Project Pan Update #11 and Other Products

I knew this month was going to be quite a slow month when it came to using up products, especially as I've added products in.  So it's not surprising I haven't really got a lot to talk about.

Let's start with the eyeshadow.  I've been using the Urban Decay Naked original palette every time I wear makeup (about three times a week now).  There's more of a pan on Toasted and some very small dips in the other eyeshadows, but nothing obvious.  I'll carry on working on this palette alone until the end of the year and then I'm going to make a few small changes.

The Barbara Day eye primer isn't really showing any further improvements, but at least I now know it's going down.  Always a good thing.

As usual the MUA powder foundation in Shade 4 and Bourjois blusher in Ceidre are not showing any signs of change.  I'm going to keep using these until 2018 and then they'll be going in the bin, so I'll do my best to use as much as possible.

Now for the items I've added in for this last two months.  The Pacifica perfume in Tuscan Blood is going down pretty quickly and I should be finished with it in the beginning of December.  Always nice when one of the products is easy to use.  I'm actually enjoying the smell much more than I thought I would, but I probably won't buy it again.

The Zoya Pixie Dust nail varnish in Dahlia has also gone down quite quickly (probably because I need to put on three coats everyone I use it), but I don't think it'll be finished by the end of the year.  Still, it's my last mail varnish so that's not too bad.

I had hoped the Neal's Yard lipstick in Persimmon would have been a little shorter by now, but it seems to be taking its time.  It's a nice colour for the season though, so I don't mind wearing it on a regular basis.  It's the only lipstick I'm going to concentrate on right now, but I will be adding more onto next year's project.

Lastly the Living Nature eye pencil in Midnight.  I knew this product would take a very long time to use up, but I just wanted to start it now in preparation for next year's project.  It's a very soft pencil and pretty easy to use, but it doesn't have the best staying power ever.

The last product I'm going to write about here is the Jāsön's Sun Facial Sunscreen.  This is a great product, is easy to use, protects my skin well, and I have no reactions (both in the allergy or spot department) to it.  I have a few other SPFs I want to use up first, but once they are gone I'll be buying this again.

To see my progress so far:

• Introduction
• Project Pan Update #1
• Project Pan Update #2
• Project Pan Update #3
• Project Pan Update #4
• Project Pan Update #5
• Project Pan Update #6
• Project Pan Update #7
• Project Pan Update #8
• Project Pan Update #9
• Project Pan Update #10

My Morning Routine - Beauty

This is going to be an unbelievably quick post as the number of products that I use are very small in number, unlike my nighttime routine.

I thought I'd start first with my toothbrush and toothpaste as these weren't written about in my previous blog.  I use the Monte Bianco toothbrush in Soft.  I like using this as the head of the brush can be removed meaning that you only have to throw away a tiny part of the toothbrush when it's time to change it reducing the amount of waste I produce (the replacement heads are as easy to find as they used to be so I may have to look at getting a different toothbrush).  The toothpaste is the AloeDent Aloe Vera Sensitive (fluoride free) and I've really been loving this toothpaste.  I've had to be careful about using more natural toothpastes as I have sensitive teeth, but this hasn't caused any issues and has in fact really helped with my sensitivity.  I also like that there isn't a really strong mint flavour.

After brushing my teeth I splash luke warm water on my face.  This is instead of washing my face, which I don't feel the need to do in the mornings and which can really dry my skin out.  After that I moisturizer with the Jason Age Renewal Vitamin E 25,000 I.u.  This is a really good, versatile moisturizer and I use it on many parts of my body.  On my face it really helps combat dryness (mainly around my nose) and is the first layer I put on to protect my skin from the outdoors.

The last product I put on is the Jason Facial Sunscreen in SPF 20.  I love this product, have used it for years, and keep buying it.  It is a physical sunblock, doesn't break me out or dry my skin up, and is very effective.  I know I live in Scotland but I still wear this everyday to protect from the UV you still get up here and it helps as an additional protection from the weather.

And that is it.  A very quick but effective morning routine much less complicated than my nighttime routine.  It does exactly what I need it to and there doesn't seem to be any reason why I should complicate it.

So what do you use in your morning routine? Do you keep it simple or are there a number of products you use to help you start your morning? Let me know.

My Nighttime Routine - Beauty

I've been having YouTube on whilst I've been doing housework and decluttering and have just been letting it run on autoselect.  A few videos came up in a row showing what people's nighttime and morning routine is, mainly on the beauty side of things.  I thought, as I'm making my beauty routine more simple and natural, it might be interesting to document what I'm doing at the moment.  So, let's start with my nighttime routine as this is the longest.......

If I've been wearing makeup or feel that my face is particularly dirty I will first give my face an oil cleanse using either Coconut oil or Olive oil and a warm flannel.  This always feels like it's really cleaning out my pores but I would recommend using Coconut oil if you are prone to spots.

After that or if I don't need to do an oil cleanse then I wash my face with my Friendly Soap Aloe Vera bar soap.  I love this soap as it doesn't feel like it dries out my skin (either on my face or body) at all.

The next step for me is the toner which is literally just Witch Hazel in a spray bottle.  I've used this for years and I know it can irritate some people's skin, but it works great for me and I find really helps soaths any allergy irritation and cuts and bruises.  

For my moisturizer I use the oil mixture I make up myself and wrote up about in my blog on my natural facial oils (stored in Holland and Barrett container).  This one has a mixture of Jojoba oil, Avocado oil, Rosehip oil, and Frankincense essential oil.  I put this on quite early on in the night to let it sink into the skin and then I'll add more later on to areas that need it.  If I really feel that I need more moisture then I also add on the Jason Age Renewal Vitamin E 25,00 i.u.

I try to remember to do an extra step designed to help with my dry skin, especially as the dry skin stops me getting moisturizer to the lower layers.  I don't really use physical exfoliators anymore but I do use the Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel Sensitive.  This can sting most of the time, but it is really effective at removing dry skin and my face always feels so soft afterwards.  I usually do this step before the toning and moisturising, usually extra moisturising.  I also have some loose clay which can be made into a mask but which  I have fallen out of using.  This is a great mask though and worked really well on my skin so I definitely want to add this back in.

I will write a blog about my morning routine soon - but that will be a very short blog.

The toiletries that are coming on my trip

My parents are coming up to Scotland and we are going to take a trip on the west coast.  Normally I would take the least amount of toiletries possible, but, as I'm using up and testing different products, I taking quite a bit more than usual.  In the future this should get less and less as I use up my products and start finding more multi use items.

So, starting with the teeth.  I'm bringing my Lush Atomic Tooth Powder to carry on testing while I'm away, which should give me long enough to see if it's going to have any negative impact on my sensitive teeth.  My toothbrush is a Monte Blanco (which I think is now called Yaweco).  I've used this toothbrush for many years and I love the fact that you only need to change the head of the toothbrush and not the whole brush.  You can get natural bristles, but this one is nylon as I'm trying to remove animal products the items I use.  The last item is just common old dental floss.  At the moment I'm just using this up , but will start looking for a more natural products later.

I'm taking the usual sun block with me, especially as I always put an spf on my face.  Jason is one of my favourite companies and I really like this face suncream.  It sinks in well, isn't too white, and not that oily.  The body suncream is the Green People sunblock that I got free with a The Vegan Kind subscription.  I've liked it so far, but have only had the chance to test it a couple of times.  I might get a bit more of a chance to use this this holiday.

Obviously I would normally only bring one deodorant with me, but I want to carry on testing the Native Unearthed natural deodorant (also from The Vegan Kind subscription box) which has been working well so far on an opposite day basis with my normal deodorant.  This holiday I'm going to try and use it a few days in a row to see.

I was going to bring one of my shampoo bars with me, but I'm still getting used to using them along with trying to find the right apple cider vinegar to water ratio for my hair type.  Because of that I decided it would be easier to just bring some testers with me and, as I have enjoyed other products from John Masters Organic, I thought I would try these shampoos.  I only have to wash my hair twice a week so only 2 samples are needed and, as my hair has been doing fine without conditioner, I didn't bother getting any.  I did umm and ahh about taking the Wella product from my project pan with me, but as I'm so close to finishing this I thought I would put it in.  While it is unlikely I could finish this over the holiday, I can put a good dent in it.

I am, of course, taking my usual face products.  These are my home made face oil (I've already written a blog about this here), my toner of witch hazel and nothing else, and my new Jason Vitamin E cream face moisturiser.  You really don't need a lot of the last one so I've just decanted a small amount into a glass jar to take with me.  I won't even use all of this, but the amount is just in case other areas of my body get dry.

For lips I using up my Korres lip butter in Mango, which is nice but not as moisturising as I would like for a night lip treatment (it's also tinted), and a lip balm by Sweet Snuggles which smells of vanilla.  I'd never heard of this brand before, but brought a pack of these from Superdrug when I had really chapped lips and nothing to moisturise them with.  It does the job and smells lovely, there's not much else I can say about it.

I didn't want to bring a big tub of body moisturiser with me on this trip as I already had so much other stuff with me.  So I did a big moisturising section before I set off and, instead, brought just the tiny pot of Lush Charity Pot moisturiser (small but very effective) and the Lavera Intensive Care Hand Cream.  While this cream is labelled for the hands I have found it to also be effective for my elbows, feet, and other dry patches - so a nice all rounder.

The last of the general toiletries are my Travalo containing the Jean Paul Gaultier perfume I am trying to use up, my favourite Aloe Vera soap by Friendly Soap (I have quite literally brought about 10 of these) and a razor.  This is one of the last disposable razors I have and I am looking to either use the No! No! I've had for years but never really used or to buy a safety razor and use this instead.

Lastly, the only cosmetics I am bringing with me is the nail varnish (with the usual required base coat, top coat and nail varnish remover) that I am concentrating on using up in this section of project pan.  The polish is the Max Factor Glossfinity varnish in Raspberry Blush and it's already starting to thicken up so I don't think I'll get many more applications out of it.  The camera on my phone seems to have washed the nail varnish remover out, but it is the Zoya 3 in 1 varnish remover.  Pretty effective, though I have heard that it causes peeling on your nails and I have noticed a little peeling on mine.

Next time I travel I hope to have a lot less than this, but it will all depend, of course, on how much I've been able to go through for my project pans.

Night Face Moisturiser

Ok, so I know I've said this a 100 times, but I have dry skin and it can be very sensitive to some products.  It has taken me awhile to find products that are more 'natural' than the conventional products, gave my skin enough moisture and didn't cause my skin to itch or go red.  I concentrate on putting moisture back into my skin during the night (my morning routine is pretty simple) and use oil and then a cream.  I'll do another blog on the oils I use, but here are the face moisturisers I've been trying.

After doing some reading about ingredients that are good for dry skin I decided to go for something which contained Vitamin E, known for it's moisturising properties.  I had a nosey in my local Holland and Barrett and found the Dr Organic Vitamin E Cream.  This was a lovely product, sunk into the skin really well, and I liked that, while I mainly used it on my face, I could use it anywhere I had dry patches.  It's also vegan, cruelty free, and paraben and fragrance free.  The fact that it's in a glass jar is also a plus when it comes to reducing waste.  Definitely worth having a look at and I will probably buy it again in the future.

Next I tried the Barefoot SOS Face & Body Rescue Cream that I had a sample of.  Designed specifically for dry and sensitive skin, this seemed like the perfect solution.  This product is also vegan and cruelty free, as well as being free from a whole load of synthetic products including parabens and sulphates.  Though it does contain essential oils it didn't irritate my skin at all and did leave my face feeling very soft and nourished.  The only problem I had was that I could still feel it sitting on my face after a couple of hours and I don't like that feeling.  I might think about getting this as a hand and dry patches moisturiser, but not as a face moisturiser.

Another product that I first got as a tester, but then brought as the full product, was the Green People Fruitful Nights Night Cream.  I love this stuff.  It smells amazing and did really feel like it was moisturising my face, though maybe not as well as the first two products.  Vegan, cruelty free and free from a number of synthetic products, it also donates some of it's profits to charity.  Green People is a great company and I don't think I've not enjoyed a product I've bought from them.  I am very tempting to buy this again and probably will in the future, but as I'm trying to streamline my beauty products right now I wanted to see if I could find something that could be multiply purpose, like Dr Organic Vitamin E Cream and Barefoot SOS Face & Body Rescue Cream.  This product is also on the slightly pricey side.

The last product that I got (and am still using) is the Jason Revitalizing Vitamin E 5,000 i.u.  I decided to go for another Vitamin E product as I felt it did so well before and this has been very effect.  Jason is another environmentally friendly company and all their products are vegetarian (though I believe this one is vegan), cruelty free, and free from the usual synthetic ingredients.  They also support Care, a charity that helps girls go to school.  As a product it has done a good job at moisturising and has been something that I could use on other areas of my body where there has been dry patches.  During my time using this I had also used up my last eye moisturiser and have just been using this instead of buying a new eye moisturiser.  It has done a very good job in this role as well and hasn't irritated my sensitive eyes at all.  You also get a lot of product for not a lot of money so is well worth getting.  The only downside for this product is that it comes in a plastic container, but seeing as it lasts for such a long time I don't feel as bad using it.  I've almost finished this one, my second pot, and am going to buy it again.  However, this time I'm thinking of going for the 25,000 i.u. as my skin has been unusually dry recently so I want something stronger.

So that's all the moisturisers I have tried so far and it may not seem like a lot, but all of these products take a long time to use.  I love the fact that I have found a multi-tasker which I can use on my face, eyes, and body.  Definitely makes life a lot easier.

If you have a moisturiser that you like let me know.