How to measure the volume of a cosmetic bag?

Measuring the volume of a cosmetic bag is actually very easy, no calculation or complicated formula is needed.

Some people would use the Volume = Length x Width x Height formula, but that is actually incorrect. It is because this formula is for measuring the volume of a box. However, most cosmetic bag are not in the shape of a box. Instead, cosmetic bag usually come in irregular shape. More importantly, the size of the cosmetic bag is not our concern. What we want to know is the storage volume of the cosmetic bag. You could have a very big cosmetic bag which is heavily padded all around, which leaves only very little storage space inside. In that case, shall we consider it as a "Big" cosmetic bag or a "Small" cosmetic bag?

So, to make it clear, what concerns us should be the storage volume, which is the capacity inside the cosmetic bag that is available for your to put things. Make sense?

The method I am going to show you below is very easy to use and most cosmetic bag and outdoor gear manufacturers use this method to measure their cosmetic bag volume.

1) First, you need lots of little balls or beans

We use plastic balls with 10mm diameter, but you can use anything available such as Ping Pong balls or dried beans. You need lots of them.

2) Fill the bcosmetic bag using a measuring cup

Fill the cosmetic bag with balls/beans until it is completely full.

Some would fill the main compartment only, and others would also include the outside pockets as well. There isn't really a standard. In my opinion, I would include the outside pockets as well because they also contribute storage capacity.

3) Just count how many cups of balls/beans you have filled

You can get the accurate volume of the cosmetic bag by checking the amount of balls/beans you have filled in.

For example, if you are using a 1L measuring cup, and the cosmetic bag can take 20 cups of ball/beans, then the volume of the backpack is simply 20L. This is straight forward, right?