Project Pan 2020 Update #1

So this quarter turned out to be more effective than I thought it was going to be, a lot more effective.  It's actually been quite satisfying, but does mean that things are probably going to slow down quite a lot now for the rest of the year - ops.

Firstly, lets start with the blusher brushes and Tarte Amazonian Clay Blushes I wanted to test.  After testing all the blushes I realised I actually liked them all and am going to keep them all.  Not necessarily the best outcome, but it does mean I probably won't have to buy another blush for the rest of my life. 😂 As for the blush brushes, I really love using the EcoTools Travel Kabuki brush, but felt like the Real Techniques Blush Brush doesn't really deposit a whole lot of the colour to my cheek.  I did try using it as a contour brush, but I prefer my EcoTools Blush Brush for that as well, so I'm going to be donating this.  It's a shame as it's super soft, but there's not point in keeping something I don't use.

This was a bit of a surprise finish as I was expecting it to last until about half of the year.  Instead the Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation in Blondie was the first product to go and pretty quickly too.  It's a really nice foundation, but I find loose powders a bit irritating to use especially with the fact that my life is a bit nomadic at the moment.  It tends to be a bit messy and I was always worried I might drop it everywhere.  It was a lovely colour and texture, and, even though I'm a bit tanner now, it still matched my skin tone pretty well.  You don't need a lot of the product for the coverage to be pretty good and Lily Lolo is cruelty free.  However, this product does contain mica so even if it does come in a compact form I don't think I'll buy it again.  This has been replaced by a concealer product. It wasn't the RMS "Un" Cover-Up I was hoping to get as it's a little bit out of my price range at the moment. It's the Essence Coverstick in Matt Sand, and so far I really like it. Essence is a cruelty free brand and this cost me less than £3.

The Burt's Bees Matte Lip Crayon in Napa Vineyard is a lovely moisturising lip product and I really liked the colour, which suited by skin tone.  However, this product did have a tendency to go onto my teeth and I had to keep an eye on that.  I don't normally like the glossy look on my lips, but this wasn't too bad, but the size of the crayon did mean that it was difficult to get an exact line. I didn't want to go and buy a lip pencil or lip brush just to finish this product, so I just angled it the best that I could. I do like the product but I don't think I'd get it again just because of the application issues.  However, Burt's Bees is cruelty free so I will look at other cosmetic products in the future - if I feel I need them.

I also finished The Body Shop Eye Definer Crayon Kohl in Black sooner than I was expecting, mainly because it turned out it finishes a lot higher up then you might expect.  It's not the worse thing ever, but if the actual crayon had carried on as far you would think you would have gotten another couple of weeks to a month use out of it (depending on how much you use with each application).  The kohl is a pretty soft pencil that is easy to use and smudges well (which is good or bad depending on what you're going for).  However, it's not very black when you apply it, even if you go over the same line a few times.  I also noticed there was a transfer onto my upper lid sometimes.  It's not necessarily the kohl fault as I have oily lids, but it's something to bare in mind if you're getting it.  The Body Shop is cruelty free, however there is a question as to whether or not their parent company is depending on how far up the chain you want to go.  This product has now been replaced by the matt black eyeshadow Blackout in the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette.

I'm now using the Mistine Cosmetics OHH Lipstick No. 01 as my lipstick.  I haven't used it too much so I don't really have much I can say about it other than that so far I like the colour, texture, and feel of this product.  It also stays on well.  However, I can't find anywhere that says about it's cruelty free status and that's really annoying.  So far I've used 5mm of it, so this one will probably be a slow burner.

Lastly, the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette.  I've done what I planned and have hit every eyeshadow this quarter and they weren't as scary as I thought they were going to be.  Unfortunately that's actually because the quality of the eyeshadow isn't what you normally expect with Urban Decay eyeshadows and so the colour pay-offs of the more bold shadows didn't actually really show up.  I would say this is probably the case of all the shadows here so if you're wanting real quality then I would suggest going for a different Urban Decay palette.  I am going to keep using this throughout the year and see how far I can get in finishing some of the colours.  Then I'll decide if I'm going to keep it or not.   

Really not a bad start for the year, though I think it's pretty unlikely that I'll be able to carry on using up items this quickly in the next quarter.  If I finish the lipstick and manage to hit pan on two of the eyeshadows I'd be a very happy bunny.  Realistically I don't think that's going to happen, but a girl can dream.  I'm just going to keep wearing the items as much as possible and I think I am definitely going to be able to reach my goals for the end of the year of everything fitting nicely into my one makeup bag.  It will only get less from there.

So stay tuned for the next update, where probably absolutely nothing will have changed. 😂