the fridge include face creams, eye creams, sheet masks and after-sun products. Not only will the cool temperatures preserve their chemical integrity, it will also make these products a lot more pleasant when applied on the skin. Refrigeration also helps when you need to harden certain products—for example, an eyeliner that is due for sharpening, or a lipstick or lip balm that may have softened inside a hot car.

Avoid Bathroom Storage

Sunlight can be bad for your beauty and skincare products, but humidity can be just as bad. Never keep your bronzer, eyeshadow, powder or bath salts in the bathroom because they can become saturated with moisture, turn cakey or grow mold. It is best to keep them in a cool, dry place, like your bedroom vanity.

Likewise, you should also avoid keeping your beauty tools and even your bath accessories inside the bathroom. Compact puffs, beauty blenders and makeup brushes? A definite no. Keep them in your bedroom and wash them every few days. Body brushes, loofahs and foot brush? Also wash them regularly with bleach, soap, and water, then let them dry them under the sun. Replace your bath accessories after every few months to avoid the bacteria, fungus or mold that may have accumulated on them.

Caring for your beauty and skincare products is essential if you want these products to provide you with the best results. How about you? Do you have any organization and storage tips you can share?

Written by Guest Author for The Healthy Moms Magazine and legally licensed through the Matcha publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@getmatcha.com.